Whoa...this summer has been quite a busy one! I've been taking lots and lots of driving lessons...and of course, spending time with friends and family! Anyway - here's the first post for the Salzburg series! I'll be having quite a number of upcoming series - as I took loads and loads of pics from my recent Europe trip!
Starting off with Salzburg - my first destination. We had 3 days to explore the city - and so we dedicated one entire day to walk around the entire city (and explore heritage landmarks of course).
Passed by one of the parks and spotted this sculpture - reminds me of "The Thinking Man" sculpture I often see in Singapore!
Salzburg is divided into two parts - the "new" and the "old". Both parts are separated by the river. Right now, we're in the "new" part. Well - technically speaking, the buildings are mostly old-ish...anyway...
Mozart is worshipped EVERYWHERE in Salzburg! After all, he did spend quite a fair bit of time in Salzburg. Here's a concert hall named after him. It's so gorgeous.
The neighbouring concert hall - if I remember correctly they have puppet shows in here. And these are world class, intricately designed puppets.
Looking across the river towards the "old" part of the city. In the distance (towards the left of the pic), you can see the Festung Hohensalzburg, a fortress sitting on top of the Festungsberg (a hill overlooking Salzburg). Construction commenced in 1077, and many developments followed after. More to that in a future post!
Anyway, the city of Salzburg is really beautiful! I love the atmosphere in Salzburg...and because Salzburg is surrounded by mountains, you can see the mountains in the distance, if you're in a strategic spot! We were situated in the outskirts of the city and we could see snowy peaks everyday!
Even the river is beautiful. And I couldn't resist taking many pics of it.
It was early winter when I went to Salzburg, but there were some plants that were pretty much alive...
Check this out - proof that Salzburg worships Mozart! A massive wall graffiti of Mozart in the underpass. We went through this underpass to get to the "old" part of Salzburg.
And here we are! In the "old" part of Salzburg.
One of the places we visited was Mozart's birthplace, a prominent building in the "old" part of Salzburg. Mozart's life has been really well documented here. And of course, Mozart's residence is also in Salzburg - in the "new" part of the city. Mozart's birthplace has been painted orange - stark contrast to the greyish and pastel buildings in this area.
The streets in the "old" part are pretty narrow, but there're wide open spaces here and there. People usually set up stalls there.
Stopped by at Nordsee for lunch. Nordsee is actually a German fast-food chain...that has awesome seafood! I had prawn pasta that day. The fresh seafood were displayed behind the counters.
Strollin' along the narrow streets in the "old" part of the city, and trying to let our lunch digest...
We ended up in a big square, where a Christmas market had been set up! Christmas markets are very popular in Europe, and are usually frequently visited by tourists and the locals. Each Christmas market is unique, and have lots of interesting stuff, like trinkets, Christmas merchandise, souvenirs...and food!!
"Escaped" the Christmas market crowd, and ended up near some of the heritage buildings - one of them was the Panorama Museum, which we didn't get to visit...fortunately I managed to take pics of the building :)
The Panorama Museum features the Salzburg Panorama - an impressive work by Johann Michael Sattler. The Salzburg Panorama depicts the life and architecture in Salzburg in the late 1820s.
Not too far from the Panorama Museum is the Dommuseum (Cathedral Museum). The Cathedral Museum is built in Baroque style, and houses many medieval artefacts. It's got a really impressive entrance, as well as lovely wall carvings on the outside.
After exploring the "old" part of the city for a bit, we went to the Festung Hohensalzburg, and spent some time there. More to that in the next post!
Anyway - after coming down from the Festung Hohensalzburg, we headed back to the "new" part of the city (where our hotel was). Crossed the Mozart bridge - the same bridge that the cast of The Sound of Music crossed when filming the "Do Re Mi" sequence. The view was spectacular!
More views of the "old" part of the city from a strategic spot, amidst the setting sun...
We ended up in a small square in the "new" part of the city, where Christmas lights were on display. I love the Christmas lights in Austria - they're just so impressive!
And that's it for today's post! In the next post, I'll be posting pics of the Festung Hohensalzburg!