Euroventures 2011 - Salzburg

 View from the Salzburg Fortress

The train I took from Venice to Salzburg was an overnighter.  Having had a bad experience with a sleeping compartment on a previous train journey (Paris to Zurich), I decided to book regular seats this time.  I was on an OBB train and if you can sleep on a plane, you'll be fine in a seat on these trains.  Each compartment sits 6 but most were not full, our compartment ranged from 2-5 people through the ride and it was prob one of the most occupied compartments.  The train had power outlets for the window seats, 4 overhead storage shelves, 4 coat hooks, 4 pull-out tables, personal reading lights and one controllable overhead compartment light.  A pretty sweet set-up if you can manage to score a compartment to yourself.

Arriving in Salzburg at 4am was pretty brutal.  Luckily my hotel - the Hotel Lasserhoff - had a 24 concierge and they let me stash my bags there, as my monster bag had no hope of fitting into one of those lockers at the train station (another reason to pack light!) For those not familiar, Salzburg is a smaller city in Austria whose claim to fame is being the birthplace of Mozart and home of the family Von Trapp (whose story we know from The Sound of Music).  It's very friendly and safe, but also quite small.  I had cut across the historic center twice by 6am and wasn't nervous once about wandering deserted streets in the dark in a foreign city.

Check-in wasn't until 2pm so after ducking into a McDonald's (which opened at 6am and had free wifi) for a not-so-exotic breakfast, we walked through the beautifully groomed Mirabell Park, where you might recognize the fountain from The Sound of Music. Clearly this stop was going to be about Mozart trivia and Sound of Music filming locations.  Tourist Information and most tourist sites open at 9am, almost everything is within walking distance.  So the first order of business was to obtain a 'Salzburg Card' which, for €34, entitles you admission into all museums/historic sites/public transportation for 2 days.  While some places make not be your top priority to visit, it's certainly a load off the mind and wallet knowing you can visit and travel to where you like.  No regrets that you opted for a cheesy tourist trap or took the wrong bus (which I did! haha) because it's already paid for.

Some highlights for me included the Salzburg Fortress (Hohensalzburg Castle), which we hiked up to on foot after visiting a couple Sound of Music sites at the foot of the hill (a ways from the funicular).  Holy crap that was one steep trek!  And even after setting foot within the fortress walls, we were greeted with more (you guessed it) stairs and slopes!  I haven't huffed and puffed so much since I was in San Francisco!  The museum info indicates that Salzburg Fortress has never been taken by force -- it's no wonder!  What army would be crazy enough to advance up that slope wearing full armour and carrying weaponry??!  Needless to say, the views at that height were spectacular and well worth the effort of the climb.  Plus I took the funicular down. :P  A much more pleasant stroll was had at Schloss Hellbrunn, a whimsical 17th century Archbishop's summer palace with extensive gardens featuring a number of trick fountains.  In the park is also the gazebo from The Sound of Music where the number '16 Going On 17' was performed.

Doors are kept locked to keep dorky tourist from leaping bench to bench impersonating Liesl Von Trapp.

I didn't realize it at the time but the souvenirs are actually much better in Salzburg than in the capital Vienna (Wien) so if you're stopping in both cities, get your souvenirs in the former.  Also if you're a chocolate lover, have some Mozart balls.  There are stores in the historical center that sell nothing but, also different manufacturers with different priced products that taste comparable.  I'm not very well-knowledged on the different companies, but Mirabell is a common manufacturer with products at a medium price range.  I noticed that the Billa (supermarket) sold bags significantly cheaper than at the specialty/souvenir stores.

My hotel also added to my positive experiences in Salzburg, so I can't complete this blog without giving a shout to the Hotel Lasserhof - 5 mins from the train station, 10 mins from the centre of the city.  Affordable rates, free wifi, friendly concierge at 4am (who stowed my bag, offered me a map and circled key landmarks for me etc.), spacious room, and one of the greatest complimentary breakfast buffets I've had in my years of travel.  I left every morning with a belly full of toast/waffles/eggs/meats/yogurt/cereal/veggies/fruit/juice/tea (and that's just the stuff I eat, there was more), which goes a long way when you're walking all day.

I was in Salzburg for 2 full days and made good use of my time starting early each day - especially the first morning.  Tourist attractions tend to close early so it's a good idea to take in a concert or longer sit-down dinner to stretch out your day.  I had tickets to Cirque du Soleil (Allegria in an arena... perhaps I'll do a blog on Cirque shows around the world another time) one evening and dying of exhaustion the other evening.  Despite that, I felt like I got through most of what I wanted to see in a day and a half and spent a couple hours on the 2nd afternoon traveling to the edge of town (which is a 20 min bus ride away haha) to check out a Desigual outlet (one of my favourite fashion retailers), wow, now that's an outlet store!  They had a ton of stuff but sadly none of it was all that spectacular on me.

What a beautiful city Salzburg is!  Truthfully, it doesn't warrant a repeat visit, but it's so lovely that you just might want to stop in again.