Day 13 Salzburg
April
16, 2005. Today was a perfect day to enjoy
Salzburg. The weather has been fabulous and today, in the City of Mozart, the
skies were blue, the sun was shining and it was 65 degrees. I got up about 8:15
and headed off to the market to buy our croissants and some orange juice.
Stopped at MacDonald’s on my way back for a hot cup of coffee. Bad me!
After a leisurely breakfast
we headed off to enjoy the Altstadt (Old Town). We walked up Getreide Gasse
which is the principal street in the Altstadt. It is so narrow it’s hard to
believe that it was once a main street in Salzburg. It is not quite straight and
the house fronts are tall and decorated. At the street level are little shops
and above are apartments. Nancy and I parted company at the Rathausplatz; she
was off to do some shopping while I ducked into the Internet Café to get caught
up on my e-mail.
 After
our usual lunch of fresh bread, cheese and a Coke Lite we headed back up
Getreide Gasse and into Mozartplatz. Stopped to take a picture of the Mozart
statue; we’ll spend more time there tomorrow. Our objective today was the
Hohensalzburg Fortress which towers over Salzburg. We took the easy route and
rode the funicular up the 400 feet high mountain. One of the things we’ve
learned in our travels is to buy a city card which gets you into all the
attractions and on all the buses and trams. It worked for the funicular - a
great money saver.
The mighty castle dominates
the city; it was started in 1077 and wasn’t finished until the late 17th
century. We took an audio tour of the castle grounds and saw some of the rooms,
the torture chamber and the ramparts. The state rooms are very grand and have
survived the turbulence of the centuries in good shape except that Napoleon’s
troops used the golden hall’s furniture for firewood.
 We
huffed and puffed our way up to the top of the highest tower to enjoy a 360
degree view of Salzburg and the surrounding Austrian Alps. The view was
magnificent. To end our tour of the fortress we had a glass of Chardonnay
outside on one of the ramparts and enjoyed the view of Alps in the sunshine.
Tonight we attended a Mozart
dinner concert at the Stiftskeller St Peter restaurant. This unique restaurant
is located inside the rock at the base of the fortress and is the oldest
restaurant in Central Europe. It was first mentioned in 803 on the occasion of
Charlemagne’s visit.
After a 3 course Austrian
dinner we were entertained by the Amadeus Consort which is made up of two
singers and five musicians, all of them dressed in historic Mozart attire. The
three part concert program comprised the most popular arias and duettos from The
Magic Flute, Don Giovanni and the Marriage of Figaro. Plus movements from the
Serenade and a Little Night Music. These were preformed by candlelight.
After the dinner theatre we
walked back down the Getreide Gasse to our room at the Goldener Hirsch and made
it an early night.
Stay tuned for Day 14 in my
“Around the World in 30 Days” saga.
Alan Salmon
eClub One
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