At Salzburg's Hohensalzburg Fortress

Thursday 17 August 2000. At the end of the previous episode we took the funicular railway up from the many squares and churches of Salzburg to the Hohensalzburg fortress.

It's an impressive chunk of masonry and design, far bigger than you would find most castles in the UK to be. In fact inside those formidable walls is an entire village.

It therefore gives an air of both calm beauty and impregnable mass.

It was never taken by force. Even when under siege during the Peasants' Revolt of 1525, with food running out, the defenders coloured their only bull a different shade every day and paraded it around the walls in view of the besiegers below, to convince them there was plenty of food left.

We spotted at least two wells within the confines of the fortress, so presumably water wasn't a problem.

We had gone up there thinking that we might spot a few locations from The Sound of Music, but not so much really. We've already seen that the courtyard seen in the film housing the von Trapp Family Singers competition was down in the city itself...

Just about the only reminder of the film was this. The puppet theatre that had provided the puppets (and no doubt the puppeteers) for the Lonely Goatherd scene. We didn't have time to watch a performance, but I bought a couple of postcards showing some of the puppets. The theatre began in 1913 when friends of sculptor Anton Aicher convinced him to turn his private hobby into public performances. The family by the time of our visit in 2000 had amassed some 2000 puppets.

An underground passage leads you out of the inner fortress to the path leading back down to the city. We had gone up by funicular railway but opted to walk back down.

The way down is steep. Boarding with slats across, like a ship's gangway, are laid down the street to help you keep your footing. In winter it must be almost impossible! The fortress is immensely popular with tourists. After the Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna it is the most visited tourist attraction in Austria.

We came down and turned to visit the cemetry of the church of St Peter, one of Salzburg's gems. We found these intricate iron crosses set up on short gravestones. We had seen some similar ones in Kitzbühel.

Finally we get back down to the city level and in a grim reminder of the reality that was behind the fluff of The Sound of Music, passing through a small square we read a plaque on a wall that told us that Himmler's Gestapo had made their headquarters there during the war.

Not the best quality photo but in 2000, digital cameras were very new and not capable of the high-quality that we take for granted today. Even then, you would not have dreamed that they would be an add-on to a phone you could carry in your pocket! These are eggs. Blown and painted and displayed in their thousands in a shop that sells nothing else but painted eggs!

When I say in their thousands I'm not joking! Miss Franny restrained herself from buying any but then regretted it for the next couple of years until we visited again. On that as yet future trip she would be known for the rest of the week to the coach drivers as The Egg Lady...

It was getting time to return to the coach station. Just time to look at the river - well alright, so we got lost and found ourselves at the river... Anyway we had a look at the river, a look at the map and found we were not so far off track after all!

No need to catch a trolleybus then! Not been on one of those since the 1950s in Manchester...! And they weren't bendy in the middle then!

We got back to the hotel, had our evening meal and decided (gluttons for punishment that we are) to have another bash at walking into Zell-am-See after our meal. Tomorrow night, after all, will be our last night so we would be spending it packing and having a last night with our fellow passengers. So it was tonight or never.

This time we made it all the way! Well, perhaps we did catch the little train seen a few times previously... Asking for a ticket in an unknown language is quite something - especially on the return journey where we wanted to get off at Kitzteinhornstrasse...!!! Actually I must have done ok because the driver/conductor launched into a long spiel which I just about gathered was advice on buying a weekly ticket to save money. "Ja, danke, but wir ist der trundlink homevards zer day after morgen"...

You might have guessed how the weather changed once we got there... Ah, lovely.... lightning show over the lake anyone? We sheltered from the light rain to give it time to get really hard again, then dashed for the station, getting wet at the level crossing, waiting for a mainline train to go through then again after the train ride as we walked back to the hotel. "Been out taking pictures of the rain again?" came a cheerful voice...

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Rain, Snow and Eggs in Salzburg

Sunday 27 January 2002. It's our first day of awakening in Austria and our first glimpse in full - or as full as it gets at this time of year - daylight of the village or town where we are staying.

This is Mariastein. Whether town or village it is the smallest municipality or self-governing area in the district of Kufstein, in the Tyrol, in Austria, Europe, Northern Hemisphere, Earth (otherwise known as Terra, third rock from the sun), Sol, Milky Way. The 14th century castle is the focal point of the [whatever], standing 42 metres on top of a rocky outcrop and containing 250 stairs that lead up to a chapel. In the following century Mariastein became a place of pilgrimage (I haven't found a reason for this yet) but after a local statue of the Virgin Mary was moved to somewhere in Bavaria in the late 17th century, Mariastein's reputation as a pilgrimage destination was enhanced all the more by the statue deciding to return all on its own. If you decide to self-drive whilst in Austria, just keep an eye out, okay?

Fran, Jock and George are in front of the hotel or Gasthof (literally guest house) as we set off for a day in Salzburg.

Oh dear... by the time we get there, it's raining in Salzburg. We give the guided walking tour a miss after having done it previously. Also the first thing the guide does as the coach gets into the bus station is to walk into and nearly fall over a bollard which doesn't fill us with confidence! Admittedly I did the same once, but that was in Amsterdam's red light district so I feel somewhat justified as there were other distracting elements in that instance...

This is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Born in 1756, he composed over 800 musical pieces covering just about every type or genre of music that was going at the time. (i.e. no rock and roll or drum and bass...) He was proficient on both keyboards (piano, harpsichord and clavier rather than Yamaha or Korg) and violin by the age of five at which age he composed his first pieces and performed before European Royalty. He is justly described as a genius (as opposed to nowadays when you only need to release a few expletive-ridden tracks and be arrested), yet he died aged only 35 in 1791.

Fran wants to buy some of the blown and painted eggs that we saw on our last visit. In fact she's been kicking herself for 18 months that she didn't buy any then!

Admittedly, this shop is somewhat amazing. The shop is well laid out with thousands of painted eggs and it just makes you want to shell out...

Fran bought some eggs. They came in a specially made presentation box...

We found a small cafe for lunch. We were somewhat wet and the place had very high tables with bar stools but did an excellent sandwich and coffee. We had a look inside the cathedral and then came though an archway into this courtyard. At the far end are two streets, one through another arch. We'll look at that below. The one left leads up a steep climb to the castle.

We didn't make it all the way up to the castle, but came far enough for a rooftop photograph before making our way back down to the courtyard and through the other archway.

The other street leads to a familiar scene from The Sound of Music. I'm not entirely sure whether it is the same or just a look-a-like cemetery where Ralf did the dirty on the Von Trapps. This did not happen in real life! In real life the Germans merely paid attention to the background music which told them whether they were close or not...

We had time for another wander round the streets and to get even more wet. Then a quick look at the river before heading back for the coach. By which time we were just a little thankful that we could get back in the dry and warmth. The drivers were curious about the bag Fran was carrying so carefully. "Aigs???" said Jock incredulously. "Wotcha gowan tae do wi' them?" demanded George as we got back on the coach. "Aye - they'll be scrambled!" chortled Jock, "Did ye no' buy any bacon?"

With rain pouring down the windows we drove past another location from The Sound of Music. Julie Andrews and the children fall out of their boat into the moat of this house. To be honest, we were as wet as they were...

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A Day in Salzburg

Thursday 14 August 2003. Today is a highlight as we are off on the coach to visit the city of Salzburg.

We take the funicular train up to the castle and sit in a cafe with a drink, trying to avoid a few wasps that are hovering about and enjoying the view. Well, they are as entitled to it as we are I suppose... This is the city of Mozart's birth. He used to play one of the five organs in the cathdral which dominates the the right hand side of this photo. There are just the odd one or two other churches nearby. When the bells start to chime it's a mesmerising sound.

Our viewpoint for both this and the previous photograph is the famous Hohensalzburg castle. Easily recognisable, especially for any fans of The Sound of Music. The river is the Salzach, 227 kilometres long (141 miles), it rises somewhere near the Krimml Falls and flows into the River Inn, seen in Innsbruck earlier in the week. The Inn then flows into the Danube which flows eastwards before turning south through Hungary and east again through Serbia then forming the border between Bulgaria and Romania before entering the Black Sea.

Entry to the castle is by admission price and the easiest way to get there (and pay for inclusive tickets for both ascent, entry and descent) is via the funicular railway. The website states: Dogs are welcome in the outdoor areas of the fortress when kept on a leash. Dogs are not allowed indoors. The wearing of a muzzle is obligatory in the funicular. I'm hoping that the wearing of a muzzle just applies to the dogs...

Many visitors are surprised that, despite all the memorials, statues etc. to Mozart, you will find very little in the way of reminders of the von Trapps or the film in Salzburg. The Austrians have a somewhat different interpretation of events than the film portrays.

Inside the cathedral. Four of the organs are placed against the pillars of the crossing. The fifth - the largest - is at the back of the nave.

The inside of the dome. To get the perspective right for viewers who will be craning their necks backwards the figures have to painted probably twice their usual height but incredibly thin. Sort of how I draw figures all the time without meaning to...

The shopping streets of Salzburg have ornate ironwork hanging signs. We are heading towards Miss Franny's favourite Salzburg shopping experience...

The egg shop! Filled from floor to ceiling with blown and painted eggs with every conceivable design from portraits of Mozart through views of Salzburg to Christmas designs. We did a winter trip in 2002 and the coach drivers christened her the Egg Lady and for the rest of that week a broad Sottish accent hailed her every time she got on the coach: "Hey aigg lady! Don't be bringing any more aiggs on ma cooach unless ye've got bacon as waell!"

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