After Dan and I finished our Sound of Music Tour, we were supposed to meet up with the Johnsons and Scott and Elisha at 1:45 at the beginning of the Rick Steves’ Old Town Walking Tour . . . . the only problem was that we weren’t exactly sure where the tour started. We walked around for a little while, just randomly trying to find them, but that wasn’t working. “What we need to do is find someone with a Rick Steves’ book,” I called up to Dan as he was walking a little ahead of me. A young American couple who was walking past right when I said that, heard me and said, “Oh, we have one!” Perfect! We borrowed their book and looked up the Salzburg’s Old Town Self-Guided Walk. It began at Mozartplatz. This statue honoring Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was erected in 1842.
After meeting up with the others, we wandered through the Residenzplatz. According to Rick Steves, “Salzburg’s energetic Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (who ruled 1587-1612) was raised in Rome and had grandiose Italian ambitions for Salzburg. After a convenient fire destroyed the town’s cathedral, Wolf Dietrich set about building the ‘Rome of the North.’ This square, with his new cathedral and palace, was the centerpiece of his Baroque dream city. A series of interconnecting squares – like you’ll see nowhere else – make a grand processional way, leading from here through the old town.”
This fountain is as Italian as can be, with a Triton matching Bernini’s famous Triton Fountain in Rome. And it’s also in The Sound of Music. Remember when Julie Andrews is singing “I Have Confidence” and she splashes water in this fountain on her way to the Von Trapp house?
This pond in the Kapitelplatz was a horse bath . . . . the 18th century equivalent to a car wash!
Horse drawn carriages are all over the place in Salzburg!
I’m not really sure what this statue was all about . . . . but I guess the boys thought it was cool (or spooky!)
The Salzburg Cathedral! 
In the center of the plaza in front of the cathedral stands a towering statue of the Virgin Mary (1771). She’s looking away from the church, welcoming visitors. When you stand back immediately under the middle archway across the plaza, two angels holding a golden crown on the front edifice of the cathedral appear to be crowning Mary.
This cathedral was one of my favorites of all the ones we saw in Europe. Built in just 14 years (1614-1628), this baroque cathedral boasts harmonious architecture. This church has never had stained glass – just clear windows to let light flood in. I think that’s maybe why I liked it so much. It was light, cheery, and the clean white interior was absolutely beautiful. Mozart was baptized here, and also served as the organist from 1779 to 1781. Some of his compositions were written for the cathedral, and many were performed here for the first time. Can you imagine listening to Mozart perform one of his pieces here?
The Old Town Walking Tour then took us through St. Peter’s Cemetery. Many of the aristocratic families of Salzburg are buried here. It’s a very picturesque and tranquil cemetery, with beautifully tended graves and very old churches surrounding them.
The scene at the end of The Sound of Music where the Von Trapp family was hiding in the cemetery was inspired by this place (the cemetery in the movie was just a Hollywood set:)
These Christian “catacombs” are carved into the cliff above the cemetery. Legendary medieval hermit monks are said to have lived in these caves. We paid the small fee to go inside and explore!
Views from inside the catacombs: 
The Salzburg Cathedral is in the background, the Chapel of the Holy Cross in St. Peter’s Cemetery is on the right, and St. Peter’s Church is on the left.
St. Peter’s Church:
We were getting a little restless by this point (especially the kids:), so we just took a quick peek inside St. Peter’s Church for a few minutes. Aren’t they all just amazing? 
Then it was on to the Hohensalzburg Fortress! Atop the Festungsberg mountain sits one of the largest medieval castles in all of Europe. Construction of the fortress began in 1077 and various Prince-Archbishops expanded the castle through the 1500s. It’s always fun exploring a medieval castle! 
The walk up to the castle was so steep we had to use that wooden walkway to get up! It was exhausting enough just walking to the top, I can’t imagine trying to storm the castle!
Inside, the fortress consists of various wings and courtyards. This courtyard is the main square of the castle’s medieval residents, a self-sufficient community of 1,000 people. The square was lined by the shops of craftsmen, blacksmiths, bakers, etc. You can see the fortress’s church in the square as well.
Amazing views of Salzburg from the fortress:
Notice the location of the Old Town Salzburg . . . . wedged perfectly between the Salzach River and the Monchsberg mountain. These natural fortifications and the formidable Hohensalzburg Fortress kept Salzburg safe and free from attacks for 1200 years . . . . until World War II.
After exiting the fortress, we stayed on the path that led through the woods on top of the mountain overlooking the city. We hiked for about 1/2 hour trying to find the great view of the fortress from the other end of the mountain, but we just didn’t go far enough. Too bad. But Dan did take this amazing shot of the Salzburg Cathedral with the Franciscan Church in the foreground. I love this picture . . . . one of my favorites from Salzburg.
Our last destination of the day was Getreidegasse. On this street is Mozart’s Geburtshaus (birthplace). Mozart was born here in 1756 and it was here that he composed most of his works as a young boy. We didn’t go in, but you can tour the house . . . . we just settled for a picture in front!
Rick Steves describes Getreidegasse: “This street was Salzburg’s busy, colorful main drag. It’s lined with jewelry shops and other businesses. The buildings, most of which date from the 15th century, are tall for that age, and narrow, and densely packed. Space was tight here because such little land was available between the natural fortifications provided by the mountain and the river, and much of what was available was used up by the Church. Famous for its old wrought-iron signs, the architecture on the street still looks much as it did in Mozart’s day – though its former elegance is now mostly gone, replaced by chain outlets.” The Johnsons bought their kids McDonald’s for dinner on this street . . . . while Scott, Elisha, Dan, and I got some gelato and walked around for a bit!
It was getting kind of late and the Johnson kids were getting tired, so we said good-bye to Salzburg and took the kids back to the hotel. After getting the kids ready for bed, Chris and Lisa left Ryan and Katie in charge, and the 6 of us headed out to a cute little Austrian restaurant that our hotel owner recommended to us . . . . the Freisacher Restaurant. Delish!
The top right plate was mine . . . . trout with risotto. I’ve always wanted to try risotto, so that’s why I ordered it. It was good. The top left picture came with Dan’s fried chicken. It was a side dish of salad and potatoes . . . . so good!! It tasted so Austrian, which is kind of funny to say, but it really did.
Salzburg is an awesome city. Ok, let’s face it, we loved everywhere we went, but Salzburg was a definite favorite (at least for me). It was very European, but had it’s own distinct charm as well. I’m so glad we went there!!
