Gardens, Churches, and Fortresses
Day late. Sorry.
Yesterday was our only full day in Salzburg. The awesome heat and sun from the day before completely disappeared, only to be replaced with an overcast sky and rain in the afternoon. We took the 5 minute train from Berg into Salzburg in the morning and hit up down town. Salzburg is relatively small, with everything tourist worthy all within walking distance of each other. The first thing we walked to was the Mirabellgarten. The flowers here were planted in weird crop-circle-looking shapes. In the center was a fountain and lining the edges were olive trees. the garden were cool, but nothing really special. We moved on pretty quickly.
After leaving the garden we toured the house of Mozart. This was fascinating. We learned the full history of the child prodigy from birth to death (at only age 35) as we went from room to room, hearing his different pieces played on different instruments. Unfortunately, you wont find any pictures of the inside in the PHOTOS tab because they weren't allowing us to. Dumb.
Across the river was the massive cathedral, Kollegienkirche and the hilltop fortress, Festung Hohensalzburg, both parts of a UNESCO heritage site. The church was at least three stories high, with paintings covering all the walls and ceiling. A staircase led down to the catacombs which had a small underground chapel and well as the tombs of monk dating back centuries.
After leaving the church we had a ten minute walk up the hill to the fortress. Here we got to the many different rooms of the castle and their uses, not unlike Residenz in Munich. A very cool difference however is that we got to see the things they used, not just where they lived. A few canons lined the walls, and inside were chess sets, armor, torturous devices, utensils, and gold coins, all dating back to around 1077, the year the fort was built.
3 in 1: Mirabellgarten in front, Kollegienkirche church in the middle, and the Festung Hohensalzburg in the back
+1 for my hella sweet photography skills
Today we left Salzburg and took a bus to Hallstatt. The drive here was amazing. The Austrian countryside is absolutely gorgeous. We got here and just crashed so I'll discuss more more the area tomorrow once we get out and about.