Saturday 15 May - Salzburg

I'm still really tired so it's a slow start. Will only attempt to do one site today - there's this quite beautiful white fortress that sits above the city on a cliff face - exploring this is the objective.

It's still overcast though not raining and I actually think the cloud cover is a little higher - still friggin' cold though. Tackle the bus system - which is pretty easy.

Wander through the eastern end of the old city trying to find the bookshop that sells English books as I've nearly finished the third of the books I bought with me and will be completely lost without some fiction to read. Picked up a Bill Bryson autobiography of his childhood " The Thunderbolt Kid". A bit of light humour for the rest of the trip and the flight home.

As it's Sunday it seems the entire eastern end of the town is full of market stalls and it's really lively and crowded. Found the little funicular that takes you up the steep cliff to the fortress and head off to find the audio tour. Took a while to find, and then a while to wait for a turn, but it's really interesting and the fortress itself is incredibly well preserved. Lots of stairs, some winding enough to make you dizzy before you get to the top. But the view is to die for - and if the sun was out or the cloud cover less it would be fabulously beautiful.

The little white palace on the lake I took a photo of yesterday looking back to the fortress in the distance is now laid out below, and everything's so lush and green. Can even see the base of the mountains that surround Salzburg.

As a bit of an aside here, I've decided that when I get home to Melbourne, I'm going to do a post listing all the hotels I've stayed in, and a map of where I went and how.

In most places I've done hop-on hop-off bus trips, but not everywhere. In some places I've just taken a tour or have explored the town centre only on foot.

Ok. Back to the fortress. There's a lovely little old church (the fortress itself dates back to the 11th century, but there are bits added over the next 500 years or so), that's 16th century and a bride and groom turned up with their wedding party. The church itself is tiny, but really lovely. I had a great time taking pictures of doors around this place. It's started to be a bit of an obsession for me, collecting door pics for textures - but there are so many really really interesting ones I just can't help myself.

Spent a delightful several hours wandering up and down staircases, around buildings, in and out of little niches and exploring interesting looking places. One of them is a courtyard in the middle of everything. Just took my fancy, so I took a pic of it.

There's also a display of marionettes here from the local theatre whose founding family have been making the marionettes and putting on operas with them for over 50 years.

Really tired after about 3 hours or so, so it's time to take the funicular back down to the town level. As the Dom is on my way, thought I'd drop in here for a looksee.

It's really unprepossessing on the outside, but oh my goodness, did they make up for it inside. It's incredibly lushly decorated in high Baroque and there are 2 organs. One at the back of the church and one in 5 parts surrounding the altar at the intersection of the nave. And even though it's now overcast and drizzly outside, there's still a lot of light in here. I can only imagine what it's like on a beautiful clear and sunny day.

After this I had to walk past the Residenz so went in to see the floor of rooms the Archbishop Princes used. Very beautiful and so many really nice doors. There's a saying about Salzburg "if it isn't Baroque don't fix it" and it's sooo true. It's as if Baroque was invented and at it's height here. So many cupids and stucco vines and twirling bits and... and... and....

I'm really glad I decided to make the time to come here - it's a lovely little city, the people are friendly and happy and the whole place seems so alive.

I was supposed to go to a Mozart concert dinner tonight, but I was so exhausted when I got up this morning after not sleeping well that I cancelled the booking. By the end of the day, I was exceedingly grateful I did.

The cafe in the hotel made a delicious pizza and salad for me, washed down with a pot of tea, and it's off to bed as tomorrow is an early start on the last bit of my journey. Munich again to round off what's been the best trip I've ever taken, and one that will not be equalled I'm sure.