Steps Day! Sunday 5 May

Up at the crack of dawn today. Caught the convenient local U-Bahn (Underground) into München Hof ( the main railway station) to catch our 0816 train to Salzburg. Having to pinch myself at the idea of nipping off after breakfast to a different country, then bimbling back for dinner!

Seats (First Class) very roomy and comfortable. The train was so quiet and rode so smoothly that the only sign it was travelling was the countryside rolling past. An hour and three quarters later we arrived at the very modern station in Salzburg.

Sunday morning: streets deserted, all shops shut! It was like a day-after-the-apocalypse movie. We did eventually find a café which did a delicious iced coffee with ice- cream topped mit Schlagobers (whipped cream). This accompanied applecake (good) and Sacher Torte (stale).

Then off to the Hohensalzburg, the massive castle complex (really a small town) which has dominated the town below since the Middle Ages. This was the seat of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg (100 of them) who ruled with absolute power.

First set of steps up to the funicular railway. This runs straight up the face of a sheer stone cliff at such an angle that the interior of the car is three separate rooms, each a storey above the last.

14,638 steps today! Up, down, along, around, beside, above and below. Walled terraces with amazing views. Prisons, watchtowers, medieval staterooms, an armoury, a museum of the later Habsburg Army, peeking out barred windows in massive walls many feet thick. Straight stairs, spiral stairs, worn marble stairs, more stairs.

It certainly was a massive if claustrophobic statement of power. Though beseiged, it was never captured. Certainly well worth seeing. It must have been so cold in the winter .

We were pretty hungry after using all those calories and tottered down to a most wecome Italian eatery in the square where we got excellent espresso macchiato (expresso with a touch of milk) and superb omelettes with sliced ham and cheese. Yum!

Next, to the exquisite Kollegienkirche (university church). We found this a month ago on YouTube. Perfect balance and proportion, the white figures reaching upwards on the walls, balanced by the brown and cream patterns in the marble floors, with larger-than-life paintings in dark colours in the side chapels in deep niches on the walls.

By now we were running out of puff so made our way back to the station, with a Grandma Seat break in the beautiful formal Mirabell gardens. This palace and gardens were built by one of the Prince-Bishops for his mistress and family of 15 kids. He so riled the townspeople that they rebelled, and imprisoned him own castle, where he died. So there!

Journey back home marred by the woman next to Neil dropping her suitcase on his head as she pulled it out of the rack overhead.

Pretty tired when we got home at 1920 but pleased with our day. Czytaj więcej