Salzburg: The City of Mozart

by docdivatraveller - 4/21/2023

So I have described Salzburg quite a number of times in my previous sojourns. In fact, in my last post only I described the Residenzplatz, which is the central square of the city. Salzburg is a magical place; and the combination of Renaaisance and Baroque architecture has made it earn the name 'German Rome'. Also the most famous son of this city is Wolfgang Albert Mozart, who had enchanted the whole world with his music!

We drove from Gmunden to Salzburg and parked our rental car at the entry of the main city. From there we crossed the Salzach river and our first stop was the Love Lock Bridge or the Makartsteg Bridge. I too hung a lock like the millions of other tourists and threw the key in the river.

We were famished from the long journey and our next stop in the main city was at a restaurant. I ordered a chicken schnitzel and it came with mashed potatoes which my vegetarian husband loved. Then we took a picture outside Mozart's birthplace and proceeded towards the Mirabell Palace.

The commonest fact about these exquisite European structures is that they all need tickets to enter. And if you are a regular reader, then you must be familiar with our penchant for free guides. We typically skip the museums (because we are always on time crunch) and explore the reception and the points that can be toured ticket less. If it's a ticketed Cathedral, we take pictures from outside. The only places which we love paying for are the castles and palaces. And in Salzburg, there are several. Here, we chose to enter and explore the Mirabell Palace.

The Mirabell Palace like the Nymphenberg palace, Hofburg Palace, Schronbun etc, is vastly huge and exqiusite. Saying that the gardens are marvellous is an understatement. I mean I had never seen any floral landscaping this damn perfect. I wish I could freeze the gardens forever! The gardens are free to explore. Mirabell is a woman’s name from Italy, a compilation of two words: mirabile "admirable" and bella "beautiful". No wonder it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built in 1606, it's a jaw dropping site!

There were many other things to explore and we walked around till it was dark. The Fortress Hohensalzburg could be seen from a distance as it was situated on a hill. We had to reach Oberndorf that evening so we didn't dilly dally too long.

Salzburg is a compact historical city with a lot of things to explore. It should be definitely on your Austrian itinerary.