Day 69 [8 Apr 09] – Salzburg

Another very lazy day, only got out of the hotel after noon. Think after two months of travelling, my body is really feeling it and some days all I want to do is stay in and do nothing. The only place we went to today was Festung Hohensalzburg (Hohensalzburg Castle), the most significant landmark in Salzburg. The castle sits on a hill and overlooks the entire city, and is one of the largest castles in Europe.

Festung Hohensalzburg.

The amazing view of Salzburg from the castle.

There were a few rooms on display within the castle buildings, but I did not find them particularly interesting. We had a look around some of the old state rooms, the Rainermuseum (military museum) and the Burgmuseum (weapons, furniture, torture devices).

We headed out of the castle back into the old city around 5pm, and bought McDonalds back to the hotel for an early dinner.

Off to Ljubljana in Slovenia tomorrow morning.

Today’s pictures here.

Day 68 [7 Apr 09] – Salzburg

Salzburg, land of The Sound of Music and Mozart. The hotel here actually has one channel which plays The Sound of Music 24 hours a day! Watched a bit of it last night but in all honesty I find the movie pretty boring and the plot is a bit weak.

The breakfast at the hotel this morning was pretty decent, but only comparable to those we got at the cheaper hotels and good hostels. Had a pretty late start this morning, leaving the hotel only around 11.3oam. Decided to just walk around the old city the Mozart sites and some cathedrals.

After a 20 minute or so walk along the river to the old town, we arrived at Mozart’s residence from 1773 – 1780 (Mozart-Wohnhaus). It was actually a pretty big place with eight rooms, and we soon found out that Mozart’s family was actually pretty well to do as his father was a famous Violinist. The actual residence is not very interesting in terms of things to see as all of the Mozart family furniture had been auctioned off many years ago, but it does give a good history of Mozart and his family. What I gathered from the displays and narrations around the house was that besides the fact that Mozart was a child prodigy, it was because of his father’s excellent marketing skills, dedication and hard work getting Mozart immersed and integrated into the musical community that he had all the chances to shine and live up to his abilities.

The modern exterior of Mozart-Wognhaus.

Crossing the river Salzach, the next site of the day was to Mozart’s boyhood residence (Mozart-Gerburtshaus). The Mozart family lived here in this small one bedroom apartment from 1756 until the time Mozart was almost ten, when Leopold Mozart (the father) decided that the family had to move to somewhere larger, Mozart-Wohnhaus.

The exterior of Mozart-Gerburtshaus.

As you can probably figure by now, photographs were not allowed in both of Mozart’s former residences.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the old city for a bit, and going into two pretty well known cathedrals in the old city.

Interior of the Dom (Salzburg Cathedral).

Interior of Stiftskirche St. Peter.

We headed back to the hotel for a pre-dinner rest, then headed out for dinner at Stiegl Brau, a nice restaurant around a ten minute walk from the hotel. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera, so no dinner pictures. Will be spending the rest of the night in the hotel room drinking cheap Salzburg beer and watching some CSI and House.

Today’s pictures here.