Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg means Salt Castle. It is a city in Austria. The city lies on the Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Alps mountains. In ancient time its main source of income was salt extraction. Salzburg's historic center (German: Altstadt) is renowned for its Baroque architecture and is one of the best-preserved city centers north of the Alps. It is also the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the shooting location of the US movie the Sound of Music. The historic center was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

Salzburg is about 140km southeast from Munich. We visited the city at the tail end of our trip to Munich, Germany, on July 25th, Saturday, with a guided tour.  

Our shuttle parked across the river Salzach from Altstadt. We did not follow the tour guide but tried to cover more places on our own.

The first stop was Mirabell Garden. We got in from a side entrance.

It is a city garden, with a fountain and many sculptures. The four main sculptures depict some sort of abductions. It must be Greek mythology related I thought at the time.  

It turned out that they were sculpted by Italian artist Ottavio Mosto around 1690. Each group depicts a mythological story symbolizing one of the four classical elements:

Earth (Pluto & Proserpina): Depicts Pluto, god of the Underworld, abducting Proserpina to the underworld, symbolizing the earth and the underground.

Water (Paris & Helen): Shows Paris abducting Helen of Troy and carrying her across the sea, starting the Trojan War.

Fire (Aeneas & Anchises): Represents Aeneas fleeing the burning city of Troy while carrying his father Anchises on his back and leading his young son Ascanius.

Air (Hercules & Antaeus): Depicts Hercules lifting the giant Antaeus off the ground to defeat him, depriving Antaeus of his power source (his mother, Gaia, the Earth) by holding him in the air.

Passing the sculptures, we saw locals were dancing on the shaded area by the side of the  garden

Air - Hercules lifting the Giant Antaeus

Water - Trojan Prince Paris abducting Helen across sea

Earth - Pluto abducting Proserpina to the underground

Fire - Aeneas fleeing the burning city of Troy while carrying his father Anchises 

entrance to the  garden from the main street

Crossing river Salzach over a pedestrian bridge, we entered Altstadt, the historical old town of Salzburg. Narrow streets, old market square, Salzburg Cathedral. When we lingered at the front of the Cathedral, the bell tolled, and a  cloud-formed cross appeared in the sky.  

Salzach River

a narrow street of Altstadt

old market square

Redienzplaz, a tower of Salzburg Cathedral

Salzburg Cathedral

A cross in the sky facing the Cathedral

Instead of walking in the busy streets at Altstadt, we walked uphill to take a better views of the old town area. It was well worth it.

With short hiking uphill, we reached Viewpoint of Old Town (Altstadtblick). We had a good look of the cathedral from above, an unblocked view of the Fortress Hohensalzburg. Continued on a trail on the hill side, am Monchsburg, all the way to Aussichtspunkt am Mönchsberg (observatin deck) and birds' eye view of the Salzach river.

church towers

Fortress Hohensalzburg

Salzach River

Due to time constraint form the tour, we traced back to the trailhead, and continued to finish the loop around the Altstadt.  We had a quick lunch at a restaurant near the pedestrian bridge and rejoined the whole tour group afterwards (by chance) on the way back to the shuttle. We continued the Austria Excursion to Wolfgansee for a lake cruise.