Salzburg Austria.
If you’re like me and classical music only enters your life during elevator rides or movie credits, and if you don’t love The Sound of Music (okay I love it a little, but not enough apparently), Salzburg doesn’t really come across your radar. At least not like Berlin or Prague or Budapest or London or any other large European cities with their flash and culture and fashion.
But, this trip brought me to Salzburg just the same, and I adored it.
We arrived in Salzburg by train at mid-afternoon under heavy fog and checked into our hotel/hostel. The hostel was located about 2 miles outside of the city center, the old town and the castle. It was right next to the river, and the walking path to the city center ran right past.
After settling into our rooms, we walked the 2 miles to the main part of the city for dinner. It was bitterly cold but a group of us found a well-reviewed burger place (one of the moms on the trip is a big foodie and she had looked up all the good places for food in all the cities we were visiting). We squeezed in and I ordered a grilled feta burger—made with a grilled slab of feta instead of a burger, and fries. I can honestly say that this was one of my favorite meals in Europe.
After we ate we wandered around town for a while but because it was March, cold, and a Saturday evening most things were pretty dead. Eventually a small group of us found a café that served hot chocolate and spent some time there to warm up before they closed. Everything seems to close early in Eastern Europe. Maybe just because it was the off-season.
The next morning was just as cloudy as the day before, and since it was Sunday nearly everything in the city was closed and quiet. (If you’re going to Austria, be prepared for everything to be closed on Sunday.) We went to the castle and spent some time exploring it and enjoying the cloudy view from the hill. You can see the whole city from the castle walls. The castle itself was fascinating—funded by the salt mines and built over several hundred years and nearly as many rulers. 10/10 would recommend (even if it is just for the view. But seriously. It’s a castle.)
After the castle, we did a tour of Mozart’s house and were turned lose to wander the city. I can’t honestly say that I know much or cared to know much about the music history of the city, as I am more interested in other things, but it was an okay thing to see just the same.
The group I ended up with (most of the mom’s and their kids, along with a few straggler students) wandered around the city for a while in the afternoon, and eventually found a nice Italian place that was open for a late lunch.
As we were eating, the principal called and said that he had stumbled upon a benefit concert in a nearby cathedral, and that we should go. We finished eating, paid and then walked the half mile or so to the cathedral. It was a Mozart concert to raise money for the cathedral and the music was performed by their congregation orchestra and choir. The whole place was packed so tightly we had to sit on the stone step leading into the side alcoves. They played Mozart’s Requiem. The stone was cold, but I can 100% tell you there are few things in life more beautiful than hearing a concert in a cathedral.
Sitting in that cathedral listening to the music swelling into the very being of the building, it hit me how beautiful churches reflect a beautiful God. I never understood it until that moment—always thinking that elaborate churches were a waste of money; money that could be used for better things. But there’s just something that will forever and always stun me about a cathedral. The sheer force of the building itself, so powerfuland strong with heavy solid walls and towering archways and delicate spires. Cold yet intricately beautiful. The carved stone, scrolls and leaves and painted ceilings. Stained glass that reflects colored light and splashes it all over the stone; painting the floors and walls in kaleidoscope, liquid colors. The reverence a building of that size and strength commands.
I. love. Cathedrals.
And then take all of those things and add music. Music just fits. It swells and moves and slides along the carvings and bounces off the stone, filling every corner until it melts into the very being of the building.
It was one of the most powerful experiences of my life.
After the concert, we wandered to the Sound of Music fountain (underwhelming if youask me . . .) The group split up even further, and several of us stopped at the Sacher Hotel to get warm (It was still freezing) and to get something to eat before heading back to the hotel. Usually you need a reservation, but the place wasn’t very busy and we had a mom with some class who sweet-talked her way into the restaurant. The moms and I ordered a dessert tray and some hot chocolate. Obviously, we had to try the Sacher Torte, the traditional dessert in Austria. But to be honest I don’t have a lot of good things to say about it. I know it’s a very famous dessert but I think it is kind of gross. I am not a cake person—and that may have something to do with it. A Sacher Torte is very complicated cake, and has something like 36 steps to create. But I think it just tastes like a cake that used to be good, but was left out on the counter for about 3 weeks, then remembered, cut and served. It’s very dry and does not taste very sweet. A good thing to try, but like the Rothenberg Schneeball; not really worth a second chance.
We left Salzburg forPrague the next morning without ever seeing the Austrian Sun.
Aperture & Eloquence 