Getting high in Salzburg

The train journey from Verona to Salzburg was comfortable and spectacular as we headed north through the Dolomite mountains and then up into the Alps, so very little reading was done as it seemed a waste of lovely scenery. The line goes over the Brenner Pass and we’d seen on the news that Austria was threatening to reintroduce border checks there which was causing some angry scenes, so we weren’t sure what to expect. In the event, it was all very quiet and smooth; the train stopped for 14 minutes at the Brenner station and we expected there would be some checks by the Austrian policed. My husband tells me that the Austrian police walked through the train but were only taking an interest in particular passengers, i.e. not white, middle-aged/ travellers, but I missed this. 

We changed trains at Innsbruck, so I was reminded of when I was there in 1971, 45 years ago!  It was just as impressive seeing those huge Alps encircling the town for a second time as it was back then and I remembered the ski jump that had been built for the 1964 Winter Olympics so was relatively new in 1971.  

The journey to Salzburg from Innsbruck took not far short of two hours, as we were on a stopping train. Salzburg station is quite a way out of the town centre and the old town, but we were glad that we’d booked a hotel, the Ramada, which was literally 30 seconds' walk from the station, so we could dump our bags and head off into town for a first look round and to find somewhere to eat.

The walk into town takes about 20 minutes at a good pace and we found ourselves first of all in the main Mirabell square, around which stand the main state and civic buildings and the lovely Mirabell Gardens, before crossing one of the bridges over the river Salzach into the Alt Stadt.

Sunset over Salzburg

This is a city dominated by baroque architecture, the ancient University and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was born here in 1756 and is celebrated everywhere with the ubiquitous, but yummy, Mozart chocolates and at least two statues stand in his honour; one very traditional and in need of a clean, and the other a modern piece, depicting his lower body as female and with his head dominated by the famous pigtail. It’s certainly eye-catching.

Mozart as we know and love him

Mozart: a more representational view

Baroque old town, Salzburg

Mozart chocolate shop window

We decided to leave the rest of the exploration until the following day so we could sit down and eat! We found a gem of a place, which served traditional Austrian food at a good price. When we arrived, only one other table was occupied, but by the time we left there were few empty tables and it was full of buzz and atmosphere. I opted for the traditional schnitzel, but with pork rather than veal, and my husband had pork medallions in a red pepper sauce. We both had puddings; I love apple strudel so went for that and my husband had something squidgy with cherries.

We’ve been trying out different options for breakfast; so, in the smaller hotels the breakfast is usually coffee or tea, orange juice, a croissant and a piece of what sometimes tastes like yesterday’s bread, and where it’s been part of the package, we’ve happily taken advantage of it. However, where it’s been an extra charge we’ve usually given it a miss and had breakfast in a cafe with greater choice and sometimes at lower cost. In the Salzburg Ramada, a 6-floor chain hotel which provides unstylish and predictable comfort, the breakfast was an additional 16 euros each per day so our first reaction was that we would get it cheaper elsewhere. However, when we found out that we could have it for 10 euros each if we booked it a day ahead we decided to give it a try. It was the big hotel buffet style “fill your boots” type breakfast so by packing in as much food from a wide range of choice as we comfortably could, hence avoiding lunchtime hunger, it was very good value and we had it all 3 days of our stay, and on top of that the breakfast room was on the sixth floor and the views of the mountains were superb and a fantastic start to the day.

View from hotel breakfast room

Our full day in Salzburg was another gorgeous warm, sunny day and perfect for exploring the old town, including a visit to the Castle/Fortress which sits on top of a hill to the north of Salzburg and is the focal point of the old town. The views from the battlements were gorgeous, looking down over the river and the buildings down below looked like a perfect model town with the gilded spires and domes and angled buildings. There is something about Salzburg which I can best describe as “there is no sweat here.” Everything feels to me as though it has a coating of frost around it, which is contributes to its grandeur and ultra cleanliness (apart from the Mozart statue), even in the warmth of the sunshine.

View towards the city

View towards the Alps

The Castle is also a museum and there were some very interesting exhibits. I particularly enjoyed a Time Line, which ran across a very long wall. It showed three levels of key historic moments for the Castle, the city of Salzburg and internationally, and provided a really helpful context for understanding how what happened locally fitted into the wider world. There was also a beautiful ceramic model of the Castle

Ceramic model of Salzburg Castle

and a tiled oven, and I want one like this next time I have to replace my cooker, if it would fit into our kitchen.

My next oven?

We had beer/weiss wein spritzer in the sun in the courtyard bar before returning to ground level and gravitating to table and chairs in the Altmarkt for very wicked chocolate cake and coffee. This was in breach of our agreement about the 10 euro breakfast but we persuaded ourselves that this is part of what you come to Salzburg for, and it would be remiss of us not to partake. To atone for this, we agreed that there would be no pudding with our evening meal. We are on holiday, I know, but a month is a long time to just let it all hang out as you would on a 2 week holiday, and as my husband said, “We don’t want to come back like Billy Bunter.” Even if we set off like Billy Bunter?

We whiled away the rest of the afternoon in the Mirabell Gardens enjoying the last of the sun,

Mirabell Gardens

as we had seen the weather forecast and a storm was predicted for the evening, and we made the decision to find somewhere nearby for dinner. By the time we were safely ensconced in Johann’s, next to the station, a nice Austrian restaurant with a helpful and friendly waiter guiding our choices of fried calves liver for me and austrian-styled grilled pork chops for my husband and definitely no pudding, the rain was pouring down, the sky was black and it was thundering and lightening, so we were glad we’d made the best of the day.

Our elder son went inter-railing with a group of friends last summer and had visited Salzburg. He recommended a day trip to Hallstatt, a village on a lake to the east of Salzburg, which he said was one of the highlights of his month of travel, if we could fit it in. He had been in July/August time when the weather was very hot and dry, and we weren’t sure whether it would be worth going with the high risk of rain and poor visibility forecast. Our other possible option for a wet day was to take a train to Munich, about 90 minutes away by train. 

I think the idea of travelling out of town to somewhere more remote felt attractive given how much time we have and will be spending in towns and cities, so we decided to risk the weather. We knew we had to change trains to reach Hallstatt station, a journey of about 2.5 hours, but hadn’t reckoned on a bus replacement service part of the way (just like being at home!). We just followed everyone else who seemed to know what was going on, got on the bus and back on the train and through some gorgeous scenery of lakes, fast-flowing rivers and mountains. Hallstatt station is basically a platform and single track line on the eastern shore of the Hallstatter See, while Hallstatt village is on the western shore,

Hallstatt village from the boat

so a small ferry meets the trains from both directions and for 2.5 euros each way takes you over the lake, affording lovely views from out on the water. A fair number of sightseers, mainly from far eastern countries, were headed in the same direction and the ferry was fairly full going over. We wasted no time in finding a cafe for coffee (& cake again, I’m afraid) and mentioned to the people working in there, who spoke perfect English as do most people we’ve met in the counties we’ve visited so far, that we’d come on the recommendation of our son and they were very helpful in directing us to the funicular railway at the other side of the village to go up to the viewpoint and the entrance to the salt mines.

The Hallstatt funicular

The funicular was quite steep and it was a spectacular journey to the top, where we walked to the viewing platform and had time to take in the fantastic scenery before a curtain of rain swept across the lake from the north and blocked our view.

View from viewing platform

View of Hallstatt village from viewing platform

We did a walk, getting soaked, up to the entrance of the salt mines and there were so many

delicate alpine flowers to enjoy, it was such a shame about the weather. We came back down to the village and into a cosy cafe to get warm over a beer for my husband and a gluhwein for me and by the time we came out, warm and dry, the rain had passed over and we made our way back to Salzburg, with a few snores from both of us on the way.

We were so tired and the weather was dull with more rain clouds brewing so we ducked into Subway, just a couple of minutes walk from our hotel, demolished our toasties and went back to the hotel to pack for our journey to Germany the next day.

Salzburg: immaculate and baroque

We stayed at the Ramada Hotel, Salzburg, which was very comfortable, especially the bed

Restaurant recommendation: Zum Mohren, Judengasse 9, 5020 Salzburg