AUSTRIAN CITIES AND TOURIST SITES :
Salzburg
I
Linz I
Innsbruck
SALZBURG
Salzburg's particular blend of
sophistication, charm and elegance is best experienced by simply
wandering the city environs, preferably without a map. Austria's home town of Baroque, and the birthplace of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is picturesquely sheltered by surrounding mountains
and straddles the Salzach River near the border with Germany.
The
Salzburg that everyone knows and loves was largely built by three
bishop-princes in the late-16th and early-17th century, which is what
gives the city its Italian flavour and its skyline punctuated by
countless medieval spires, domes, belfries and turrets. The old town, on
the south bank of the river, is a Baroque masterpiece of churches,
plazas, courtyards and fountains, oozing so much charm that it's enough
to make you forgive young Wolfgang for being so precocious and
omniscient. Museums, houses, squares, chocolate bars, liqueurs - you
name it and it's got a Mozart tag stuck on it. A perfectly
preserved Baroque city, with a vibrant Old Town, there are enough 
Alpen
peak indicators, church towers and friendly (multi-lingual) townspeople
to prevent any prolonged loss of way.Steps
from the city's spacious squares and garden parks are numerous
entryways to the historic Old Town - a truly genuine ambience brimming
with cobblestone alleys, medieval signs and tempting fragrances. Tiny
shops abound, selling the most tantalizing sweets, as well as antiques,
crafts and fashions.
The name Mozart is, of course, synonymous with
Salzburg. His birthplace is today a virtual museum exhibiting details of
his life, music and operatic productions. He personally did not thrive
in Salzburg, thanks in part to the presiding Archbishop that kept the
city and the monetary rewards of its salt mines under tight control.
But music will prevail: an available guestroom is rare during the Mozart
Week in January or during the world renowned Salzburg Festival, held
every summer in July and August. During the remaining months the various
churches, palaces, parks, theaters and Mozarteum Concert Hall saturate
the air with music - heard as one wanders Salzburg's enchanting alleys
and squares.If you're on a musical pilgrimage, you can visit Mozart's birthplace,
his home, the grave of his father and widow, and the house of a person
who once knew someone who knew someone whose great-great grandfather
once played second bassoon in a Mozart opera.
The high point of a visit to Salzburg (literally and metaphorically)
is a tour of the 11th-century Hohensalzburg Castle, which stands
on a rock outcrop about 120m above the city. It's almost a separate
village in its own right, with all the usual self-sufficient
accoutrements of a tiny settlement like torture chambers, state rooms, a
tower and two museums. On the east side of the old town, the stunning Museum
of Natural History has the standard flora and fauna displays, good
hands-on physics exhibits and some stomach-churning deformed human
embryos. To round off the grisly experience, there are tours of the
catacombs in the graveyard of the 9th-century St Peter's Abbey.
