The Salzburg Experience

Day two we get away from the outdoors and national parks to visit the historic city of Salzburg Austria the birthplace of Mozart, as the one with the music room at home I was excited to visit the birthplace and residence of one of my favorite composers, but what else was there to discover?

I'm kinda a book nut.  I like to touch and feel books verses a kindle or tablet.  So when we were planning our trip to southern Germany I purchased this book which just so happen to include Salzburg,

which gave us plenty of choices and options on how we were going to spend our day in Salzburg to include maps on the most popular things to see and do plus a little history so you have background on all sites you're going to see.  Also with a little bit of extra research I discovered that getting the Salzburg Card was worth the purchase price.  With options for 24, 48, and 72 hour cards depending on your time, there were many places you could get into for absolutely free plus discounts on many other attractions in addition to the use of the public transportation system within the city.

I ordered our cards online, and when we got to Salzburg went to pick them up at the central train station.  We got our free city map and were off for the day.

On the way to our first stop we wander through the gardens of Mirabell Palace built by Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich in the early 1600's

And we made it to Mozart's Residence. 

In the building off to the right with the flag over the door was where Mozart lived and composed many pieces of music.  He lived there with his family, and there are several of his actual pianos and other musical instruments from his family.  Photos were prohibited inside, but the audio was very good and informative.  Hint: this was free admission with the Salzburg card.

Next on the list was a visit to St. Sebastian cemetery where laid to rest are Mozart's parents as well as Paracelsus who was the pioneer in many aspects of medicine during the Renaissance era.

After a peaceful stroll through the grounds we walked across the river to Mozart's birthplace.  Again there were no pictures allowed inside, however we were greeted with more history about Mozart plus a few more of his instruments including his mini-violin he played as a toddler.  Also free with the Salzburg card!

We walked along the city streets to the cathedral square,

and also took in the Salzburg Cathedral, directly behind us, in the heart of the baroque historic district.  After walking through the beautifully ornate cathedral, we made it to the next stop on our list of sites, St. Peter's Abbey.

This monastery was established around 700 making it the oldest in the Germany speaking world according to my trusty travel book.  We walked through the church and lite candles for our loved ones, and walked among the stones. 

High above in the rock face you might be able to see what look like windows and a door, those are the catacombs.  Definitely not what I expected to see catacombs above the ground in the rock face.  Another Salzburg card entrance for free!

The final stop on our day trip to Salzburg sits far above St. Peter's Abbey, and let me tell you it was quite a hike, the Salzburg Fortress.  

And we enter, making it to the cliff top on foot, this well preserved 900 year old fortress.  We spent the later part of the afternoon wandering around the fortress, taking in the views, and listening to the audio tour on it's rich history (Salzburg card, tips for success).

Views from the ramparts of the old wall around the parts of the city.

With that our day came to a close as we wandered along the river and back to our car.

We only hit a fraction of what this beautifully historic city had to offer, but alas we only had one day to take it in.  On the move to our next stop, Germany's most visited and famous castle.  Can you guess?