Day Twenty Six

DAY TWENTY SIX

After watching two comedies last night Kurt and I started our day off in a some what better mood. The scenery surrounding our mountainous camp site also brightened things up somewhat. The Alps are without doubt one of the most beautiful natural features I’ve seen. Perhaps the only down side to such beauty is that it compels you to return again and see it in another season.

We made an early departure from our campsite following our 5minute showers and a quick breakfast. Driving out of the snow covered mountains that border the Bergtesgarden region we headed to the train station in Salzberg, a trip of about one hour. The roads in the city were mercifully quiet being Sunday and we were able to park near to the terminal. Michael arrived at 8:53am to join us for the day’s exploration.

We found a parking lot for Betsy near the old city (which cost R170 for half the day) and investigated the possibility of going on a tour tomorrow to see the sights from the movie ‘Sound of Music’. A visit to a coffee shop followed to enjoy Austrian cake and cappuccino before wondering towards the impressive fortress that dominates the city.

Salzberg Castle began as a Roman fort on the prominent hill above the river valley but grew into the fortress it is today over the medieval period where successive Cardinals (who ruled the city) added to the size and strength of the fortifications. It was never taken by force and only once surrendered to Napoleon. We took the funicular up the side of the hill to the castles lower fortifications. From here we explored the length and breadth of the structure over the next three hours, visiting the royal apartments and climbing up to the top of one of the towers to be rewarded with magnificent views over the city. Salzberg is without doubt the most impressive fortress I’ve seen in all my travels thus far.

Making our way down from the Castle we looked for a restaurant for our noon day feast. We decided on Nordsee, a fish food restaurant with some excellent dishes. Stomachs full we headed on to the Etap hotel where we’d booked to stay for two nights as all camp sites around Salzberg are closed in winter.

A quite afternoon has followed catching up on various odds and ends. Given we’ve booked our Sound of Music tour tomorrow, Michael decided the sensible thing to do was buy the movie (on sale at the castle for R320) and watch it tonight..