The Town Which Cannot Apostrophize. Review on Salzburg

Salzburg, literally Salt castle. Quite a step away from the sand castles I grew up with in Blackpool. ....

What to see

Salzburg is a great little place, with the emphasis on the little. It’s wonderfully compact which means you can walk everywhere – no shelling out for taxis or busses. There is a lot to see and do.

The fortress itself was “geil” and the funicular railway (the oldest in Europe) which takes you up to the top even more so. From there you can get an amazing view of the city. We found a large model cow just standing there, but when we read what was written on it the mystery was explained. You see, many years ago, the people of Salzburg were fighting some other people (who, I cannot entirely remember). To try and scare their opponents they dragged their last remaining cow over to the edge of the fortress for all to see. The next night, they painted the poor thing, and paraded it again. Their opponents, thinking they had more food supplies than they themselves did (after all, 2 whole cows is a lot), gave up the fight and retreated back to whence they came.

The theatre is pretty funky too. You can go on tours (in English and German) which tell you some of the history of the place, and interesting facts like how in winter they open the roof up as it would not be able to withstand the pressure of the snow.

Mozart was born in this town and you can visit both his houses – the one where he made his appearance into the world and the one where he lived – along with hundreds of American tourists if you really want to.

There are numerous museums including an art gallery (where there may, or may not, be a Klimt – long story), a natural history museum (tons of dead animals and a few hands-on exhibitions) and a toy museum (which was nice although it had a rather disappointing shop)

Numerous churches and cathedrals with some wonderful architecture and art work. Especially good are the Universitäts Kirche and the main Dom.

For more info, visit the tourist office (round the corner from the Cathedral) or check out the websites below.

What to buy

Mozart’s face is as celebrated here as throughout the country so the marzipan filled Kügeln are all over. Apart from that, embroidered items and china / glass thingies are a good buy, and if you’re purse strings don’t stretch that far there’s always the standard tacky souvenirs. Light-up flashing model of Jesus anyone? Be warned, the shops around the main monuments were extortionate – even if you were just buying those tacky little souvenirs. Head across the river for more affordable places.

Where to Eat

You’ll be spoilt for choice here – there’s everything on offer from Italian and Chinese through to Greek and typical Austrian fare. There is a McD’s if you insist but for once we didn’t try it. Try the other side of the river (ie not near the fortress and tourist office) for cheaper, less touristy places.

Where to stay

There are places to suit all budgets from youth hostels (Yo ho ho, eh Scott?) through to magnificent 5* affairs. For best results check out

https://salzburg.nethotels.com/

where you can not only search through a wide selection of places (by date / price / rating etc) but also book online.

Getting there

Fly from the UK to Salzburg International Airport not far from the centre. Once on the continent, trains and busses run regularly from capitals and other major cities including Vienna (every 2 hours or so, taking 3 hours – not nearly a whole day as Bill Bryson seems to think).

Websites worth looking at

And before you ask, they’re all in English......

https://salzburg.gv.at/dasistsalzburg/englisch/

https://salzburginfo.at/desk/frame_home_e.htm

https://salzburg.com/holiday/index_e.html

Negative points?

This town cannot apostrophise! No joke. Unless I have got severely muddled, “spagheitti’s”, “hotel’s” and “shop’s” for plurals are all wrong wrong wrong!

We went in mid summer and there were a lot of tourists – many are American and LOUD. Being able to speak German, though, was great since people were a lot nicer to us as a result.

Verdict

We had a great time, although an extra day would have been nice. It’s a place well worth visiting – in my opinion more so than Vienna as it’s so gorgeous – all green and lovely and not city like at all. I hope this has been useful in showing you that contrary to certain people's opinions, it is possible to have fun in this city whilst avoiding the Sound Of Music tour....