Beautiful Salzburg

 I have always wanted to see Salzburg and today, we got our chance.

We travelled by bus from Engelhartszell to Salzburg. It took about 2 hours but there were some fabulous mountains to look at along the way.  As we approached the city, we could see that the city of Salzburg is in a bowl ringed by mountains. It is a very pretty city. We started with a 1 hour guided tour through the old town. Thanks to some old ruler, the city was designed to have lots of open squares between the streets. It makes it considerably easier to get around and more pleasant to explore because it is open and light rather than the medieval darkness of some of the towns and cities we have been to.

It was a whistlestop tour. We saw the house that Mozart was born in, the outside of Nonnberg Abbey where the real Maria von Trapp was a nun, the outside of  the Basilica St Michael at Mondsee (where Maria married the captain in the movie), the Felsenreitschule where the family performed in the finale of the film, lots of big churches and a very modern university. 

Once we had some time on our own, we headed to the catacombs of St Peter's Cemetery. This is where the von Trapps hid from the Nazis in the movie. Well, strictly speaking, they hid from the Nazis on a sound stage in Hollywood, but they painstakingly recreated the St Peter's catacombs for the scene. I also bought some Mozartkugels from Furst (the original makers of the chocolate and the most expensive).

Next, we got back on the bus and headed up the hills above Salzburg to have lunch and watch a musical performance featuring music from Mozart, Strauss and plenty of numbers from the Sound of Music. It was all very touristy but lots of fun. The photos from the top of the mountain are spectacular.