Training from Vienna to Salzburg took just a few short hours. We saw some beautiful Austrian countryside, and arrived in the small town of Salzburg. Dropping our bags at Hotel Elefant, we still had a bit of daylight left to explore. We strolled through Old Town, seeing the remnants of the Christmas market that had recently closed, and dodging tons of people that were walking the streets. We saw some museums and old buildings. Then decided to walk to a nearby brewery, Augustiner, to experience the Austrian beer drinking culture first hand.
With a large pretzel to hold us over until dinner, we had a couple beers and took in the beer hall culture. After we got our fill, we walked back towards town and stopped in at a restaurant, Baerenwirt, we had seen on the way there. We had delicious austrian food, some more austrian beer and wine, then headed back towards town to our hotel for the night.
The next day was our only full day in Salzburg and we wanted to make the most of it. We purchased the Salzburg Card, which allowed us 24 hour access into tons of museums and historical buildings. We started with the Residence Museum, which houses the state of Salzburg's painting collection. After that, we found Salzburg's oldest bakery, Alteste Backerei, buying some freshly baked bread as a mid-morning snack. With bread in hand, we walked through St. Peter's cemetary then into the catacombs, where there were narrow passageways and staircases.
We walked some more, passing by a farmer's market, then finding our way to Mozart's childhood home. We toured the house (unfortunately were not allowed to take photos), and learned all about Mozart and how he grew up. We then crossed the river to the other side of town, and headed towards Mozart's home where he lived with his wife and family as an adult. Again, we learned all about Mozart and about the music and operas he created.
After learning all we could about Mozart, we hopped on a bus to the Stiegl Brewery on the other side of town. We were pretty hungry at this point, so before touring the museum, we had lunch in one of the restaurants there, again filling ourselves up with delicious Austrian food and a couple Stiegl beers. We toured the brewery after that, learning all about how they make the Stiegl beers, then had two more in the bar at the end of the tour before hopping back on a bus to the center of town.
We went back to the hotel to rest for a bit and got ready for our night out. We were going to see an Austrian music concert! We left the hotel and headed back across the river to the Stein Hotel. We went up the elevator to the Steinterrasse, which is a modern swanky lounge with a large terrace that overlooks the river and the old town beyond, which was beautifully lit up at night. After a cocktail, we walked to the Mirabell Palace to listen to a Mozart concert. We couldn't see much of the palace at night, but the room they held the concert in was fully decorated in gold walls and was just gorgeous to listen to beautiful music in a beautiful room. After the concert, we walked back towards the center of town, having a small dinner at Zwettler's Stiftskeller before heading back to the hotel for the night.
The next morning, we still had a few hours left on our Salzburg Card, so we headed up the funicular to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. From the funicular, we had great views of the city below, and there were even better ones from the top of the fortress. There was a marionette museum, where we posed as some medieval characters. We then took a tour of the fortress, taking in some more spectacular views of the city below.
We felt like we had seen as much as there was to see of Salzburg. While a smaller town, it was just as exciting as Vienna. We had learned all about Mozart, were able to experience the beer drinking culture, as well as the music concert culture, and just enjoy a great trip. The next destination was to an even smaller town, Innsbruck. It would be a great city to end our tour of Austria!
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