I arrived in Salzburg about late morning, so was able to do some sightseeing around the Old Town. Starting from Mirrabell Palace, I slowly made my way through the Old town, passing Mozart's house and the place where he grew up, Residenzplatz, walking through the main high street, the cathedral and catacombs and Salzburg Fortress. And along the way, I had some interesting musical encounters.

Background

Nothing gets more confusing arriving into the Salzburg bus stop and railway station and trying to find where the hostel is located. But after wasting nearly an hour finding my accomodation, I finally began my walk around Salzburg starting with the small, but appealing Mirrabell Palace, made famous by the film for "the Sound of Music". But before going into the Old town, I did a brief tour of the fairly peaceful area around St Sebastian's church, made possible by the absence of tourists and take a tour of Mozart's house.

Squares and narrow cobbled streets abound in the Old Town, and despite the number of tourists and visitors, a certain charm can still be found in some of the smaller and more obscure alleyways. As an example, when making my way towards the catacombs after a visit at the cathedral, I soon found myself listening to a couple of performers playing water organs by the streets.

The catacombs was a worthwhile break from the crowds in Salzburg and the encroaching heat of the european summer. The hillside tomb also has some good views of Salzburg, that's after getting through the narrow tunnels and irregular stairways. Otherwise, most people were content just to wander around in the graveyard.

But it seemed that everywhere I went, there was music everywhere. After finishing my anti-clockwise tour of the Old Town, visiting the University Cathedral and a brief stop at the Toy museum and then making my way around through the busy high street (where the main attraction is Mozart's birthplace), I found a band of performers playing strange instruments behind the Salzburg Cathedral. So I suppose it will be hard avoiding the sound of music.

After a brief ride up the finicular, I was at Hohensalzburg Fortress. Although this is the first building everyone sees in Salzburg, I ended up doing the castle tour very late in the afternoon. Nevertheless, the views around the castle were excellent so having a castle on this hill was understandably the best place to guard the town. I also did a bit more exploring around the walls of the castle, before returning to the Old Town so I that I had enough time to climb the opposite hill overlooking the town before sunset.

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Technical

Canon A20 Powershot for digital shots. Canon EOS 300V with Fuji 100 Reala film.

Links

Salzburg official site