Mozart, Mountains and Museums

We've been in Salzburg recently, to do research for the update of our "CityTrip Salzburg" at Reise Know-How. Arrived on Wednesday afternoon in the pouring rain and departed on Friday in the sun, Inbetween, we followed a great itinerary planned for us by Salzburg Tourismus.

 

A lot is currently going on in Salzburg, especially, museum-wise: Salzburg Museum/Belvedere, UNESCO Center/Sattler Panorama at Mirabell castle, Sound of Music Museum at Hellabrunn, a new Domquartier Info Center and Archeological Museum – these are just a few of the projects currently going on in Salzburg. Once all accomplished (in 2027/28) the city will offer even more museums and sights, modern and instructive ones, in addition to  all its Mozart and Festspiel activities, sights and events.

 

 

We had a couple of firsts: The Viticulture Museum in Salzburg (on top), at the slopes of the Mönchsberg. called "Paris Lodron Zwinger"  Traditionally, there was always vineyards and wine being produced. The little museum in a historic building, surroundeed by vineyards, mostly the typical Frühroter Veltliner (Malvasier) is grown, The museum also gives a great introduction about the history of vinticulture and about nowaday's wine industry in Salzburg-Land. 

 

Gaisberg - next first, and, a great one! It's the most popular mountain of the locals: 4.200+ ft (1.300 m) high and easily to be reached by public transport. A bus drives up all the way to the summit and from there views are gorgeous, towards the Berchtesgadener Alpen with the Watzmann, and towards Salzburg. Paragliders love it up there, and, so do hikers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hellbrunn - planned by prince-archbishop Markus Sittikus as a retreat and built 1612-1615 by architect Santino Solari, who also built the Cathedral. In the castle the  exhibition "SchauLust" tells about Hellbrunn's history and different other aspects. Main attraction, though, are the fountains, about 20 different ones, with antique sculptures, grottos and "trick fountains". 

The park and gardens surrounding the castle are spacious and nicely manicured. Right now, a new "Sound of Music Museum" is coming up at one end of the area. Looking forward to seeing it, once accomplished!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a hardhat tour at castle Mirabell's Orangerie, where right now a lot of construction is going on to get the new Orangerie/UNESCO Welterbe/Sattler Panorama ready until next year. In the former Barock Museum (photo was taken years ago!) a completely new museum, top-notch, is currently under construction to host an UNESCO. World Heritage Center plus the famous Sattler panorama - a huge round history mural, formerly in the Salzburg Museum – in the near future.

  

 

 

Not firsts, but always highlights: Augustiner Bräu (above) - the oldest (and, in our opinion, best) brewery in town, and the Schrannenmarkt (a weekly farmers' market) at the Andrä Church. We stayed across the street, in a new hotel called "Andrä". Great location and very modern and convenient! View below shows what we saw on Thursday morning (market day) from our hotel room. We bought some of the mostly organic/regional/high-quality/seasonal products sold on the market, and, we had dinner – pork knuckle (photos above) – at Augustiner beergarden (yes, the weather has changed on our second day!). 

 

Freshly picked chanterelles (left) and blueberries / cowberries (cranberries) on the right. 
 

 

Enjoyed a Mozart concert on Thursday  afternoon,part of a new series of concerts taking place in the Residence. Checked out old town, of course, around its famous Getreidegasse and Dom (cathedral) and, watched the "Salzburg Business Marathon" strolling along the river Salzburg at night.

 

 

  Below a couple of impressions of Old Town and the DomQuartier.

Getreidegasse

 

Above, right: cathedral tower with a ride, built up for "Rubertikirtag", an annual event/fair with entertainment and vendors

Below: River Salzach at night and Business Marathon 

Before departing by train on Friday, we quickly checked out the Designer Outlet nearby Hangar 7 (a plane/race car museum in one modern airport hangar, founded by the Red Bull-creator Mateschitz). Leaving early afternoon from the airy, clean and comfy main railroad station, took us about three hours in total to get home. It's been an interesting 2 1/2 days. Learned a lot, again.

 

 

Lake Constance and AMERICANA

Reciting Darren Moore, a famous announcer from Texas:  "The AMERICANA is much more than a (Western Riding) competition – it’s an event. Everybody here rides for the brand, the WESTERN WAY OF LIFE!“

 

Yes, that's what we noticed on our three day trip to Friedrichshafen at beautiful Lake Constance. The Western Way of Life revitalized. AMERICANA is a show focused on everything around western riding for five days. Exhibitors from all over the world present clothing and accessories, horse gear and equipment of all kinds:

 

 

There were show rinks with demonstrations and workshops, horse associations being present, and, Western riding competitions in around 50 classes. Most of the four evening shows were sold out, the new saloon always crowded,as well as the open-air area with stage in front of it, where country music at its best was to be experienced.

 

AMERICANA (somewhat surprisingly) moved from Augsburg, our home town, to Lake Constance after COVID, and, took place there for the first time in 2023. Then, it appeared a bit dull and with some flaws. This one now was much better, with a new saloon, with country music and four evening shows. Messe Friedrichshafen - the fairgrounds next to the big Zeppelin company's area - offers much more space than the fairgrounds in Augsburg. Seven large halls were in use (more available), all of them spacious and airy and top-notch for the riders and their horses. One functioned as a „camp ground“ for participants' tents, a parking area was open to RVs. The large Zeppelin CAT Arena was used for evening shows (max. 5.300). Total visitation on all days were over 56,000 visitors - a new record!

All day long, qualifications took place (great to watch!), in different categories, finals then in the evening shows. Below some scenes from the cutting competitions and far below, a reining participant performing a slide with his horse. 

 

The new, exciting element in 2025 was country music on three stages, including musicians  from the US like Amanda Kate Ferris („New Female Vocalist of the Year“) or the young and talented Cash Muretta from Montana (below, left).

 

 

Another new element was the naming of the halls after Western States! There was Texas (Zeppelin CAT Arena), South Dakota (Foyer West), Kansas (Ranch Boulevard, Extreme Trail), Oklahoma (Horse Associations & breeders, Holiday on Horse), Utah (Horse Wellness), Oregon (Horsemanship) Montana and Nevada („Western Lifestyle“, horse gear, boots, hats, jeans ...), Arizona (trailers), Colorado (kids) and Wyoming (outdoors, Stage, Saloon, Western Town, Food&Drinks).

 

Some more numbers to give you an idea about the dimensions: 

- 50 horse competitions

- over 215.000-added Euro prize money

- 500 horses with riders from 16 nations

- 650 head of cattle

- about 300 exhibitors

 

The main language at the show was English, and, other than at tourism shows/events the atmosphere and mood was purely positive towards the U.S.A. No political discussions. It appeared like these horse/western-lifestyle fans were really sick of the bad publicity here and were longing to get back to their "Land of Dreams".

Besides spending time at the show, we went on an excursion to Tettnang (the second-largest hop growing region in Germany), where they just harvested the hops (photo far above) at Hopfengut #20. We drove to our favorite "Rädle" or Besenwirtschaft, Hofgut Möking "Jammer nich" – sort of a beergarden where different ciders (also made from pears or cherries or mixed) are served together with rustic "Brotzeiten". 

 

We had a good time at Lake Constance and at the AMERICANA, from the press conference on Tuesday until the evening show on Thursday!