Spectacular Baroque Salzburg

Salzburg is a particularly lovely city, located in a particularly beautiful
area. With 147,000 inhabitants, it is Austria’s fourth-largest city, but only
Vienna outshines it in international fame. It is the birthplace of Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart and partly the setting for the Sound of Music. It has fantastic, mostly Baroque architecture and natural beauty.

Although human settlements in the Salzburg region date back to 40,000 BC,
the town really came to the fore after St. Boniface founded a bishopric here in
739 AD. The bishops and, later, archbishops ruled Salzburg as absolute monarchs
until the Napoleonic era ended their secular powers. Salzburg briefly became
part of Bavaria before the Congress of Vienna handed it over to Austria instead.

Salzburg's golden age was from the late Middle Ages to the baroque. Most of the
architectural treasures in Salzburg date from this period, when a succession of
archbishops aimed to build a new Rome.

Salzburg is inevitably associated with Mozart and has many Mozart-associated
sights, never mind that Mozart hightailed it to Vienna as soon as he legally
could. Both Mozart’s place of birth (Geburtshaus) and later family home (Wohnhaus) are museums that are informative but not overwhelmingly so and therefore easy to enjoy also for non-Mozart fans dragged there by enthusiastic partners.

An absolute highlight is a visit to Festung Hohensalzburg. This mighty fortress towers 120m over the city. For centuries, it was the principle
residence of the archbishop and was maintained for emergency use even after the
archbishops moved to more comfortable lodgings in the old town. The fortress has never been taken by force. A walk up hill rather than taking the funicular is an obvious, but by no means easy, way to realize why.

Salzburg has been a tourist magnet for centuries and there are numerous
museums, galleries, parks, palaces, restaurants, and entertainment opportunities to entertain the masses. Admission fees are often rather high, but discount cards are available, and many sights such as churches, cemeteries, and parks are open for free. Simply strolling in the narrow streets of the old town is a pleasure.

Salzburg is one of
Austria's UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Quick Tips:

Most larger European cities offer tourist cards with discounts on
transportation and free or reduced admission fees to major sights. In the
German-speaking world, none offers better value than the Salzburg Card. Included in the card is local public transportation, free admission to all major sights, free cruises on the Salzach in season, and price reductions to some entertainment. Being in profit on a three-day card before dusk on day one is no major achievement.

The Salzburg Card cost €19 for 24 hours, €26 for 48 hours, and €32 for 72
hours. (From mid-June to mid-September, each card is €2 more expensive.) It pays for itself very fast. A visit to the fortress via funicular and a visit to the two main Mozart museums pay the one-day card. Add a visit to the Residence and the two-day card is covered. An elevator trip up the hill and a visit to the Museum der Moderne and you are around €7 ahead on the three-day card.

Best Way To Get Around:

Salzburg’s old town is perfect for walking, which is just as well, as
motorized vehicles are banned from most of it. Elevators are available to whoosh visitors up to the Museum der Moderne on the Mönchberg hill. A funicular service is available to the fortress. It is, of course, possible to hike up the hill too, but note that many of the walkways are very steep and dangerously slippery when wet.

In the old town, it is possible to take horse-drawn carriage tours. These
traditional Fiakers cost around € 33 for 20 minutes or €66, for 50
minutes. Up to four passengers can be conveyed at that fee.

Near the old town, parking is at a premium, with valet parking apparently
costing up to €50 for the night. A saner option is to use the excellent bus
service to get from outlying areas to near the old town. In spring and summer,
boat trips are available on the Salzach River. The Salzburg region is popular
with cyclists, although the old town remains more suitable to pedestrians.

Yin and yang. Black and white. New car and Ibis hotel parking garage? It simply did not sound right, and we were never going to settle for a cheap joint on the wrong side of the station just hours after picking up my wife’s new car in Munich. When scanning the Web for a suitable hotel, most hotels insisted on pricy suites or family rooms to accommodate two adults and two children, even if one of them was a 7-month-old baby. Notable exceptions were the hotels of the up-market international chains. I was first drawn to the Goldener Hirsch, which is located in Getreidegasse in the heart of the old town. However, write-ups suggested that some rooms are rather cramped, and worse, valet parking runs close to 50€ per night. (The writer of that remark claims to drive an Aston Martin. Somehow, I refuse to take this concern seriously from a driver of a 160,000€ car, but, for us, it was a tad too much.)

The Sheraton is conveniently located adjacent to the Kurpark just a few steps away from the Crown Plaza. It is around a 10-minutes walk from the main station and around a 15-minutes stroll from the old town. Several pleasant routes are available, including along the Salzach River or through the very pleasant Mirabelle Park.

The room was large, well equipped, and tastefully decorated. The huge bed was very comfortable, and multiple lighting options were available on either side of the bed. A large desk, a small bar fridge, and a large TV with various satellite channels made life more comfortable. Ample closet and storing space were available, allowing us to unpack and escape living from a suitcase. The bathroom was huge and done by Valentino – his name was plastered all over it. The main color was pink, but it still looked good. Our room faced the street, but noise was never a problem. More expensive rooms have views of the Kurpark.

Housekeeping was perfect. We were in the room when the Hausdame dragged the baby bed in, and she offered to bring an extra rollaway bed for the toddler. We declined – no need to get her used to such luxuries while she is totally happy with the small space-saver rollup mattress that we usually carry for her. Every night, the Hausdame would leave a Mozartkugel on our pillows and never failed to leave an extra one for the toddler.

The hotel is adjacent to a large indoor swimming pool. A connection door is available to give direct, free access to hotel guests. With all Salzburg’s fantastic cafés to explore, we did not breakfast in the hotel, although the buffet did seem comprehensive. Traveling during the off-season, we paid 139€ per night, including all taxes, which is reasonable given the huge quality room and excellent location. In the high season, expect to pay up to three times more.

The Stiftkeller St Peter is one of the best-known restaurants in Austria. It is the oldest restaurant in Salzburg, having served food to travelers as far back as the times of Charlemagne (around 800 AD). The restaurant occupies several rooms in the cellars of St Peter’s, as is obvious from the restaurant’s name. It is old and looks old without any need to add kitschy, theme-enhancing decorations.

The menu’s emphasis is on local and Italian cuisine, but also includes a range of international dishes. We were not particularly hungry and were planning to have Salzburger Nockerl, the local dessert specialty, so we opted for smaller dishes. My wife had a selection of starters, which was a fair value at 12.20€, while I had an Asian-style fried duck with vegetables. Although it tasted fantastic, the amount of food was rather little for the asking price of 19.50€. At least it left space for a large helping of Nockerl. This dessert is huge and often described as an edible dream of egg soufflé and sugar served with a raspberry sauce. Despite Salzburg’s long history as an archbishop-ruled state, the question whether eating Nockerl is a sin or not has never conclusively been answered. At 11.80€, the Nockerl was good value – although billed as serving two, it could easily have been enough for four. Note that the Nockerl requires around a half-hour preparation time and should therefore be ordered before the meal.

Prices in the Stiftkeller are generally high, with main courses often exceeding 20€. However, the quality of the food is excellent, and there are many lower-price options, such as soup and the German-speaking world’s tourist standard – Wiener schnitzel – available at more reasonable prices. The breadbasket adds 2€ per go. In contrast, the children’s menu is excellent value. The toddler’s Peter Pan – a Wiener schnitzel with French fries – offered around four times more food than my dish, and the quality of the food was on par with the great taste served to the adults. If it was not for the under-10 year’s age limit, many an adult could have been happy with this dish at half the price of a normal Wiener schnitzel.

The Stiftkeller St Peter is, unfortunately, not a well-kept secret. It can cater to parties of up to 350 and is popular with bus tours. During the high season, reservations may be needed and it would also be wise to dine slightly earlier or later than normal in order to avoid being crammed into a room with a large bus party. Even when dining here late afternoon on an off-season weekday, we found the restaurant almost full to capacity. However, service remained very professional, unhurried, and friendly. We shall gladly return.

St Peter Bezirk 1/4 5010 Salzburg Tel: 0662-841268 www.haslauer.at

Salzburg’s most famous son is, of course, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In addition to all the Mozart paraphernalia on sale at numerous souvenir shops, the ubiquitous Mozartkugeln, the odd Mozart statues, and of course, numerous Mozart concerts, two museums are dedicated to the memory of Mozart. As Mozart preferred to spend most of his short adult life in Vienna, Salzburg has to make do with his place of birth (Geburtshaus) and the house his family occupied during his teens (Wohnhaus).

The more famous is the Geburtshaus located in the heart of the old town. It is in a lovely yellow-painted Baroque house where the Mozart family rented a few rooms on the third floor (fourth if the ground floor is not counted separately). The building’s original decorative Rococo façade facing the Rathausplatz was destroyed during the nineteenth century but the façade facing Universitätsplatz is the original from Mozart’s time. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born here on 27 January 1756 as the last of seven children.

During our out-of-season visit, there were no queues to enter, and my wife and I went in turns in order not having to drag the children up and down the stairs and through the narrow corridors. As there is not that much to see inside, it took only a few minutes for each of us. Several documents, letters, and objects reminding of Mozart are on display. The most interesting items are a number of violins, including a small child’s violin, and a piano that belonged to Mozart. Piano recitals recorded on this piano inside the house are available on CD from the gift shop.

A lower floor is dedicated to Mozart and the stage with displays of opera stage sets and explanations of the stories of several operas. Despite the factual errors in the film, "Amadeus" this museum is quite happy to use parts of it to great effect to bring to home the life and experiences of Mozart.

Mozarts Geburtshaus

is one of the main sights in Salzburg. Although the Wohnhaus is a more interesting museum, it is the Geburtshaus that people travel from all over the world to see.

Opening hours are daily from 9am to 6pm, closing at 7pm in July and August. Admission is €5.50 or free with the Salzburg Card.

Mozarts Geburthaus Getreidegasse 9 Tel: 844313 www.mozarteum.at

Up to the early 19th century, when Napoleon finally broke the worldly power of many German clergy, Salzburg was ruled by the archbishop acting as an absolute monarch. Rules and regulations were plenty and strictly enforced. For this government, privacy did not start at the house door. For example, it prescribed at what age brothers and sisters were no longer allowed to share the same room. Therefore, in 1773, the Mozart family could no longer live in the smaller apartment in Getreidegasse, where Wolfgang Amadeus was born, and, fortunately, could afford a larger and nicer place in the newly fashionable district across the Salzach River.

Mozart’s father rented an apartment in the Tanzmeisterhaus, Makartplatz 8, from 1773 to 1787. Wolfgang Amadeus lived here up to 1780, after which he decamped to livelier Vienna. The house was severely damaged during the Second World War and only restored during the mid-1990s with money from a Japanese insurance company. It now houses a museum with displays of items related to Mozart, as well as a large collection of historical keyboard instruments. Audio sets in various languages are included in the admission price. In addition to a vast amount of information, large selections of Mozart music are also played to bring alive the history of the composer and his family. However, non-Mozart fans who are forced to accompany their partners may find the information a bit long-winded at times.

The Mozart-Wohnhaus is a far more serious museum than the more popular, and easier to enjoy, Mozarts Geburtshaus. While the Geburtshaus is a must-see even for non-Mozart fans, the Wohnhaus is more aimed at true Mozart fans and they will not leave disappointed. This museum lives and breathes Mozart and music.

Opening hours are daily from 9am to 6pm, closing at 7pm in July and August. Admission is 5.50€, or free with the Salzburg Card.

Also housed in the same building is the Mozart Ton- und Film-Sammlung with a selection of audio and film clips related to Mozart, his music, and contemporaries. The oldest items are from the late 19th century. Visitors can freely select clips and listen to or view them on the state-of-the-art
equipment. Admission is free, but opening hours are limited to Monday, Tuesday, and Friday morning from 9am to 1pm, and Wednesday and Thursday afternoon from 1 to 5pm.

Mozart-Wohnhaus
Makartplatz 8
Salzburg
Tel: 883454
www.mozarteum.at

The Museum der Moderne (Modern Art Museum) has an unsurpassable location. It is on the Mönchsberg, with fantastic views of Salzburg, the castle, and the surrounding countryside. Its construction was controversial, and it opened in October 2004, just days before our visit. I am not particularly drawn to modern art, but as I was planning to take in the views, I thought it well to sprint through the galleries, too.

Several hiking trails lead up the Mönchsberg, but the easiest way to get to the Museum der Moderne is via the Mönchbergaufzug, a couple of modern elevators that whisk the visitor up inside the hill. Return journeys are 2.60€, but included in the Salzburg Card.

The museum is in a modern building with huge exhibition space spread over four floors. It is a great place to display art. The museum’s huge collection consists of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and photography of the 20th century, with an emphasis on post-1945 art. Part of the collection is displayed elsewhere in Salzburg. I enjoyed some of the works, but found more items here of questionable artistic value than I usually do at modern-art museums. However, the reviews the new museum received indicate that modern-art critics value the collection highly.

A few years ago, when admission prices were somewhat saner, I saw a famous painting in the New York Museum of Modern Art by the Russian artist Kazimir Malevich entitled "White on White." It features a white square painted on a white background. I immediately thought of this work when I found myself confronted by a large painting entitled "Black Square." I was not surprised to learn that this work was also by Malevich. While I enjoyed "White on White," "Black Square" left me rather cold. The skill required to paint a canvass plain black must be somewhat less than the skill required to convince someone to fork out more money for it than what a black, rather than whitish, canvas is worth.

For me, the best part of the trip up the hill was the viewing platform. Despite fog, it was possible to enjoy the view of Salzburg and the castle. I also found the best modern-art exhibit here. Attached to the viewing platform’s security wall was a wooden window frame. A handwritten note identified it as "Scheißkloofenster, 2004. Leigabe" – "Toilet Window (the German is more descript), 2004. Borrowed Item." Clearly, I was not the first visitor less than impressed by some works that are called art.

Admission to the Museum der Moderne is a steep 8€, excluding the elevator price, or free with the Salzburg Card. Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm, closing at 9pm on Wednesdays.

Museum der Moderne Salzburg Mönchsberg Mönchsberg 32 5020 Salzburg Tel: 662/84 22 20-401

I am generally not attracted to graveyards and seldom bother to visit the graves of famous people. However, the Petersfriedhof (St Peter’s Graveyard) is small and well located and worth a few minutes of any visitor’s time – it need not even be a detour as it is a logical short cut from the Kapitelplatz to St Peter’s church and cellar.

According to legend, the Petersfriedhof has been in use since the third century. It has several chapels, family graves, and individual gravestones. When entering from the Kapitelplatz, note the first grave to the right – it belongs to the Fürst confectionary family of Mozartkugeln fame. Other graves belong to the patrician families of old Salzburg.

The small cemetery is boxed in between the buildings of the St Peter’s complex and a vertical rock wall of the Mönchberg hill. Inside this rock wall, catacombs were dug out and according to legend housed St Rupert and his followers as far back as the third century. Most of the constructions attached to the catacombs are more modern and parts have been restored in the Historicist style popular in the late-nineteenth century.

Although there is not that much to see inside the catacombs, they remain a popular destination for tourists. In the Kommunigruft are the graves of amongst others minor notables such as Nannerl Mozart and Michael Haydn. The Getraudenkapelle was dedicated in 1178 to the murdered Thomas Becket. Further chapels are dedicated to the saints and some were said to be used by St Rupert as the first church in Salzburg. The views over the roofs of the old town from higher up in the catacombs are fine. However, it requires a mighty number of steep stairs for a view that is far surpassed by those obtainable from an easier, mechanical trip up the hill to the fortress or Museum of Modern Art.

Admission to the cemetery is free but it is € 1 to enter the catacombs; free with the Salzburg Card. The cemetery is open daily but the catacombs are closed on Monday.

Old town Salzburg is fantastic place to stroll in, which is just as well, as most of the center is closed to motorized vehicles. The old town is in a long, narrow piece of flat land boxed in between the Salzach River and the steep, almost-vertical slopes of the Möchberg hill, which is crowned by the mighty Hohensalzburg fortress. Streets are generally narrow and complemented by covered arcades and even narrower alleys connecting the main roads that are generally parallel to the Salzach River. Although the atmosphere here is often medieval, the architecture is most often baroque, occasionally Renaissance. A happy mix of shops, restaurants, churches, ornamental structures, museums, and galleries makes Salzburg a fascinating city to stroll in.

The most important commercial street has traditionally been Getreidegasse; Mozart was born at Number 9. Traditional shop signs are still used in an attempt to preserve a medieval atmosphere. Note the low-key McDonald’s signs! The bright red-and-blue signs of the Nordstrom seafood chain that opened adjacent to the Mozarts Geburtshaus caused quite a scandal when unveiled in the 1990s.

It is possible to tour the streets of Salzburg by horse-drawn carriage. These Fiakers line up at Residenzplatz to the south of the cathedral – the tours are quite expensive. Until a century ago, horses were, of course, the norm, and like modern-day car-washing establishments, horses were bathed regularly to look their best. Two of these horse baths survived in Salzburg, the Roman-styled Kapitalschwemme near the cathedral and the very elegant baroque Hofmarstallschwemme. The latter, with huge theatrical paintings, were for the exclusive use of the horses from the archbishop’s large stable.

Salzburg, on the right bank of the Salzach, is considered "new" despite the number of buildings that survived from the 16th century. However, one street in the new area is even more medieval in feel than the old town. The Sandgasse runs parallel to the Salzach along the foot of the Kapuziner hill. During the day, it is deserted, but at night, it is alive and the location of many bars and cabaret shows. This has been the traditional red-light district of Salzburg, but presently, the Maison de Plaisir is the only official whorehouse here – operating hours are posted on the door. Despite the somewhat raunchy nightlife here, the area is safe and clean, with several old buildings of architectural note. In the mid-19th century, Austrain poet Ignaz Franz Castelli described the Steingasse as the ugliest street in the world. However, nowadays, it is considered the best-preserved example of civilian and secular life in medieval and baroque Salzburg. It is in stark contrast to the opulent splendor of the cathedral, archbishop’s residence, and other baroque palaces in the old town.

Schloss Mirabelle was erected in the early 17th century by Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Ratenau for Salome Alt. Salome Alt had beauty, and according to legend, she introduced nokerl to Salzburg. She was also the archbishop mistress and famously bore him 10 children. Although he succeeded in having her elevated to nobility, she was evicted from the palace soon after Wolf Dietrich’s fall from grace and imprisonment in the fortress. The original Baroque palace was severely damaged by fire in the early 19th century and replaced by the more sober classical building that survived to the present. The palace is currently being used by the city authorities, but it is possible to peak inside during office hours to see the marvelous stairways.

More accessible are the Baroque gardens, which offer a fine view across Salzburg’s Baroque skyline towards the elevated fortress. The large fountain with figures from Greek mythology is early 18th century, while the smaller Susanna fountain closer to the Heckentheater is an original from Wolf Dietrich’s time. According to legend, Susanna is a true representation of the beautiful Salome Alt.

From the Pegasus Fountain, a small set of stairs away from the palace leads to the Zwerglgarten (Dwarf Garden). Here, a number of marble dwarf figures are on display. The original 28 "court dwarfs" were sculpted during the
early 18th century and illustrated several professions common at the time, such as gardeners, manual laborers, and traders. Interestingly, entertainers are also present, including a ropewalker and a ball player. During Salzburg’s brief
Bavarian period in the Napoleonic era, King Ludwig I had the dwarfs removed, as he found them repulsive. Only about half of the original statues have since been recovered. The statues are between 1.2 and 1.4m (3.9 and 4.6 feet) tall. Originally, the dwarfs stood where the present children’s play area is – visitors saw the statues only from above, and they therefore looked even smaller.

Admission to the Mirabelle Gardens is free. The gardens serve as a handy shortcut from the station area to the old town and seem to be open from dawn to dusk.