Fortress Hohensalzburg, Salzburg

Next on the agenda for this morning was a visit to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. Hohensalzburg Castle looms over the Old City of Salzburg from its lofty position on top of Mount Festungsberg, and the easiest way up is in the funicular. It was built in 1077 under the orders of Archbishop Gebhard von Helfenstein and later enlarged at the end of the 15th century. This is the largest, fully preserved castle-fortress in Europe, measuring 250 meters long and 150 meters wide. It was intended as a retreat for the Bishops and Prince-Bishops of Salzburg.

In order to get supplies and building materials to the mountain top an elementary “Reisszug" or cable car was devised in 1495 and it functioned until 1504. This is considered the oldest operating funicular in Europe.

In more recent history the castle fortress was used as a prison for Italian prisoners of war in World War I and later in 1934 it held Nazi activists, before Austria was invaded by Germany. The history of this place is so interesting and we got to walk through the spaces, see a collection of historic weapons and other interesting artefacts, and climb the tower to admire the views of Salzburg below. Being it is off season not everything was open to see but what we did get to see was impressive. I am so glad we finally had good weather to get up here.Read more