Our first stop in Austria (or Republik Österreich) was Salzburg, the former capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg and the birthplace of Mozart. Our header picture is from the top of the Fortress Hohensalzburg, one of the largest medieval fortresses in Europe. Salzburg and surroundings were used extensively in The Sound of Music, though we skipped the crowded tour associated with the movie. Without any reasonable airbnb rentals to be found, we stayed in a discounted hotel room that we found through lastminute.com (Thanks Morris). Armed with rickety but free bicycles we explored the city’s baroque architecture.
The Salzburg old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and during our explorations we found several buildings dating from pre-1000 AD. We ate fresh brioche and rye from a well-hidden bakery dating back to the 1100s, powered by a water wheel. We’ve uploaded pictures of the Salzburg Cathedral where Mozart was a court musician and organ master. The most elaborate of all was the Prince-Archbishop’s residence, which had a series of rooms growing increasingly smaller and more richly-decorated. The Prince-Archbishops were religious figureheads as well as the heads of government. In hindsight, maybe that was a conflict of interest.
We took a tour of a Stiegl brewery, which was included with our all-attractions-included Salzburg cards. This included 3×0.2L beer samples + 0.5L free beer, and a really cool tour. German and Austrian beers are very pure, and can only contain hops, yeast, malt, and water; however, they have completely mastered making beer with these limited ingredients. Of course, Elise doesn’t really drink beer, so Quinn had a fun morning with over a litre of beer.
Next stop, Vienna (Wien)!
Barbers in Freiburg 