Christmas in Salzburg, Austria!
A white Christmas!! Yeh!! Been our wish for quite sometime, so nice we could make it happen! Salzburg is amazing - its dominant feature is the fortress Hohenssalzburg towering over the city. Its really built on top/into the alps & simply impressive!! The city is divided by the Salzach river into Alstadt (old town) & the Newstadt (new town).
Old town is of course where you spend most of your time, admiring all boutiques, the baroque architecture, the Dom (cathederal), the several platz (open squares), & the residenze (palace).
Just across the river, in the Newstadt (barely), you have the major hotels overlooking the river & fortress. It boasts the Mirabellgarten (gardens), Mozarts house & museum & again numerous boutiques!!
Moving outside this radius, into residential Salzburg, the aesthetics drop considerably, with simple solid buildings, painted in colours to brighten it up!!
Our hotel was close to the river & the Alstadt & we spent most of our time visiting the sights & browsing the quaint alleyways!
Arriving before Christmas, the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas markets) were still going in the many platz's & it was a great feeling to check out the numerous stalls of decorations, whilst of course drinking "Gluwine" (hot red wine) to keep you warm. It was cold - the days were at least -3 or -5, with the sun shining, & the the nights who knows!!?
Well, a visit to Salzburg won't be complete without a "Sound of Music" tour! It was fabulous & I had a ball, seeing the Nonnberg convent, the Vontrap house, standing on the lake in front of the house (you know where Maria & the kids fall in) & yes I said standing on the lake, it was frozen!! Saw the gazebo, the trees where the kids were picking berries & the church where the captain & Maria got married. It was as cheesy as it should be it & David was a good sport, even singing along to the tunes (doesn't admit it, but he knows them, especially since I bring out the DVD at least a couple of times a yr!!)
They say give & take in marriage (don't know who made these rules!!), so after the experience of Sound of Music, it was necessary for him to spend a day skiing in Flachau (Austrian alps) & he had a blast!! A childhood dream to ski in the alps, so he was chuffed!! His quote, on his return that evening was, "Where have you been all my life", & yes the reference was to the snow!!! He continued, "It was fluffy, dry & light & if it was a cooking show it would be Nigella Lawson compared to Austrilia's Bernard King's snow." Whilst David was falling in love with the snow on the alps, I was trying to do something cultural. Visited the palace & the amazing state rooms where the princely archbishops lived (yes religion & state were one & the same). Checked out the art gallery & after feeling "cultured" decided to enter the modern world of "shopping" - well there's gotta be balance! The boots & coats in Europe are fabulous!!
Our last evening was spent going to a Mozart concert & dinner. It was a great experience! It was held in St Peters & between the courses of dinner several of Mozart's peices were played.
Well, we have eaten all the Weiner Snitzel, sausages, potatoes, goulash & dumplings we could manage & drank numerous bottles of wine & beer to ensure we had the complete Austrian experience!! :)
Highlights of the trip -
Old town is of course where you spend most of your time, admiring all boutiques, the baroque architecture, the Dom (cathederal), the several platz (open squares), & the residenze (palace).
Just across the river, in the Newstadt (barely), you have the major hotels overlooking the river & fortress. It boasts the Mirabellgarten (gardens), Mozarts house & museum & again numerous boutiques!!
Moving outside this radius, into residential Salzburg, the aesthetics drop considerably, with simple solid buildings, painted in colours to brighten it up!!
Our hotel was close to the river & the Alstadt & we spent most of our time visiting the sights & browsing the quaint alleyways!
Arriving before Christmas, the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas markets) were still going in the many platz's & it was a great feeling to check out the numerous stalls of decorations, whilst of course drinking "Gluwine" (hot red wine) to keep you warm. It was cold - the days were at least -3 or -5, with the sun shining, & the the nights who knows!!?
Well, a visit to Salzburg won't be complete without a "Sound of Music" tour! It was fabulous & I had a ball, seeing the Nonnberg convent, the Vontrap house, standing on the lake in front of the house (you know where Maria & the kids fall in) & yes I said standing on the lake, it was frozen!! Saw the gazebo, the trees where the kids were picking berries & the church where the captain & Maria got married. It was as cheesy as it should be it & David was a good sport, even singing along to the tunes (doesn't admit it, but he knows them, especially since I bring out the DVD at least a couple of times a yr!!)
They say give & take in marriage (don't know who made these rules!!), so after the experience of Sound of Music, it was necessary for him to spend a day skiing in Flachau (Austrian alps) & he had a blast!! A childhood dream to ski in the alps, so he was chuffed!! His quote, on his return that evening was, "Where have you been all my life", & yes the reference was to the snow!!! He continued, "It was fluffy, dry & light & if it was a cooking show it would be Nigella Lawson compared to Austrilia's Bernard King's snow." Whilst David was falling in love with the snow on the alps, I was trying to do something cultural. Visited the palace & the amazing state rooms where the princely archbishops lived (yes religion & state were one & the same). Checked out the art gallery & after feeling "cultured" decided to enter the modern world of "shopping" - well there's gotta be balance! The boots & coats in Europe are fabulous!!
Our last evening was spent going to a Mozart concert & dinner. It was a great experience! It was held in St Peters & between the courses of dinner several of Mozart's peices were played.
Well, we have eaten all the Weiner Snitzel, sausages, potatoes, goulash & dumplings we could manage & drank numerous bottles of wine & beer to ensure we had the complete Austrian experience!! :)
Highlights of the trip -
- Hohenssalzburg fortress
- Alstadt - great buldings, alleyways, shopping, ambience, lights etc
- The Dom (Cathederal)
- Sound of Music tour
- Skiing in Flachau
- Mozart concert & dinner
- ...& of course snow, cold & being together in Europe for our 1st white Christmas
posted by Rochelle | 16:48
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