After checking in at our hotel (which was amazing) we hiked into the old town along the Salzach River. The bicycle and walking paths that line the Salzach were once towpaths used by teams of horses to tow the salt barges back up the river to load up with more salt. Before refrigeration, salt was the "white gold" of Europe, and Salzburg and its Prince-Archbishops controlled much of the supply. Salt was used as a preservative to keep food from spoiling quickly.
Our first stop was the Mozartplaz to meet up with our Salzburg city guide. Mozart was born in Salzburg, and lived there for the first twenty-five years of his life. His father was a "modern parent" of the 18th century. He found every opportunity to allow the young Wolfgang to develop his talents as a musician. Young Mozart traveled all over Europe with his father, performing for nobility and royalty while perfecting his craft as a musician. By the time Mozart was an adult, he had a job as the organist in Salzburg's cathedral.
The cathedral was the first stop on our walking tour of Salzburg. This magnificent building only took 15 years to build, an incredible feat in an age when constructing such huge churches took a century, or more, to build. So, how did Prince-Archbishop Wolf-Dietrich acomplish this "miracle"? Cheap labor made it possible. Salzburg was a major refugee center during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) which was raging to the north during the years when the cathedral was built. Recognizing the opportunity to give work to the refugees and increase Salzburg's and his own prestige, the Prince-Archbishop put the refugees to work building the cathedral. By Mozart's time, the cathedral had a total of six organs, and all of them to be played at the same time. It was in Wolf-Dietrich's cathedral that Mozart composed and performed his earliest masses.
At the end of our tour, we boarded a funicular that zipped us to the top of giant rock that overlooks Salzburg to visit Festung Hohensalzburg (the Salzburg Fortress). This imposing fortress, high above the city, took a bit longer to build than the cathedral. It took about 800 years for the fortress to reach its final configuration. It was well worth the time and the money to build the fortress. It was so difficult to reach, and so imposing, that it was never really attacked.
After a night of heavy thunder, lightning, and rain, we boarded a local post bus for the little town of Sankt Gilgen on the Wolfgangsee (Wolfgang Lake). This town was the birthplace of Mozart's mother, and, later, served as the home of his sister, Nanerl. We, however, weren't here for the music or the history. We came for the chocolate! We visited a confectioners shop to learn the art of making Mozartkugeln (Mozart balls), the most famous chocolate candy in Austria. With the help of a master, we learned how to shape the marzipan, pistachio paste, and nougat into layered balls, and then dipped them into melted chocolate to form the perfect (or mostly lopsided) Austrian treat.
After the bus ride back into Salzburg, our group split up into little groups to explore Salzburg and the surrounding region. My little group bought tickets for the next train to Hallein for a trip to the salt mines. The mines were a much needed break from the heat. The tunnels stay at a constant 55°F all year long. This particular mine extends deep into a mountain and crosses the border with Germany twice. In order to reach the lowest levels of the mine, we had to slide down two miners' slides and cross an underground lake of salty brine.
We closed our evening watching the opening ceremonies of the Salzburg Festival. Hundreds of Salzburgers dressed in traditional clothing paraded around the huge fountain in the plaza next to the cathedral with lit candles, while a small orchestra played baroque fanfares and traditional marches. It was quite a sight to see. We just had the good fortune to be in Salzburg at the right time to see it.
Right now, I'm writing on another train. This one is bound for Vienna, the last stop on our little tour.
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