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Published: April 28th 2013
Today we set out first for a small side trip outside of Salzburg. We took the number 25 bus which takes you directly to the Untersbergbahn in Grodig. In English, it takes you to the foot of Untersberg Mountain where you can board the tram to the top of the mountain.
Every other day we have been in Salzburg has been picture perfect blue skies you could see for miles. The day we decide to go to the top of Untersberg it is of course overcast. This may have turned out to be a good thing, because otherwise I would know how far off the ground we were during the tram ride out.
The 25 bus is actually a good bus for tourists, it also takes you directly to Hellbrunn Palace, Untersberg and the Zoo (if you were so inclined to go to the Salzburg Zoo.) The bus ride was about 20 minutes and part of the way we had an old nun on the bus. I only mention this because she was an Irish nun, spoke excellent German, but she was still Irish, I am sure she would rather be in Ireland than Salzburg.
When we got
to Grodig, you could not see the top from the ground. We got on the tram and off we went in to the unknown. Most of our journey to the top was in the fog, there were a couple of exiting moments when we go to a cable tower and felt as if we were going off a cliff, but since we couldn’t see it was pretty hard to be scared. If it would have been a clear day I might have had a heart attack (heights are not exactly my thing). We finally broke through the fog at the very top. The view was simply out of this world. We could not see the valley floor below us, but could see the tops of the German Alps. It was also pretty cold 3 Celsius.
We stayed at the top for about 45 minutes then boarded the tram to go back down. Same thing in the fog most of the time. We were able to see all of Salzburg as we got closer to the bottom. After our visit we got back on the 25 bus and back to Salzburg. The remainder of the day was Mozart.
Lunch We started the Mozart walking tour with lunch. The first place we picked, while the food was most likely very good, we did not stay, because they put us in a tiny room with a screaming child. I realize I am a tourist, but I really don’t like being treated so obviously like one. We figured out pretty quickly that we were not going to have a good experience there so we opted to look elsewhere. It turned out to be a good decision on our part.
We strolled just a few feet, walked past Mozart’s birthplace and ended up in a place called Café Mozart. It was upstairs off the main street of Getreidegasse and to our total amazement you could actually smoke inside. They had both a smoking and non-smoking section (I remember those) Jerry naturally was in smoker’s heaven. Lunch was good and inexpensive. And after 4 days of being in Austria I finally had my first Schnitzel and Jerry had his first Sauerkraut. Even I liked the sauerkraut. The Schnitzel was not Wiener schnitzel as it was made with pork not veal. For dessert we had the very famous Salzburger Nockerlu. Which is basically
the Austrian version of an Il Flotante in Paris. Baked French meringue and underneath cranberries, and they were nothing like our cranberries. I also had a very nice glass of Beerenauslese an sweet Austrian Dessert wine similar to a Sauterne but not quite as thick.
Mozart After lunch we began our Mozart walk. This was on the itinerary for yesterday but we ran out of time. The first stop was Mozart’s Birthplace. The actual house where he and his sister were born. It was a very interesting self guided tour. They are very serious about the no picture rule. Several visitors were quickly scolded when they even thought about taking a picture. One teenager start taking a picture and one of the attendant’s put her paper in front of the camera. I am not sure why they didn’t want you to take any pictures, these were not masterpieces and most rare items were behind protective glass. But a rule is a rule and it was posted everywhere, but people can’t even read symbols I guess.
From the birth house we strolled to Mozart Platz and the statute of Mozart. His only two sons (who survived childhood) were
both present when the statute was first dedicated. The Mozart Platz is adjacent to the Residenz Platz the former winter residence of the Prince Archbishops. We did not get there in time to go in to the state rooms. From there we went to the panorama museum, the only item of real note here is the 360 painting of the City of Salzburg. There was also a pretty large exhibit regarding the Sound of Music comparing reality to the myths. We only had 30 minutes to visit so we just hit the 360 panoramic painting.
It was then 5:00 and Sunday so all museums are now closed. The Glockenspiel would not start chiming for another hour, so we headed back to the hotel. I had some more payroll reports to do anyway and Jerry need to shower for dinner. On that note, we decided before we left home that I would take showers in the morning and Jerry at night. This way we could get an earlier start in the morning and he could sleep longer. For those of you that don’t know, Jerry takes forever to get ready, at least an hour.
We had picked
three places for dinner (to be safe it is Sunday). It was another wise decision on our part, the first place was closed Sundays (despite the books saying they were open) the second place was under renovation for 2 years so our third choice was the winner. But more on that after we have actually been there.
This is our last night in Salzburg. We have a very early train to Vienna in the morning, but we appear to be in easy walking distance to the train station, so a taxi should not be necessary. I will have final thoughts about Salzburg on my next blog, perhaps written on the train.
The Final Evening in Salzburg It was a very good thing that we had made a reservation for dinner earlier in the day. As we ate our dinner several other were turned away. I haven’t done my daily travel tip during this trip yet, so here comes a couple now:
Travel Tips:
1. On Sundays always always make a reservation ahead of time. Restaurants are very difficult to find (good ones that is) and unless you want to be eating pizza in Salzburg or
McDonalds in Paris, find your Sunday night dinner spot ahead of time and book it.
2. By a Salzburg Card when you are here. In fact check them out in any major city, some are better than others but we almost always save money. Today alone the cards more than paid for themselves.
We had dinner at Herzl on Getreidegasse; it is basically the main street in the old town. It is very authentic Austrian fair and the prices were fairly reasonable. The service was great, the spoke English and locals and tourists alike frequent the place. It was the best meal we have had in Salzburg. All of the food has been great, especially the soups, but this place really was what you think of when you think Austrian Food, and yes what we had was all Austrian, even if it sounds like Hungarian. Austrian, Hungary and the Czech Republic all have different variations on much of the same food as they were all part of the same empire at one time. I can’t think right now or I would give you the historically correct title, but I will do that later.
We haven’t had many
greens while we have been here so today at both lunch and dinner we made a point of ordering salads to get some roughage. We don’t want to end up like poor Maria Von Trapp and die of gangrene of the stomach because we don’t eat enough roughage.
In addition to the great food the experience was also very nice. There was a good mix of people in our section of the restaurant. One table was speaking German, the next English, and the next Korean and finally the people at the table next to us were speaking Russian. The table was a mother and your young son, he was being pretty annoying to the staff, running around in the kitchen seeing what they were doing and basically getting in their way. The staff didn’t seem to mind, or they were just biting their tongues.
After dinner we walked home did some packing and now of course I am posting this blog. Jerry is already snoring. We are off next to Vienna or Wein as it is called here, for three nights. I am pretty sure that won’t be enough time, just like 3 days and 4 nights isn’t
really enough for Salzburg.
Today’s Food Breakfast – coffee and juice, no time much to see
Lunch – Jerry: Schwinesbratwurste with sauerkraut
Chris: Schwine Schnitzel mit Reis (rice)
Dessert: Salzburger Nockerlu, coffee and Beerenauslese (dessert wine)
Dinner – Jerry: Tomatencreme (cream of tomato soup, he said it was the best ever and I agree), Rindsgulasch (Goulash with dumplings)
Chris: Gulaschsuppe (yes Goulash soup), Wiener Schnitzel (it was huge and perfectly breaded)
Shared: Bauernsalat (Salzburg Famers salad with local sheep cheese) This is basically a Austrian trip on a Salade Lyonnais, the difference the potatoes are sautéed and the sheep cheese.
No dessert at dinner we were just too full. The Wine was a 98 Blaufrankisch (a very nice, light red wine).
Tomorrow Vienna!!!
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aj
non-member comment
Nice...so nice.