Salzburg - Mozart & More

 Well, I won't bore you with years and names and facts, but, for sure Salzburg is one of the famed touristic magnets in Austria. Baroque architecture, Mozart and Festspiele, Sound of Music, the fortress Festung Hohensalzburg, Mozartkugeln (chocolates) and Fiaker (horse-drawn carriages) immediately come to mind. Although, this city has certainly suffered from COVID, too, especially because of the missing American and Asian groups, it is still in good shape and a lot is currently going on.

 

 

We took the train (about 2,5 hours in total one-way) last Wednesday for a 2-day-excursion and research for the update of our CityTrip Salzburg (Reise Know-How). We stayed in the surprisingly nice, newly renovated Imlauer Hotel Pitter (pics below), very conveniently located between railroad station and historic old town. Breakfast buffet on the rooftop allowed views similar to the ones shown above.

Besides checking "old", well-known sights and places, we tried to fit in some "new stuff", like the Botanical Garden (below), the Panzerhalle – a former military building used for storage and the upkeep of tanks and transformed into a modern mixed-use complex with a fancy market (food) hall.

 

Panzerhalle

 

Also, thanks to beautiful fall weather we walked a lot, up to 12 mi. a day!, and found trails and observation points on the hills slopes surrounding the city we have never explored before. One other destination was the green area around the university. The modern university buildings form a striking contrast to the fortress in the background. Equally interesting, architectonically, is new Paracelsus Bad (pool/sauna/wellness & café), fantastic architecture!

(top) University - Paracelsus Bad (bottom)

                                            University Salzburg & Fortress

Also, we focused on not-so-well-known neighborhoods this time, such as the Andrä-, Kai-Viertel or Nonntal, and, we found a very diverse and exciting culinary scene. One other culinary highlight was Schrannenmarkt, a huge farmers' market around the Andrä Church (pics below) taking place each Thursday 5 am to 1 pm.

We ate our first real Salzburger Nockerl at Meissl & Schaden (left), otherwise well-known for its Schnitzel, we had cake, drank beer in the Augustiner beerhalls and found many new restaurants and shops, some of them really leading the way in regard to "environmental consciousness", e.g. "Damn Plastic" (store) or "The Keep" (a new budget hotel). Also, there is a new gin producer in old town, called "5020 Gin" and many nice little cafés and bistros, especially in the neighborhoods mentioned above.

                                            Schrannenmarkt (above & below)

                                            Confiserie-Café Fuerst (above)

 

        Damn Plastic (left), 5020 Gin (right)

The Museum der Moderne on the Mönchsberg (easily accessible by an elevator in the mountain, right pic) is one of our all-time favs and so is the DomQuartier, a conglomeration of different museum in the Neue Residenz, including the cathedral (Dom, photos below)

 

 

 

We visited Mozart's gravesite on the Sebastian's Cemetery (right), walked famous Getreidegasse (below, right), and had a fantastic tour with a young Benedictine frater through the monastery St. Peter, the newly renovated church and the archeological collection. He even let us see parts of the complex not publicly accessible. How peaceful this green courtyard below appeared compared to busy Getreidegasse!

 

No matter where you are, you'll always have differently brilliant views of the Festung:

And, these photos were taken from Schloss Mirabell with its beautiful gardens: