Hubs and I were both wide awake at 3am. Silly jet lag. So, at 4:30am, we gave up on the trying-to-sleep thing and got up, got ready. We left the hotel before 7am. Turns out, early morning is a great time to explore Salzburg since you avoid the masses of tourists. The only people around were locals heading to work or school.
The weather was glorious, all sun and blue sky. We walked to the Salzburg Dom, but didn't take any photos because a giant stage was set up in front of it for a concert.
Next to the Dom was Dom Platz, a large square directly under the Salzburg Castle. There was a giant chess board and empty food stands that I'm sure are humming during the summer. There was also a sculpture of a man standing on a large, golden sphere. I like when modern art pieces accompany baroque settings.
We walked up to Mozart Square, a little square with a statue of the great composer. It was fairly unremarkable for a city so devoted to the man. But the pastries at the bakeries across the street did him a fair amount of justice.
We backtracked to Dom Platz and found St. Peter's Monastery tucked behind it. The cemetery was gorgeous and unlike any cemetery I'd seen (though I learned from this trip that this style of cemetery is popular through the region).
Instead of headstones, there were wrought iron designs. Each grave was covered with planted flowers.
Even the roses in vases were fresh, and it was clear that the relatives of the deceased took great pride in making sure the graves looked their best. Though we were there early in the morning, a candle on a grave had been lit.
It make for an upbeat, colorful experience in what could have been a silent, somber place.
After the cemetery, we walked up the stairs to a trail that lead to the Hohensalzburg Fortress/Salzburg Castle. It was before 9am, the gates were open. We followed a German woman in front of us and walked past the ticket counter and no one stopped us. I guess if you go early you might get in for free? Or you might just be breaking the law.
The fortress was well-preserved. We didn't pay for the museum, so we just wandered around. There aren't many attractions, but we did stumble into a room that had a CG model of how the castle evolved throughout the ages. It started as a small tower on the hill and, over centuries, was structured and restructured to become a stronghold. It was hard to imagine anyone climbing up the hill and getting over those walls.
On one side of the castle, you have the beautiful view overlooking the city.
On the other side, there are gorgeous snow-capped mountains. Win-win.
As we descended, we mistakenly took a detour, but we ended up near a nunnery and the domed University Church overlooking the University.
We trudged back up the hill and made it to the wooded trail we missed the first time around. The trail was over a mile, but wooded and shady and downhill, so it wasn't difficult. The trail basically on top of the wall of the old town, so there were some nice views overlooking the city along the way.
The trail ended near Barenwirt, and we were starving. We wandered out to the patio, overlooking the river, and took a seat.
I ordered one lunch special on the board: Barlaudknodel auf gorganzola. It was dumplings with spinach in an uber rich gorganzola sauce.
Hubs ordered another special: Bauemschmaus wit bratknodel and sauerkraut which was ham, roast pork, dumplings, and sauerkraut. The meat was perfect, tender and juicy and flavorful.
We'd read that their apple strudel was outstanding, so we decided to over-stuff ourselves.
It was worth it. The strudel was delicious, though I thought it had to much vanilla sauce that it was floating in. The strudel itself tasted so good, there was no need to hide it in so much sauce.
I can't recommend Barenwirt highly enough. It was maybe the best meal on our whole trip, and the patio was so lovely. If you're in Salzburg, it's a must, and very affordable, especially at lunch. If we would've had another day in Salzburg, we probably would've come back here for lunch.
2 lunch specials + 2 waters + dessert + tip = 30 euro.
Bellies filled to the brim, we walked slowly back towards out hotel along the river. The weather was gorgeous, and all the walkers and bikers around us were enjoying the spring weather. It had been cold and raining a lot in the weeks before we arrived.
We took a nap at the hotel, mostly to rest our feet. We'd logged quite a few miles this day.
In the early evening we walked to the river and had dinner on the beautiful overlook on top of Hotel Stein. We had a tower of antipasto which felt perfect for the setting.
We noshed and watched the sun set against the castle and had a drink. It was beautiful.
On the apartments in back of us, young people were drinking on the actual rooftops, rooftops that didn't have a flat top designed for people to stand on. It looked fun. Antipasto platter + glass of red wine + a scotch + tip = 35 euro.
We walked to Steingasse, right next to Hotel Stein. As the sun had set, all the cute bars on the street opened. This would be a great street to do a bar crawl. But we were only in the mood for a glass of wine and we settled on Fridrich, a tiny bar with exposed brick and cool posters on the walls. 2 glasses of wine = 11 euro.
After the wine, we explored the actual street of Steingasse, a narrow medieval street next to the river. Every entry way had a beautiful old wooden door.
It's quite a romantic street at night. And I think we were the only tourists. Everyone else seemed to be having dinner and drinks with friends. We were searching for marked doors and the scars from where a G.I. tried to drive a tank down the road to get to a brothel during WWII. We weren't having much luck in the dark, but we liked the street so much we decided to come back during the day, so I took more photos on a later date.
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