Saltzburg

There's not much to say about Saltzburg except that it's absolutely gorgeous.  We went there and back on a Bayern ticket, which is how we went to most places in Germany (up to 5 people can ride all day, any distance, for about 30 euro).  It was definitely worth the trip.  It's only a few hours train ride from Munich, and it was wonderful to step into Austria for a little bit.

We came in at the downtown train station, a short walk from Schloss Mirabelle.  This is a baroque style palace done in French and Italian style.  Its famous gardens were beautiful, filled with color, and often planted in the patterns of family crests.  Scenes from the Sound of Music were filmed here, most famously the Do-Re-Mi song, where they dance around a horse fountain in the garden and use the steps as scales.

After a look at the palace, we walked through town to the old part of the city.  Eventually we came to an open square where looking up we saw a very impressive fortress, called Festung Hohensalzburg. It sits above the city on a mountain, and is almost as impressive as Burghausen's castle.  We rode a lift up the mountain that was a re-purposed supplies lift.  Our ticket enabled us to walk the grounds freely, as well as participate in many tours and walk through all the museums in the fortress.  This fortress had some incredible treasures inside, as well as beautiful architecture, ceilings, and doors.  Some of my favorites are pictured next.


Here's a recent discovery of old arched columns and paintings that were bricked up over years of renovations to the fortress.

Below is a shot of a decorative ceiling in one of the estate rooms.

To the right is an old ceramic stove.  I could hardly believe it ever was useful and not simply decorative.  There were several such stoves in all the princely chambers, decorated intricately, used to keep the massive rooms warm in winter.  The largest one was in the golden chamber, and it was decorated mostly in gold leaf.

To the left is a door in the "golden chambers," a lavishly decorated princely room adjacent to the "golden hall," and the bedchamber, where the ceiling picture was taken.  The doors in this fortress were absolutely the most ornate I have ever seen.  I loved the ironwork on this door.  Others had little jewels set into them.