Old Town Salzburg is located adjacent to the milky, green Salzach River and can trace its start as an independent city to 700 AD when Bavaria gave it to Bishop Rupert in return for his promise to Christianize the area. Thanks in part to its formidable fortress, Salzburg managed to avoid the ravages of war for 1,200 years...until World War two, but the historic old town survived. Now 8 million tourists a year make there way through the cobbled streets to check out Mozart, The Sound of Music locations and the historic sites.
Our hotel is about a 10 minute walk from the 0ld town in a nice quiet neighborhood. We headed out after a hearty breakfast with our first stop being the info centre to get a local walking tour map of the old town and fortress. Salzburg not only has some beautiful historic buildings but also boasts some amazing shopping along the Getreidegasse (wheat street). It became a retail shopping street in the early 1700's and is famous for its old wrought iron signs which are in evidence today (no electric signs anywhere). After Rita had her fill of retail therepy we ended our walking tour at the wonderfully old Cafe Tomaselli for coffee and cake (the women come around with a tray of cakes and the men take the orders for beverages. You pay each of them seperately) before heading up to the Hohensalburg Fortress on the cliffs above the old town.
You can take a funicular to the fortress entrance but we decided to hike up and burn off some of the cake calories. The fortress was built on a rock 400 feet above Salburg and has never really been used. It was so foreboding that nobody attacked the town for a thousand years. The fortress is very stark and the interior rooms have survived in their original condition due to the fact that no one wanted to live here after 1500 and so the place was never modernized.
After the fortress tour we took the Monchsberg Walk back to town. The walk is longer but goes through a forest and parts of the medieval wall before heading down into the old town again.
Walked across the bridge and into "New Town" and along Steingasse which was the only road in the Middle Ages going south over the Alps to Venice. Today its a wonderful street full of cafes and shops. One of the houses on this street was where Joseph More lived and wrote Silent Night in 1792. From the street a set of stairs lead up to a 17th century Capuchin Monestary that was a bit of a dissapointment but the views of Old Town Salzburg and the Fortress made up for it.
Climbed down the steps and headed home for a much needed shower and then out to a local biergarten for a great Schnitzel dinner with Salzburg beer. Another wonderful day.
Getreidegasse with its wonderful wrought iron signs
Hohensalburg Fortress on top of the cliffs overlooking Salzburg
Rita checking our bearings during our Monchsberg walk
The view of the Salzach River, Old Town and Fortress from the Capuchin Monestary lookout 
Geoff and Rita enjoying a well earned beer at the end of the day
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