Vacation Recap, Part 2 : Salzburg, Austria

Vacation Recap, Part II

Salzburg, Austria

I think our day trip to Salzburg was my favorite trip during our European adventure.  I absolutely loved this city.  Sadly, we only made a day trip there, so we didn't get to see it "all" but what we did see was awesome!!! 

The first stop we made was the Mirabell Gardens.  These gardens were made in 1609 by Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (good grief, the name). He had them made as a token of his love for his wife....and apparently, she liked the garden because they ended up have 15 children!!!!!

See that castle in the background??? You are about to see some pics from the top of it!





See the castle up high on the hill?? That was our next stop. You could take a cable car up to the top, or take the 30 minute walk (UPHILL) to it. We were brave enough to walk!! Boy, was it a hike!

It is called the Hohensalzburg Castle....built in 1077!!!! It's one of Europe's largest castles and once served as military barracks and prison.



Here is  a shot of the first of many ramps we had to walk up.



...and lots of steps to climb...



But once we were at the top, the view was astonishing!



I loved this doorway!!!













The line to the top was l-o-n-g so we settled for going about 3/4 of the way up and stopping.  Here is a photo we had taken at the highest point we reached!



Down in the city, you can see the castle in the background.



Just a random side road we walked down...horse drawn carriages were everywhere...



We stopped at a roadside cafe for dinner....see what I am wearing??? A hooded sweatshirt....in JULY!!! The high was in the 60's while were there. Can you believe it?!?






Salzburg is famously known as Mozart's birthplace....this yellow building in the middle of the city is the home he spent his first 7 yrs of life in. We wanted to tour it, but again, the line was long and we only had the day...so we settled for a picture of the outside of it.



In one of the downtown areas, we came across this funny gold ball with the statue of a man on top. I tried to do some research on this ball, but no one seems to know what this crazy ball stands for....the only info I came across was that the man on top was contemplating his spirituality since this ball sits in front of one of the cathedrals.  See those people underneath the gold ball?? Those aren't actually people...they are statues that appear to be playing chess. Weird, huh???



This was in Mozart Square....on the left side oft he photo you can see a statue of Mozart. Even if you are not aware that Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart, you quickly figure it out because he is EVERYWHERE!...Mozart shirts, candies, trinkets, etc. It's Mozart overload there in Salzburg!



Check out this beggar disguised as a monk.  Very freaky....I wish you could see a close up of his face.....yikes! (Maybe if you click on the picture you can zoom in on it)



So there are a few photos from our trip to Salzburg....such an awesome city.

And, NO, we didn't see ay kangaroos...we were in AUSTRIA....not Australia!!!! ha!

I will be back tomorrow with more photos from our trip to Frankfurt!