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So, did you know that Salzburg became wealthy because of one indispensable and highly prized item in the Middle Ages and well before then… salt…yes, today’s el cheapo seasoning was white gold back then, and the city’s name in German actually means the City of Salt. Everything in Salzburg is made of salt, the Prince-Archbishop‘s fortress on the hill and all of the town, not literally of course, but you get the idea. Talking of the fortress: the intimidating Hohensalzburg is one of the largest intact medieval fortresses in Europe. It has never been successfully invaded by the enemies of the archbishop (did clerics have enemies?). It was built around 1100 AD and greatly expanded in the following centuries, all to control passage along the Salzach river. The river passes right through the city and ever since the construction of the fortress, the town has extracted a duty from every barge passing by, packed with rock salt from the mines in the area. The furnishings of some rooms are original and unchanged since the early 1600s. The fortress can be reached on foot or via a funicular from the Festungsgasse.
The historic center of Salzburg has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, renowned for its Baroque architecture and has one of the best-preserved city centers north of the Alps. For such a small city (Pop: 160,000) is has seven, yes, seven, universities and so it’s packed with students creating a youthful, lively scene.
Of course, Salzburg is forever identified with Mozart, that precocious musical genius who was writing piano concertos at the age of eleven, and in his short life he produced a total of 626 works, small and large, including several operas and his incomparable final work: The Requiem. Mozart’s birthplace has been turned into a small museum.
Well worth a visit is Salzburg’s cathedral, started by (bishop) St. Rupert in 774 to evangelize among the local pagan tribes. It reached its current form at its consecration in 1628. In typical Baroque style, the interior is sumptuously over-the-top, no poverty or humility on show here, with a richly ornate altar and frescoes, and plenty of windows to let in God’s light. Mozart was baptized in its baptismal font (still there today).
The Residenzplatz in front of the church is where all the horse carriage sight-seeing tours start, and has a nice fountain in the middle, erected between 1656 and 1661, featuring Triton, a Greek god of the sea (son of Poseidon) atop the upper basin. Farmer’s markets pop up here and there, but there is a regular one on the square in front of University Church daily.
7000 years of history in Hallstatt
We were so fortunate in getting a picture-perfect day to visit Halstatt. An hour east of Salzburg, lies the source of all that salt wealth, high above the sublimely pretty town of Hallstatt (pop. 780) – the “Place of Salt”.
A funicular ride (lots of fun, that…) up a 1000 ft from Hallstatt is the Salzwelten (saltmine).
Neolithic man (proto-Celtic) was already extracting salt with stone axes 7000 years ago. Three mine shafts have been located, delving 300 ft deep into the veins of salt. Later, it was bronze pickaxes that broke the salt loose from the surrounding rock, and were laboriously carried up the stairs in ingeniously designed leather backpacks. A 3,500-year-old sack was found by archaeologists. Natural disasters – landslides – destroyed the mines, the last in the 4th century BC. From the adit, the women would carry the sacks down the mountainside to the lake/village and were even doing so in the 19th century, children would bring finely cut pinewood, used for lighting to the mine.
The period and area have even been designated as the ‘Halstatt Culture” – the predominant culture of Western and Central Europe between the 12th and 6th centuries BC. As a result of this wealth, there was a thriving village at the site and trade goods from afar, Baltic amber, swords with ivory hilts, glass from Slovenia, plus gold and silver ornaments have been found at grave sites.
After the funicular ride, your first stop has to be the Halstatt Skywalk, a platform stretching out over the cliff with phenomenal views of Hallstatt below and its ‘sister’ town – Obertraun – on the other side of the lake… if you dare. From there a nice stroll uphill will take you to the entrance to the mine and museum ($), well worth it.
Worth watching:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvl3xzGMk8c
We actually stayed south of Salzburg in the small town of St Johann im Pongau situated in a narrow valley within about one hour’s drive to Salzburg. Our room at the Alpenland St. Johann afforded great views east to the hills, and easy hikes up the Salzach. A short walk upriver, a left turn and a hike uphill brings you to the Liechtensteiner narrow gorge with waterfall, rushing waters and a walk clinging to the sides of the gorge ($) – bring a warm jacket. On the way back, after all that exercise, stop at the Gasthof at the entrance for refreshments – a nice café au lait with a Viennoiserie was just right.
About halfway to Salzburg, sitting on its crag at a bend in the river sits the impressive Hohenwerfen Castle, no doubt, in past centuries, collecting tolls on every cargo passing by in this narrow gorge section of the Salzach with no other way around. We could only access a small section of this fortress, but that day there was a falconer with an eagle on show and several rooms and one of the inner courtyards (with cannon) were available.
From St. Johann we took an excursion to Bad Gastein, about an hour south through unforgettable landscapes. In the 19th century it became a fashionable resort, visited by monarchs: Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria, Kaiser Wilhelm I and his chancellor Otto von Bismarck, King Faisal of Iraq, King ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, industrialists: car maker, Opel, composer Schubert did some of his works here, artists, writers (Somerset Maugham) ‘took in the waters’. It is known for the belle epoque hotels and villas built on its steep forested slopes. Right in the middle of town is another nice waterfall.
The draw was the thermal waters with, supposedly, curative properties (bunk). Today the glitter has worn off and it has acquired a slightly seedy look. Some hotels are shuttered. However, aside from the waterfall, we also came to get to the top of the ‘hill’ of Graukogel by chairlift, see the world from on high, go for a hike… Sadly it was darn chilly and windy up there and though we came with jackets they were not enough.
We heard about Berchtesgaden, not too far away, so off we went. It was wet that day, but us inveterate hikers, nothing put us off, so off to the town sitting at the northern tip of the Königsee (King’s Lake), so picturesque with the clouds low on the lake and with the church of St. Bartholoma (named St. Bartholomew the Apostle, patron saint of alpine farmers and dairy men), a pilgrimage stop, barely visible towards the southern end.
Bavaria’s deepest lake, exceptionally clean since gas motors boats have been banned since 1909. There is an electric ferry that will take you to the church, otherwise only accessible by hiking trails. The annual pilgrimage of August 24 starts at Maria Alm and crosses the Berchtesgaden Alps, no mean feat. The old town is a pleasure to walk and, of course, there is the obligatory gondola ride up Jenner Mountain at 6100 ft, providing the best views on a clear day of the Alps. The restaurant at the top is rated as one of the best in Germany. We did not go, instead we went for a hike.
Several start from town and as we wanted some elevation and a good vantage point to see entire length of the lake, we made for Malerwinkel (see photo)… and no, we did not go to see Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in spite of (or because of) its infamy.
Maria Alm
In this area of Austria, there are chairlifts and gondolas galore for skiing in winter and hiking in summer. On a brilliant, sunny, warm-ish day, we took one of three from Maria Alm, (home for our second week) the Natrunbahn, up the hillside to a high forest and a nice hike with friends met on route to a high meadow.
Waiting for us at the end was a nice Gasthaus for some local beer and a nibble, and a pretty chapel called the Wettenherrenkapelle. There happened to be a service going on. Those are wood carvings in the foreground.
After marvelling at the scenery, we chose to walk back down to home base a different way passing by the enchanting Gasthaus Waldhaus, closed that day.
This being September, we lucked in to local fall festival – bringing the cows down from the high pastures - and a celebration with food stalls, decorated cows, horses, people, an umpahpah band, a demonstration of prowess with whips from young lads - the place was packed with day tourists enjoying themselves.
Two weeks in Austria – amazing what you can pack into it.
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