Germany Trip Part 6 - Salzburg, Austria, Day 2

Since we'd had a late night listening to Mozart and hiking up giant hills, we slept in a bit on our second day in Salzburg.  When we made it out the door, our mission was to explore the old town area, starting with the very building we had been sleeping in - Salzburg Fortress!  We took a tour that explained to us the history of the castle, including how it had been built up over time, the roll it played in religion, wars, and the success of Salzburg as a cultural center.  We walked all the way up to the highest point and got some great views of the city. There is also a rather extensive museum within the castle that we perused.  Really more than anything, the elaborate decor in some of the rooms really wow-ed me.

 

After exploring the castle we got some lunch at a restaurant on one of its balconies (what a view!) and then headed down into the old town to do some exploring.  The streets are all cobble stone and, as I explained earlier, don't allow motorized traffic after 11 am, so everyone is either walking, riding a bike, or taking a carriage ride.  All of the architecture is beautiful and old and the art is rather unique, not to mention that it's the home of Mozart - Salzburg really was a very cultured city.  We checked out the Salzburg Cathedral and explored the streets.

The sign next to us reads "One kiss in the 'love grotto' and your love will be everlasting"...

 

After this, we split up for a bit.  S went to check out the Augustiner Brau Kloster beer hall, a huge beer hall run by monks (S also picked up a soft pretzel while there and was basically in heaven), while K and I went to check out some more historic sites, namely the house that Mozart grew up in.  In hindsight, I think I would have preferred the beer hall with S since the house was basically just a museum filled with paintings that claimed to be of Mozart and his family, accompanied by lengthy explanations as to why they may or may not actually be Mozart.  Not what we expected.  Although it was lovely to explore the city further.  We followed up our explorations with dinner at a restaurant buried in the twisting streets of old town, admiring the views one last time from the castle, and then heading to bed.

Quite a beautiful view to end the day with!