We drove to Salzburg, Austria's fourth largest city and capital of the Federal State of Salzburg. The Old Town, with its world-famous Baroque architecture, is one of the best-preserved city centres north of the Alps. It's also the birthplace of my favorite composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the setting for parts of the classic film, The Sound of Music.
We walked along the Salzach River to see the beautiful Schloss Mirabell (Mirabell Castle), built by an Archbishop for his beloved courtesan (yes, you heard it right…an Archbishop and a courtesan). It has a large hall with marble stairs, called the Marble Hall used for concerts and awards ceremonies, and nowadays, also rented out for wedding banquets.
A huge garden surrounds the property, divided into sections – the Hedge Theater, the Garden of Roses, the Garden of Dwarves, and The Orangerie. The gardens looked very familiar and before I could ask a question, our local guide said that this was where they filmed the “Do Re Mi” number in the movie, The Sound of Music. Ah…that’s why!
To continue with the Sound of Music trivia, we went to the Residenz Fountain at the Residenz Square, location of the scene where Maria crosses the square after alighting from a bus and singing, "I Have Confidence in Me" on her way to the Trapp villa. Yes, I remembered that. It's a beautiful fountain that features Triton holding a conch shell trumpet, three dolphins, and four snorting horses that seem like they are emerging from the base.
If you fancy a horse carriage ride, this is also the place to get one. But we preferred explore the area by foot.
Behind the fountain is the Dom zu Salzburg (Salzburg Cathedral). With its Early Baroque architecture, mighty dome, two imposing towers, and façade crafted from Untersberg Marble, it looked resplendent under the sun. It is Salzburg's most important sacred building because its history was intertwined with the great Prince-Archbishop rulers in its heydey.
Inside, it houses several treasures, but the most popular is the bronze baptismal font with lions at its base, for this was where two of Salzburg's most notable sons were baptized - the famous composer, Wolgang Amadeus Mozart, and Joseph Mohr, the man who wrote the lyrics for "Silent Night." At the time of our visit, there was also an exhibit displaying artifacts excavated from a Roman villa and the foundations of a Romanesque cathedral that once stood in the area.
After praying and lighting candles, we checked out the lively line-up of stalls at the Cathedral Square . We bought some souvenir magnets and stayed for a while to listen to this street musician playing Mozart pieces on his violin. We learned that in the winter, the Salzburg Christmas night market is held here. We also took a closer look at the statue of the Immaculate Conception outside, as well as a modern sculpture of a man standing on a golden globe called "Sphaera." In one corner is another sculpture by the same artist depicting a woman, simply called, "Woman in the Rock."
Behind us, we could see the Schloss Hellbrunn and the Hohensalzburg Fortress up the hill. It was too bad we didn’t have enough time to go up there and explore these places but we will definitely check them out when we go back to Salzburg with our son. The Schloss Hellbrunn is popular with children. It was once the summer palace of the Archbishops of Salzburg and is surrounded by vast gardens, unique fountains, a wading pool, a playground, and a mini-zoo. The Hohensalzburg Fortress, on the other hand, features a museum of medieval weapons, life on the fortress, and torture instruments. There is a funicular ride available to get there and on top is a spectacular view of the city and The Alps from the watchtower.
Instead, we just posed in front of the Kapitelschwemme, the beautiful well that features Neptune and a horse (Pegasus, perhaps?) and was actually a medieval horse bath. I remembered this fountain as a backdrop to the "My Favorite Things" number when the Von Trapp kids were frolicking in their curtain-inspired clothes.
This beautiful fountain is considered a mini-version of the Fountain of Trevi in Rome by some. It is for this reason that tourists also throw coins in there for good luck. Of course, we made a wish that one day, we could return.
Photo Credits:
destination360.com, wikiwand.com, David Monniaux (Wikimedia), salzburg.info, iru.org
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