Salzburg: Baroque Splendor

Salzburg has one of the best preserved skylines in Europe. The great Fortress Hohensalzburg sits high atop an Alpine cliff watching over the baroque buildings and churches of Old Town, unspoiled by modern skyscrapers. We spent an afternoon drifting through Old Town’s distinctive squares, antique buildings, and ornate baroque and gothic churches. We climbed above of the city to wander around the medieval fortress and later strolled through the shops of the Getreidegasse.

We chose not to stay in the city, but instead lodged at a guesthouse in a small alpine village, not far from Salzburg. This way we enjoyed the best of both worlds by spending time in both the Alpine country, with its mountains and lakes, as well as the famous city. Our Mozart moment was at a performance of the Magic Flute at the Marionette Theater. Spending an afternoon exploring ice caves let us witness amazing natural creations. This also allowed us to see the exquisite beauty of Salzburg Land.

Quick Tips:

Do: Consider buying the Salzburg Card which provides free admission to all the major sites and free transportation over a series of days.
Don’t: Worry about brushing up on your German. Many people in Salzburg speak some English.
Do: Be prepared because Mozart is everywhere! Mozart’s face is as celebrated here as throughout the country. The Mozart chocolate marzipan candy balls, called Mozartkugel, are actually very tasty.
Do: Buy the standard tacky souvenirs on the right bank where you will find more affordable prices if you are going to buy any at all. Light-up flashing model of Jesus anyone?
How to say "Do you speak English?": Sprechen Sie Englisch?
Suggested local dish to try: Sacher torte.
Local tourist office: Stop in at the Salzburg Information Office at Mozartplatz 5 to pick up information on the city, book a tour guide or just ask questions.

Best Way To Get Around:

Getting There: Visitors can fly into the Salzburg Airport – W.A. Mozart which is about 2 miles west of the city. Many visitors drive since Salzburg is in between Munich and Vienna. Another option is arriving by trail in to the Salzburg Haptbanhof which is on all the major rail lines of Europe.
Getting Around: Since we stayed up in the mountains, we drove into down. If you drive, you must park on the right bank and walk across the river since Old Town is for pedestrians only. Most of the sites are in Old Town so you will be walking around a lot.

The Landasthof Fischerwirt is about a twenty minute drive from Salzburg’s Old Town. It is located up in the hills above the city, in a small town called Faistenau. The hotel is a "guesthouse" and is in an ethnic German building. The parking lot in front holds about 15 cars.

Our room was a decent size and had a queen bed with two down comforters on top. A television sat on top of the dresser and there was a small table with chairs in the room as well. A door opened to the shared balcony which is above the parking lot, and wraps around the building where you can peak down into the bubbling brook below. Most nights I sat in a chair on the balcony, listening to the brook and snacking on one of the wonderful Austrian pastries I just had to purchase in town while I wrote notes about our day in my travel journal.

In addition to lodging, the Fischerwirt also has a great restaurant. We ate lunch here the day we arrived in town. I had the daily lunch special of a traditional schnitzel and my boyfriend ordered the fish. The fish was served breaded, with tail and head still on. He wasn’t too happy about that, but my schnitzel was excellent. Each morning a rich breakfast buffet was provided in the main restaurant. In addition to various types of bread, a fruit corner, and a tea bar, meats and cheeses which are products of the regional farmers were laid out for the guests to enjoy.

Lake Hintersee, a true Alpine lake is only a 10 minute walk down the road. The Fischerwirt has their own private beach on the lake with a large lawn for sunbathing. There in nothing like a brisk walk around a bright blue Alpine lake on a crisp spring day!

We were attracted to this restaurant because it is in the old St. Peter’s Abbey. This is supposed to be the oldest restaurant in Europe, founded in 803. We heard about a legend that Faust met with the Devil in this very tavern. It seemed like a mysterious place that would be perfect for an Austrian dinner in Salzburg. We got there early, before the restaurant filled up and we got to pick from almost all the tables in the large abbey. The restaurant itself is absolutely beautiful. When you walk through the doors you are in the old courtyard of the Abbey. Several tables with white table clothes and candles are set up under the open sky. Vines form archways which separate sections of the tables. I assume these are only set up in the months with good weather. This "indoor" seating is wonderful on a cool evening and can be one of the most romantic experiences during you stay. Concrete archways and more space are cut from the rock where more tables are set up. On a trip to the bathroom I found additional inside seating and beautiful banquet rooms.

The menu offers traditional Austrian cuisine. We ordered wild boar. It was the first time we every tried wild boar and it was delicious. The white wine we had with dinner is made by the Abbey’s vineyards. For desert the waiter recommended the Salbzurger Nockerln, which is a sweet soufflé that resembles three golden church domes in a baking dish. When then bring it to you table they cut it open and pour fruit sauce over it. We are chocolate eaters so it wasn’t very sweet, but it was still tasty and an interesting desert. Prices are reasonable with each dinner being about $15 to $25 per person. I suggest you plan on spending a good hour and a half to two hours here, as the food is delicious.

During our meal the restaurant filled up quickly. I think it is a bit of a tourist place since it seemed like tour busses full of people came in for dinner. Until that point, we thought we had quite a find. Still, the unique atmosphere and historic surroundings make for a memorable dining experience. They must be doing something right to stay in business over 1000 years.

Since you can’t avoid Mozart in Salzburg, we decided that seeing a performance of one of his famous operas by the world’s most renowned marionette company would be a fun way to get our Mozart quota for the trip. The Salzburg Marionette Theater specializes in Mozart operas. We bought tickets to the performance through their website a few weeks before our trip. On the night of the performance, we got dressed up and headed into town. Since bus loads of tourists also had tickets to this performance, people were wearing everything from jeans to dresses.

The elegant theatre where the performance is held is on the right bank, near Old Town. When you enter the theater you will see amazingly detailed marionette puppets in glass cases lining the walls. Their beautiful costumes are very impressive. The theater is designed so that the puppets look larger than they actually are when they are on stage. Inside, huge crystal chandeliers drip in various spots over the audience.

Since marionettes can’t sing, the theater company performs to recordings of the 18th and 19th century operas made by the world’s leading orchestras and singers. The costumed puppets perform hilarious physical feats and have an amazingly life-like range of expression. Papageno, the bird catcher from Mozart’s "Magic Flute" was costumed in a bright outfit of red, green and yellow bird feathers.

There is a comforting pleasure in watching the marionettes perform. The audience accepts the spirit of youth emanating from the stage. After about fifteen minutes, you forget you are not watching real people. Don’t think this is a children’s attraction. Most of the audience were adults and treated the performance as a traditional opera.

Our adventure here was neat, and I’m glad we did it because it was a different way to experience Mozart rather than visiting his home, but it didn’t hold our attention for the entire opera. It may have been our jet lag kicking in, but the uncomfortable chairs and German opera music made us a bit sleepy. I think if there were subtitles projected in English it may have held our attention. The story of the opera was provided in the playbill, but we were having a bit of a hard time keeping up with the story since we did not know what was going on.

The marionettes really are amazing little creations, but I recommend you like German opera if you plan to see a performance here.

For a break from the Eurpoean city scene, spend an unconventional afternoon with nature visiting an ice cave. About 30 miles south of Salzburg are the largest know ice caves in the world. You need to be quite fit to visit the ice caves and I do not recommend it for small children or elderly travelers. Make sure to wear warm clothes and appropriate shoes for hiking.

On the drive up the mountain to get to the ice cave you pass Castle Hohenwerfen which was founded in the 11th century. From the parking lot you will hike about fifteen minutes and find the lower station. A gondola will take you up the mountain to the outpost where you pay your fee and can get a bite of food while enjoying the spectacular view. Hike up to the entrance of the caves whenever you are ready. For us, this was at least a thirty minute walk. The guide books say it should be fifteen minutes, but it is a really tough climb. I was chatting during the walk and I kept getting out of breath. It took me a while to figure out that I can not walk and talk at the same time in that high altitude. I wonder why my boyfriend thought that was so funny?

The ice caves were created by the gusty winds of the Alps. In the winter, cold air blows into the caves, freezing the water from melting snow that has dripped into the cave during the warmer months. In summer, a cold breeze flows toward the entrance from deep within the caverns and prevents the ice from melting.

Eisriesenwelt means "World of Giants" so that may give you a clue about what you’re in for. In the beginning of the tour the guide lights and hands out several lamps. These were not given to everyone but to every third person in the line. I would have preferred to have my own light since it is very dark inside the cave and there are many steps. During the tour, you'll climb 440 feet up and down sturdy, well-maintained steps. But the lights bounce all over the place and I got a bit clausterphobic a few times.

Once inside, you are rewarded with smooth walls, stalactites, stalagmites, domes, frozen waterfalls, and other ice formations which have shaped this crystal world. Several times during the tour, the guide disappeared behind an ice sculpture or formation and set off a flare. The effect of the intense bluish-white light is stunning, and it highlights every unique detail of the ice shape.

The Eisriesenwelt is open to tourists from May 1 until late October. I suggest you do not venture on this trip on a stormy day since there is a good deal of outside hiking. The guided tour lasts about two hours, but you should allow about 5 hours for your entire trip.

When you think of visiting a church in Europe, you usually picture a colossal structure built to express the civilians’ grandiose dedication to God. St. Peter’s may be dwarfed in size to other European churches, but not in splendor.

Most visitors stop at St. Peter’s to visit the graveyard or catacombs and a look inside the church is often neglected. This ornate church features fascinating examples of Baroque art in addition to a beautiful organ. My first impression of the church was that it is a little bit tacky. The abundance of gold statues, red velvet and colorful carnations are a bit much. But as I wandered through the church, I started focusing on one thing at a time and what I found was an over-abundance of wonders compounded in the small church. Too many wonderful things can never be that bad.

The church was updated in the 17th and 18th centuries in the elegant baroque style that stands today, but the west doors date all the way back to 1240. A rococco ceiling caps the interior with its gold trimmed designs snaking above. Almost every inch of the church is covered with artwork. Several paintings are inlaid inches apart, high up along the walls above the church pews. The octagon dome also has artworks inlaid on each of its eight sides. The Salzburg Madonna, dating from the 1400s, is in the left chancel.

Many alters along the sides of the church appear to still be in use. Fresh flowers are placed behind the locked gates of the highly decorated memorials. Many of the altar paintings were done by Kremser Schmidt, the premier artist of the day. You will not be able to miss the organ with several gold statues standing atop some of its many silver pipes. Additional organ pipes are embedded in the walls down the length of the church. The ceiling above the organ draws your attention with its fresco of angles and decorative plaster designs.

The cemetery behind St. Peter’s, shaded by pines and weeping willows, is the elegant, even romantic resting place of Salzburg's noblest families. It is the oldest Salzburg cemetery still in use and the present layout of the churchyard dates from 1627.

Most of the unique grave markers have a white enamel centerpiece painted with rich colors and surrounded with detailed black ironwork. Many of these have a lamp dangling from the post supporting the elaborate design, which gives the grave an eerily homey appearance. Ornately carved gravestones are present as well. The occupants’ graves are very close together with their burial plots haphazardly laid out. The brightly colored flowers placed on many of these graves and flourishing green plants throughout give the cemetery a wild appearance.

The catacombs are built into the cliff above this cemetery and a small fee is charged to tour them.

This castle is one of the highlights of Salzburg and offers breath taking views of the city. Hohensalzburg Fortress is the largest, fully-preserved fortress in central Europe. The castle features a tower, torture chambers and impressive state rooms. If you take the guided tour you get to see parts of the castle which are out of bounds to other visitors. Admission prices have different options including return funicular fare, entrance only, and entrance to the fortress, castle and museum.

Unfortunately during our visit we did not get to go inside the fortress. We somehow got confused with the hours. It was the one thing we really wanted to see in Salzburg and when we stopped in to ask, the man at the ticket boot told us (in German) that it was open an hour later than the Dom. So we did a quick visit of the Dom so we wouldn’t miss that and then headed back over to see the fortress. When we tried to buy our tickets, a different man was at the counter told us it had just closed. At least we could go up top and look around.

Disappointed, we purchased a funicular ticket and rode up to the top. We walked over to the terrace and found the city of Salzburg spread out before us. The view of the city we just rose from was amazing. We took several pictures from various places on the south terrace, trying to capture the romance of the city from our bird’s perspective. Wandering throughout the keep, we marveled at the medieval details such as the iron canons and windows and wondered about the people who lived there years ago.

Built in 1077 and altered to its present form in the 16th century, the Hohensalzburg Fortress gives off an air of both calm beauty and impregnability. It has little history as it was never attacked and only occupied once when it was surrendered to Napoleon without a fight. Prior to that, it served as a refuge for the Salzburg Prince-Archbishops who took pride in its generous expansion with their rich profits from the salt and gold mines. At other times during its life the fortress was utilized as a military barracks and a prison.

As we walked around the village contained within the castle’s walls, we tried to peak through the windows and doors so see the inside. Around the side we found a small chapel which was used several hundred years before. Since we had some extra time, we sat down at the restaurant for a drink and a snack. When sitting on the back patio of the castle you can enjoy a panoramic view of the Alps. On our way down, we opted to walk and took the steep roadway built for horses and pedestrians of a different era. What a magical place.

Our visit to the Dom was a quick one. We when we walked past the horses and through the archway into Domplatz, we were drawn by the power of the Cathedral standing before us. A statue of the Virgin Mary in the square in front of the Cathedral caught our attention. True, the Virgin sits atop the complex statue, but it was the creatures on the sides surrounding her that we were trying to figure out. Were they angels? Fallen men? Some of them had horns. Later we found out the figures represented wisdom, faith, the church and the devil. After a few snap shots, we turned our attention to the details of the Cathedral itself.

Built in the 17th century out of light colored Salzburg marble, the Dom is one of the main attractions in Salzburg. The marble façade, crowned with two symmetrical towers, is dominated by a statue of Christ between Moses and Elijah. The three main bronze doors of the Cathedral designed by different artists represent faith, hope and charity. In front of the doors are four Evangelists: St. Rupert, St. Virgil, St. Peter, and St. Paul. The ornate façade of the Cathedral provides an indication of what to expect inside.

Our visit was right before closing time. We wanted to see everything, but tried to take our time and pay attention to the details of this amazing place. We walked up and down the aisles, admiring the richly decorated Cathedral with elaborate frescoes, stucco, marble and gold leaf. One altar is formed by several golden statues gathered around pink marble columns. The awe-inspiring dome above is decorated with paintings, sculptures and frescoes. Equally amazing, in a different way, is the world renowned 4000 pipe organ which plays at mass. The huge interior can provide mass for over 10,000 attendants.

The Dom is the first of its kind north of the Alps to be of the Italian Baroque style. Before this modern Cathedral was built, a church has stood on this spot for a long time. A visit to the crypt below shows excavation with 2nd Century Christian-Roman mosaics and the foundations of the Romanesque and Gothic churches. It is always interesting to walk around Roman ruins and discover the previous building’s foundations. Due to damage caused by the WWII, there was major reconstruction to the building in 1959.

A museum founded in 1974 is on the southern side of the Dom. Items used by priests in the church from the 12th through 18th centuries are on display. There are also many 15th- through 18th-century sculptures, crosses and paintings for you to examine.

Salzburg’s Old Town offers distinctive squares, baroque and gothic churches, and a rich musical legacy. Best way to see the Old Town is on foot. Walking through the city, one can just imagine it as it was during the Renaissance and Baroque eras.

After crossing the river and entering Old Town, the Getreidegasse begins. Getreidegasse was old Salzburg's main street. Today it is still upscale and has wrought iron store signs hanging out over the street. Even McDonald’s has a wrought iron store sign! As you wander through the narrow streets past slender buildings in the shopping district of the city, you will surely encounter all sorts of references to Mozart. His name and face grace numerous brands of candies, several hotels and restaurants, and souvenirs. Mozarts Geburtshaus (birthplace) is a museum on the Getreidegasse that faces the main bridge over the Salzach River. At the end of Getreidegasse is the wonderful Festival Hall and Horse Fountain.

Residenzplatz is the large square in the center of Old Town and used to be the city’s religious center. This and Residenz, which was the seat of royalty in the old days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were built by Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich for his mistress, Salomé. Among the clip-clop of the horse and carts, the Residenzplatz and the Salzburg Cathedral (Dom) are the centerpiece of this Baroque city. One of the largest and finest baroque fountains this side of the Alps is in the center of Residenzplatz.

The modern Cathedral (Dom) was built in the 17th century. Stand in Domplatz and enjoy all its features on the outside, and then venture in to see more baroque grandeur. You can visit the crypt to see remnants from churches which stood there before, or visit the museum to look at the religious objet d'art.

The Moechsberg cliffs tower behind the Old City, crowned with the Hohensalzburg Fortress. As climbs to medieval castles go, the Hohensalzburg is a bit steep, so if you are not up to the climb, there is a funicular train available. This mighty fortress, over 400 feet above the river, dominates the skyline and offers a great view of the area. Once you get up there, you can see the entire city. We ate at light meal at an outdoor café in the courtyard of the castle overlooking the Austrian Alps - the view was great.

St. Peter's Abby on the western side of Old Town dates from around 850 AD. Beside the church itself, two points of interest are the cemetery and catacombs. Take time wander through the cemetery which is eerily beautiful and especially interesting because of its lavishly-colored and detailed memorials. Many of the memorials appear to be made from enamel which is very unusual. The catacombs are built into the cliff overlooking the cemetery.