Austria – what an unforeseen surprise and what a beautiful country to navigate by train. Stunning scenery, friendly people and easy travelling. The rail journey from Venice to Salzburg takes nearly 7 hours. To avoid such a stretch and for an excuse to visit somewhere totally unknown – we broke this leg into two smaller ones overnighting in Villach, a small city with thermal baths, Roman origins and many reminders of the second world war (not unusual throughout Europe). This first leg saw us leaving the drier plains of coastal Italy and winding up and into the Austrian Alps. It was surprising how quickly we gained altitude and how incredibly stunning the scenery became. Mountainous snow-capped peaks on either side, many dark tunnels, fast flowing icy rivers and alarming gorges to cross.
The second leg saw us leaving Villach and heading to Salzburg – famous for Red Bull (it originated here), the Sound of Music (made here) and of course Mozart (born here). Arriving mid afternoon we once again had no idea of what to expect. We found a small city, easy to navigate and full of Mozart paraphernalia. Geographically the city is split down the middle by the shallow but very swift flowing Salzach river. Towering above everything is the most formidable castle we have ever seen – Hohensalzburg Castle (one of the biggest fully preserved castles in Europe). Architecturally the city is again divided with medieval and baroque buildings on its left bank (old city) facing 19th century (new city) on its right.
Its summer and Salzburg generally offers a nice temperature of around 22 with maybe a shower of rain (rain fall is high in summer apparently) – instead we got temperatures up into the high 20’s early 30’s. The Austrians don’t appear to really know how to handle these unexpected hot days. They all appear to still wear their long trousers and jackets and when we asked for the air -conditioning remote control they advised that they usually only use if for heating! They had to dig it out for us.
The obvious things to do in Salzburg depend on your musical taste. If it’s the Sound of Music – you do this tour or visit those sites. If its Mozart then likewise. You could take a tour out of the city and visit a salt mine whence Salzburg gained its initial wealth – Salz means salt.
We found ourselves doing mainly three things.
Eating – we had to try the local schnitzels and we also indulged ourselves at Cafe Sacher – an impressive upmarket hotel (frequented by the Dali Lama, Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks) offering the original Sacher Torte.
Walking – the streets are easy and the riverbanks beautiful.
And of course indulging in a bit of Mozart. While not really to Darryl’s taste I talked him into attending a dinner and Mozart concert. The fact that these would be held in the magnificent towering Hohensalzburg castle (circa 1077 onward) was the deciding factor. Prior to the concert we were taken on a river cruise and to scale the formidable castle walls we caught the fun and efficient funicular).
We spent 2 nights in Salzburg before once again catching a train eastwards this time to Vienna. The scenery whilst not quite so breathtaking was beautiful. Rolling green plains surrounded by high mountain peaks. Fields of fat cows and sometimes deer. We keep wondering what all this would look like in winter.
Fun facts – you can get table service on the fast inner city trains here.The trains have little kindergarten areas complete with televisions playing cartoons for the kids. The Mozart museum in Salzburg is filled with Mozart’s childhood instruments. The bells can chime each quarter-hour here (three bell towers near our hotel room so imagine the cacophony).
So next blog Vienna..
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