A Castle and a Fortress

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The weather continues to be fantastic. So far, a week of warm weather from 20 to 28 degrees. I am full of a cold (thanks, Linds) and not feeling great but doses of paracetamol, iburprofen, antihistamine, nasal spray and throat lozenges and off we go.

As we have only two full days in Salzburg we've had to be selective. For today we've decided on the Hellbrun Palace, the Salzburg Fortress (Castle) and Old Town meander. From the Station we took a number 25 bus out of the city a little way to the Hellbrun Palace and garden. What a beautiful building and garden. It was initially built in 1613 by Marcus Sittikus, Archbishop of Salzburg. He had a penchant for trick gardens which had been all the rage at one time but now these gardens are unique and world famous. Apart from the lovely palace, the gardens have statues, grottos and ponds, all with water driven feature and most with a nasty little surprise for the unwary. At an unexpected time a visitor could find himself shot up the bum by a fountain in a seat, watered on the head when entering a grotto, squirted around the legs when going by etc. The last display is of a whole village of people and artisans going about their daily lives but set on a stage, all doing their tasks by being moved by water. The garden was intended as a lot of fun and is amazingly well built for the time using water under pressure. The setting is a large palace garden with lovely large trees and flower gardens. I figure I could live there (who wouldn't?).

Following a lunch yummy waffles, we headed back into town and up to the main Cathedral Square at the base of the Fortress. Here, we were able to get a funicular up the steep cliff to the castle. This is a very old site on a hard rock hilltop - a natural place to build a defence. It was built in the 600's and enlarged many time over the years by several archbishops. One would wonder what archbishops had any business in dealing with the defence of a city. These men obviously had copious funds at hand. Hmm, I thought, not exactly what Christ had in mind for mankind. Where was the humility and poverty? Anyway, I digress. The castle is huge, really huge and would have been extremely difficult to penetrate, so the people were well contected from the enemy. Once again, well worth a visit.

Back down in the town, we wandered through the ancient, narrow streets set amongst several large squares with churches and cathedrals. It is a beautiful, well kept and well preserved city. With so much walking today on hard surfaces we were happy to get back to the hotel and not move.

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Photos

The palace unicorn
And we thought these were mythical? Not so it seems

A pond setting for guests complete with table and chairs
Unfortunately the guests could get a sudden spray up their bums from the middle of the sets

The castle set on the hill above the town
The river is the Salz