Before I decided to start blogging about my trip to Salzburg, I was looking at a couple of my friend's blogs and I was struck by how many of my friends who are avid bloggers have also gotten into photography and actually go to great efforts to produce that perfect picture to put on their blog. And then when I looked at my crummy Salzburg pictures taken often with a shaking one hand, or just a quick snap... I could only shake my head at them at sigh. While the truth is that I do appreciate good photography alot, I just do not have the patience to take a good picture. I can only rely on the automatic techonology of my camera for that. But oh well here goes....
From Budapest, it is pretty cheap to take a train to Salzburg. It is pretty fast, only 6 hours and costs relatively less than the 7 hour trip to Prague. I kid you not. This is probably one of the most impromptu trips that I have done. All I did was book the hostel before hand. After that I got everything sorted the last few days before I left only. So why Salzburg? Just for the simple reason that I have never been there, it's a doable weekend trip, and I like Austria. I will confess before hand that I am not a Sound of Music fan and that I only watched the movie after I reached Salzburg... so no, I did not take the Sound of Music tour, though it was inevitable that I was brought to some places where the movie was filmed....
So I often like sitting by the window. Whether on the plane or in the train or car. Because I love staring out of the window. It's something which I've done since I was young. I love looking out of the window and just watching things go by. When travelling to Austria from Budapest, I always look out for the point when the train crosses the border. I know this because I start seeing windmills in the distance! They're quite exciting to look at, heaps of them twirling in the wind. Of course it sounds wierd now that I'm describing them here, but the border change is always one of the more exciting moments for me on the train.
First day in Salzburg, the weather was quite bleak, but bent on making most of the day, I ventured out umbrella in hand (It pays to bring an umbrella everywhere you go, even in Summer). The city is quite small, and therefore a very walkable city. My hostel was near the train station but I made it to the old town in about 15-20 mins, depending on how often I stopped to take pics. I also sent a few postcards back so that was nice :)
Pictures of the city below:
Hohensalzburg Fortress: Begun around 1070 to provide the city's archbishops with a refuge, the fortress was gradually transformed into a more salubrious courtly seat. The 10 Euro full ticket include the ride up the furnicular to the castle, the audio guide tour, the works, so pretty worth it in my opinion.
View of the city from the castle. The view is pretty good for a 360 degree pic... I was just standing there in the wind for like 5 mins snapping away...
From the castle grounds if you look down, you can see this small house by itself in the big field. Apparently this used to be the executioner's house as there was a lot of superstition then that it was bad luck to live near the executioner... so he basically led a lonely life :)
Models of the fortress. The one on the left is pretty cute :)
WWI memorial in the fortress museum
In the fortress, one also got a glimpse of the Bishop's apartments and one can get a sense as to how important the bishops were in those ages. Their apartments are extremely well decorated right up to the ceiling. They even had special carved heaters like the Majolica stove below.
Portraits of the different bishops who have lived at the fortress.
Bishops rooms.
Castle courtyard...
Fortress organ
View of the city on the way down in the furnicular.
Wondered around the city for a bit snapping pics here and there plus other interesting things that I saw...
Want your own medieval picture? 20 Euros!
Salzburg is famous for the Mozart chocolates (Comprised of green pistachio marzipan, nougat and chocolate). I bought some to try and they're delicious here, but they're totally commercialized and touristy-fied here.
The photo says everything...
When I was younger and living in Newton, my house had a display cupboard of small presents my parents had brought back from their travels and we had a similar souvenior to the one below. But I think that when we moved house, they either threw it away or it was just lost. It was one of my favourites, so seeing it again was like wow... but this particular one costs 99 Euros, so I'll have to wait till I become much much richer to create my own display cupboard :)
I think that ever since I visited Vienna, I always think that Austria is like the gourmet's paradise... don't ask me why I just think so.... And my lunch break didn't disappoint. One thing I like about Austrians... they're super super efficient, just like their German neighbours... Don't expect great service like in Slovenia or Switzerland but your food comes fast and the waiters never let you wait for long before coming over to serve. For someone who really doesn't like to waste time staring at air, I can appreciate that a bit.... So I ate at the restaurant below, and it's quite good and decent prices too...
So I had a beer, mint and carrot soup and one of their lunch specials which came with a salad too. Cost me 13 Euros in total. I like!
More pictures and exploring to come!
From Budapest, it is pretty cheap to take a train to Salzburg. It is pretty fast, only 6 hours and costs relatively less than the 7 hour trip to Prague. I kid you not. This is probably one of the most impromptu trips that I have done. All I did was book the hostel before hand. After that I got everything sorted the last few days before I left only. So why Salzburg? Just for the simple reason that I have never been there, it's a doable weekend trip, and I like Austria. I will confess before hand that I am not a Sound of Music fan and that I only watched the movie after I reached Salzburg... so no, I did not take the Sound of Music tour, though it was inevitable that I was brought to some places where the movie was filmed....
So I often like sitting by the window. Whether on the plane or in the train or car. Because I love staring out of the window. It's something which I've done since I was young. I love looking out of the window and just watching things go by. When travelling to Austria from Budapest, I always look out for the point when the train crosses the border. I know this because I start seeing windmills in the distance! They're quite exciting to look at, heaps of them twirling in the wind. Of course it sounds wierd now that I'm describing them here, but the border change is always one of the more exciting moments for me on the train.
First day in Salzburg, the weather was quite bleak, but bent on making most of the day, I ventured out umbrella in hand (It pays to bring an umbrella everywhere you go, even in Summer). The city is quite small, and therefore a very walkable city. My hostel was near the train station but I made it to the old town in about 15-20 mins, depending on how often I stopped to take pics. I also sent a few postcards back so that was nice :)
Pictures of the city below:
Hohensalzburg Fortress: Begun around 1070 to provide the city's archbishops with a refuge, the fortress was gradually transformed into a more salubrious courtly seat. The 10 Euro full ticket include the ride up the furnicular to the castle, the audio guide tour, the works, so pretty worth it in my opinion.
View of the city from the castle. The view is pretty good for a 360 degree pic... I was just standing there in the wind for like 5 mins snapping away...
From the castle grounds if you look down, you can see this small house by itself in the big field. Apparently this used to be the executioner's house as there was a lot of superstition then that it was bad luck to live near the executioner... so he basically led a lonely life :)
Models of the fortress. The one on the left is pretty cute :)
WWI memorial in the fortress museum
In the fortress, one also got a glimpse of the Bishop's apartments and one can get a sense as to how important the bishops were in those ages. Their apartments are extremely well decorated right up to the ceiling. They even had special carved heaters like the Majolica stove below.
Portraits of the different bishops who have lived at the fortress.
Bishops rooms.
Castle courtyard...
Fortress organ
View of the city on the way down in the furnicular.
Wondered around the city for a bit snapping pics here and there plus other interesting things that I saw...
Want your own medieval picture? 20 Euros!
Salzburg is famous for the Mozart chocolates (Comprised of green pistachio marzipan, nougat and chocolate). I bought some to try and they're delicious here, but they're totally commercialized and touristy-fied here.
The photo says everything...
When I was younger and living in Newton, my house had a display cupboard of small presents my parents had brought back from their travels and we had a similar souvenior to the one below. But I think that when we moved house, they either threw it away or it was just lost. It was one of my favourites, so seeing it again was like wow... but this particular one costs 99 Euros, so I'll have to wait till I become much much richer to create my own display cupboard :)
I think that ever since I visited Vienna, I always think that Austria is like the gourmet's paradise... don't ask me why I just think so.... And my lunch break didn't disappoint. One thing I like about Austrians... they're super super efficient, just like their German neighbours... Don't expect great service like in Slovenia or Switzerland but your food comes fast and the waiters never let you wait for long before coming over to serve. For someone who really doesn't like to waste time staring at air, I can appreciate that a bit.... So I ate at the restaurant below, and it's quite good and decent prices too...
So I had a beer, mint and carrot soup and one of their lunch specials which came with a salad too. Cost me 13 Euros in total. I like!
More pictures and exploring to come!