We rode into Salzburg after that long day of hiking from the Eagles Nest. Exhaustion is an understatement. Most of the hostels were booked again, so we had to take a bus 15 minutes or so to the one did we get. It was more like a hotel. We had a nice balcony with a view of the Alps in the distance. A nice bar and restaurant on the first floor.
After breakfast we took the bus downtown to Marienplatz, and meandered across the river to the old part of town. This had the cathedral, which had walkable crypts. Outside the church and through a walkway was a giant sized chess bored painted into the street with large wooden pieces, being played by some children who were in no hurry. We hiked up the hill from here and paid admission to the fortress overlooking the city. It had cool history of the hapsburgs and the importance of Salzburg in the region. The panoramic at the top was spectacular. Climbing down, we walked through the park which sits on a cliff that’s like an isthmus going into the city. We hoped to find a famous beer hall that regularly seated over 1,000 people. The 1 liter beer was a great creation. We got a late dinner at an outdoor German restaurant in the old town area.
The next day we went back downtown to view the palace and gardens of Salzburgs royalty back in the day, and then went back to that space with the giant chess board to see if we could get in on a game. Some old guys–probably regulars–were playing, and my dreams of playing an oversized game of street chess was crushed.
Salzburg was a shorter pit stop on our way east. We saw the big sights, hung out in the historic center a bunch, but without day trips to other mountainous or surrounding lakes, it didn’t seem necessary to stay longer.
As AJ Thinks 