First, we got to Salzburg driving from Ljubljana. We got off the interstate as it was high, straight, and went through mountains. We went through tunnels - one about 8 km long at the Slovenian/Austrian border, a couple of about 5 km and several more not quite as long. We never did drive up a "hill" like US 421 going towards Boone or I-40 at Black Mountain, much to my disappointment. So we got off the interstate highway shown below as it goes over route 99 and later 158.
We rode through valleys, along side railroads,
and also through tunnels, just not as lengthy as the ones on the interstate, through valleys, little towns, small tunnels but no still no steep hills.
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Salzburg is fun to visit. Old town, or the tourist part, is quaint, and on this side of the river - we are staying on the other side a couple of blocks up from the Salzburg River. This photo is taken from the fortress/castle on top of the hill that dominates the town.
The fortress has never been taken by force. Not sure if it was due to its strength or luck of geography or strong neighbors or just being irrelevant by the time Salzburg was on the losing side in wars as there was a stretch during the Napoleonic wars when Salzburg did indeed fall on hard times and was occupied by opposing forces several times.
In the fortress, there was an excellent museum of the military history of the Salzburg regiments that had participated in various military campaigns, battles and wars. I was most interested in their coverage of World War I which was extensive and fairly complete. The Salzburg regiment participated in the Russian Campaigns and on the Italian Front during World War I and as I imagine all German-Austrian units did, had a very high casualty rate.
While at the fortress clouds developed over the mountain and we had a brief heavy rain that we were able to dodge by ducking into the fortress chapel. The clouds came and went throughout the afternoon, keeping the sky dramatic and the temperature down a bit.
For the sake of all the piano lessons I took, I also visited Mozart's home!!
FYI - this city has a music heritage too.
And this impressive building is the Cathedral.
The dome of the Cathedral was destroyed by a bomb burst from an allied bombing raid in October of 1944. It was repaired during the 50s'.
The arches on the sides of the building next to the seating areas had intricate carvings into the stone and of course the panels in the ceiling were painted too.
In the first photo above of the inside you can look closely and see that there are actually four sections of organ pipes on the pillars supporting the dome.
Salzburg is an "art" center and as the birth place of Mozart has been perceived as such at least since 1829 when the first of music - art tourists documented a pilgrimage to visit Mozart' birthplace. As the subject of art, as below, Salzburg also became known as a place of beautiful scenery and as such became a tourist destination quite early.
And they are ready. A ride in a horse drawn carriage is waiting for you.
And the tourists are still here! I know we have several relatives in Asia, if any of them notice the absence of several thousands of your fellow country men, we know where they are. And there is quite possibly no one left in Nebraska either. Amazing. And getting off tour buses too.
The hills are alive – – – –
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