July 19

We got up early to catch the train to Salzburg. When we arrived at the train station, a man in the OBB (the Austrian train company) uniform tried to say to us that we were in the wrong platform for Salzburg. He could not speak English. He tried to say in German that we should be in another platform. We finally got the message. The train left right on the second which it was supposed to.  The train ride was comfortable.

We arrived at Salzburg around 11 am. We bought a Salzburg card which includes the use of all public transit and free admission to numerous museums. We used the card for the bus ride to the hotel. The Hotel Elefant is a small family-run hotel with thirty rooms. It is in the centre of the old section of Salzburg. The building is over seven hundred years old. Our room is small but comfortable. The shower is very small. The front desk was helpful. The manager directed me to a phone store to buy a SIM card for my phone. We misplaced the key for one of the hand luggage. We had to go to a locksmith and have the locks cut. The manger helped us to find the locksmith. After all these annoying errands, we finally had a chance to walk around the city.

Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart. It is a big tourist spot. The streets were all crowded when we arrived. There were tour groups after tour groups. The narrow streets were shoulder to shoulder of humanity. We bought tickets for dinner and a concert in the Fortress. The Fortress is a big castle on the top of a hill which overlooks the city. We went up the hill via funicular. It was a steep and short ride. The Fortress is now a museum and is large and imposing. From the top of this hill you have a panoramic view of Salzburg, its surrounding countryside and the mountains. It was pretty cool today after that thunderstorm/rain we had on Sunday. Actually, it was a refreshing change. After much searching (signage was poor) we finally found the “museum” area. There were so many steps, Kathy finally gave up. We found a place to rest for a while until it was time to go for the dinner portion of our evening. The restaurant overlooked the mountains and we had a table right beside the fortress wall, so the view was amazing! Dinner was good too.

Unfortunately for Kathy, the concert was way in the top tower, most of which we had climbed earlier and then come back down for the dinner. We figured the concert had better be worth the climb again! It was a tough trek back up for her, but the concert was very good. It was a string quartet and they played mostly Mozart compositions. After, we had to descend all those steps to get back to the funicular for the last ride down the hill. The view after dark was beautiful with all the lights. Once back down, we looked back up at the fortress and it was all lit up with spotlights. Absolutely beautiful and magical! The town is pretty quiet after dinner hour and pleasant. Perhaps there’s more “night life” on the other side of the river in the newer section of town. We’re glad to be staying where we are.  

Fortress at night

 

Salzberg view from the top