Eurotrip 3.0: Salzburg

The drive from Wattens to Salzburg was quick, in more ways than one! Long stretches of the autobahns that we were on, were with ‘No speed limit’, and our Mercedes van easily revved up to 170 km/h! Once we got used to those speeds, an 80 or 100km/h on some stretches seemed like drab affairs.

Our hotel (Hotel Schöne Aussicht) was nestled on a hilltop with an absolutely stunning view of the city. We arrived in the evening to a brilliant sunset. The slopes of the hill were awash with fresh green grass, and it looked like a picture straight out of an album titled ‘Heaven’. We were lucky to have caught this glimpse, as there was a forecast for rain the next day and the whole scene can go cold and dreary quite quickly.

We decided to take short drive further up the hill to some even more spectacular views. We were greeted by a forest with a clearing just in front. A pair of exquisite deer walked in, took a dab at some grass and then disappeared back into the forest. It was absolutely surreal! Reminded me of the cartoon ‘Bambi’ which was tucked away in faint recesses of my memory. I sometimes feel as though I’ve lived 3 or 4 separate lives, depending on where I was, and this scene somehow seemed to connect them all back together.

We drove into the old city, parked our car and walked down the River Salzach as the night set with twinkling lights and the Salzburg Castle in the background.  Another stunning scene, and I was going into sensory overload – cyclists whizzing by on the paths, church bells somewhere in the distance, different lights reflecting off of the river, the smell of Austrian food mixed with the gushing water down below!

We ambled over to the other side, stumbled upon the Mozart Museum (which we were to visit the next day), and had dinner in one of the many pizza places in a nearby alley. I had begun to develop a rather menacing, hacking cough and so stuck to wine as the choice of drink although the temperature was more conducive for some beer!

We walked back to where our car was parked and on the way encountered a lady with her kid and a beautiful Labrador. The short meeting particularly stuck in memory because the lady asked my brother & me, much to our amusement, if we were artists or musicians – thanks to the funky hats we were wearing and possibly because we were walking around in artistic Salzburg!

After a good night’s sleep, we awoke to loud claps of thunder in the morning, as if right outside our hilltop windows. The scene had changed quite dramatically since last evening. Abundant sunshine had given way to menacing dark clouds and fog, and the city was hardly visible in the distance.

A short drive and a hunt for parking later we had food at yoga guru’s place called ‘Heart of Joy’. There were hilarious videos of the ‘guru’ curing terminally ill people with a wave of his hands and such. The food was vegetarian and quite good so we weren’t exactly complaining. Next stop was the Mozart Tour. We were bundled into a van not too dissimilar from our own Mercedes, and the driver took us around showing various places related to Mozart. We drove out to a castle just outside the city and that was quite scenic but the cold rain was making things not all that enjoyable. The tour ended at the entrance to the Mozart Museum. At 21 euros per head for the tour, it was a touch expensive but I would still recommend it as it packs in everything including the entrance fees for the museum.

The next 2 hours or so at the Museum were extremely engaging. I was hooked to the audio guide as it took me through the life of the musical maestro. I would highly recommend the audio guide to anybody, irrespective of whether they have any knowledge or interest in music or Mozart. It’s an inspirational story and more than Mozart himself, it also gives a good idea of how life was in his time. The last exhibit is particularly exceptional as it takes one through each of Mozart’s ‘tours’ in Europe, how he and his father traveled around enthralling audiences from Rome to Paris to Berlin to London!

A completely drenched and still pouring journey awaited us as we stepped out of the museum and headed straight out towards the magical lands of Slovenia. If it weren’t for this trip, Slovenia would’ve probably remained ‘a country in Europe’ whose map location was slightly suspect in my head, and possibly convoluted with Slovakia. As it was, I then knew exactly where it was, and hopefully it was going to conjure up some more magic on our trip!