Part 2 of the Epic Salzburg Adventure - we headed to the famous Festung Hohensalzburg, a fortress built on the top of Festungsberg, a hill overlooking the city of Salzburg. The Festung Hohensalzburg is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Salzburg, and also one of the largest medieval fortresses in Europe. Construction began in 1077 under Archbishop Gerald von Helfenstein, and quite a number of major developments followed thereafter.
To get to the Festung Hohensalzburg, we took a special cable car (Festungsbahn) up the hill. The ascend was so steep...yet so fast. I was amazed by how we managed to get up to the hill in seconds! The Festungsbahn itself opened in 1892.
And this was where we ended up - right at the foot of the fortress...
The Festung Hohensalzburg is a really good place for panoramic shots of the city. We had quite a number of good vantage points...and so we rotated around these places. From one of the lookouts, we could also see the historic wall surrounding Salzburg.
See how gorgeous Salzburg is? It's surrounded by all these amazing hills!
Right now, let's sing in unison: "The hills are aliveeeee...with the Sound of Music....with songs they have sung, for a thousand yearrrrss!!! The hills fill my hearttttt, with the Sound of Music...my heart wants to sing every song it hearrrrsss........"
Best view of the mountain! Check out the mist below it...and the snow! Never ending snow, I swear. Zoomed in with my telephoto lens and managed to catch a glimpse of some houses, amidst the pure white snow. What a beautiful sight!
I want to photograph snowy weather again! Experiencing snow for the very first time was such a gorgeous experience. Touching snow for the very first time was also very magical.
Castle walls - to keep intruders away. There were lookout posts everywhere. I can kinda imagine how scary it will be, to fall straight down below.
Good view of the city from one of the smaller lookouts. I reckon this is where larger cannons are fitted, to defend the fortress. Now this is unoccupied...but people have placed lots of coins around it.
Some of the lookout points...and the smaller guard houses at the wall corners.
The former Executioner's cottage. No one wanted to live next to this poor dude, so he had an entire property to himself. Of course, there're pathways that connect his cottage to the neighbouring buildings...and they form this spectacular star shape...
One of the buildings nearby was the Mirabellplatz - also another filming location for The Sound of Music. The gardens and the tree-lined roads were used for some of the song sequences.
Inner courtyard - which has been designated for a Christmas market! The market wasn't fully opened yet, but lots of people were walking around! Anyway - the Christmas decorations around the courtyard were also pretty impressive! I love how they used the bare tree branches to hang the decorations...
We had quite some time to explore the fortress - so that was what we did! Took one big round around the fortress, and of course, took quite a number of pics of the different rooms/buildings. The castle has been really well-preserved, and even the details on the walls have been restored really well.
It was getting dark pretty fast, so we took the Festungsbahn back down to the city square. Decided to explore the area further, before heading back to the hotel.
On the way, we passed by this tiny alley. Went in to explore, and there was a brewery in there - which had been functioning since the 1920s!
Wandered around this area, and ended up next to a massive waterwheel - which supplies water to the fortress, I presume. Anyway it's still fully functional.
We also passed an old church and a cemetery, before heading back to the main city.
We got a bit hungry - and the walk back to the hotel was quite a long distance. So we stopped by this tiny little shop for some soup and bread. The soup was really delicious - hot drinks are always delicious in cold weather. And check this out - they've got seats for right handers AND left handers! As a left hander, I was so glad that they had a seat specially for us :)
Last couple of pics before the skies got dark. Managed to make it back to the hotel before it got completely dark. It was winter - and the sun set at about 4:30pm.
That's it for our adventure around the Festung Hohensalzburg! More pics of Salzburg coming up - and of course, I'll be posting pics about the Sound of Music tour soon! It was a really wonderful tour!