After the Sound of Music tour ended, the tour bus dropped us off at Schloss Mirabell - another filming location in The Sound of Music movie. The Schloss Mirabell is situated in the 'new' part of Salzburg. The palace was initially known as Schloss Altenau - and was constructed in 1606 as a token of love. The Schloss Altenau was then named Schloss Mirabell after the Prince-Archbishop's death. The whole palace itself is situated very near the bridges leading to the 'old' part of the city (Alstadt).
Here we are - going through the side entrance of Schloss Mirabell. The compound's so big - and we wanted to explore it all. But we didn't have enough time, so we went straight to Mirabellgarten.
Mirabellgarten was also one of the filming sites for The Sound of Music - especially for the Do Re Mi sequence. Mirabellgarten was redesigned in around 1690, and by 1730, it was remodelled again. However, it has been well-maintained ever since.
The Pegasus fountain was installed in 1913 - and has been featured in the Do Re Mi sequence of the movie.
Took a walk around one part of Mirabellgarten. The Mirabellgarten features a hedge theatre (constructed between 1704 and 1718) and this is one of the largest in Salzburg.
It had snowed the night before - and there was still some snow on the ground.
Got out of Mirabellgarten for a while, and I spotted these awesome decorations lining the gardens and the palace. There were many different variations of these.
The gates to Mirabellgartens - where the ending bits of Do Re Mi were filmed...and this was also where Julie Andrews hit that impressive high C at the end of the song!
Found this beautiful mini-maze in Mirabellgarten, just as we walked back in...
And then we spent some time exploring the central part of the garden, especially the hedge theatre. It was the beginning of winter, and there were some traces of autumn left on the trees. Most of the flowers, however, weren't around anymore, and the gardens looked quite barren. However, the scenery was still really beautiful. I was really impressive by the sculptures around the gardens - would really like to come back and visit again!
Unfortunately, parts of the garden were closed for restoration, but we still managed to see most of the garden...
After exploring the gardens, we went to Mozart Wohnhaus (Mozart's Residence). Mozart is worshipped EVERYWHERE in Austria, especially Salzburg. Mozart Wohnhaus featured some of Mozart's works, as well as artefacts from his childhood and adulthood. His family was also featured as part of the whole collection. The place itself isn't very big, but I learnt a lot about Mozart from there.
Anyway - here's the exterior of the building. The building itself isn't very intricate, but has lots and lots of history inside. We went to both Mozart's Residence and Mozart's birthplace (featured in one of the previous posts - when we first explored Salzburg).
After going to Mozart Wohnhaus, we decided to take another look at the 'old' part of the city. Here it is - at the opposite side of the river...and you can roughly see Festung Hohensalzburg in the background.
Parts of the old Salzburg Wall (constructed during the Medieval period) can be seen from here. The wall is officially known as Burgerwehr, and construction first began around 1280, over 100 years after Festung Hohensalzburg was constructed. The wall was then extended in the late 1400s, and then extended even more in the 1630s.
Since we had some time, we decided to walk around the 'old' part of Salzburg even more. The buildings in the 'old' town have been well-preserved, and is under the care of UNESCO. They've been inspected, restored and maintained such that the 'old' town is preserved as originally as possible. Characteristics included cobblestones on the streets (some have been replaced with asphalt roads though), very narrow streets, lots of intersections...and unique architecture.
Here're some of the buildings that I managed to capture. Oh and I should also mention - shops have been marked with a unique logo AND a sign that hangs outwards! The Christmas decorations were also designed strategically to match with the atmosphere of the 'old' town.
Large shop windows were also quite common, and often featured high quality merchandise. Some were simple, others were more well-decorated.
And yes - we did pass by ANOTHER Christmas market! This one was selling lots of food! Wanted to stop by for a hot dog but we didn't have much time...so we just walked around.
And that concludes the Salzburg series! The next day, we boarded an early train and headed straight to the Capital of Austria and the Music Capital of the World - Vienna!!! More to that very soon! Vienna is officially my favourite place on Earth now!