September 16, 2012
Back to Salzburg for another day of touring. We decided to park outside of the city center and take the bus into town. The bus rides were included with our Salzburg card and this plan worked out very well. Our first stop in the city today was the imposing Hohensalzburg Fortress, which looms over the city and can be seen from just about everywhere.
The fortress was first built in the 11th century and modernized and expanded over the years to medieval times. It is the largest remaining fortress of that age in Europe.
To reach the fortress we took a funicular up the hill. As we were gliding up the cliffside we could first see the roof tops of the city, and then the river and then the green valley. The fantastic view from the fortress out over the city will just take your breath away. We spent our first 20 minutes atop the hill just looking out over the scenery.
Then it was time to get our audio guide and join the guided tour of the castle. Up the steep stairs and into the castle keep to visit the state rooms, the gallery, the fortress museum, the marionette museum and the torture chamber. Then up and up and up many stars to the observation tower at the top of the fortress, where we had a magnificent 360 view of the whole region.
The visit was far more than my brief description, but there was much more to do today, so I am saving some space for the rest of the story.
After lunch we hopped on the bus and went out to the south edge of the city to Hellbrunn Palace. This palace was built by another Archbishop, Markus Sittikus, in 1612. This palace was to be a vacation home where one could relax and play, rather than a formal meeting place to conduct business.
The highlight of the palace is the famous Wasserspiele (the beautiful garden with trick fountains). The gardens, lovely in themselves, sport many water features and the fun part is that all over the grounds are fountains and spouts that can be controlled by the guy with the key. Not all of these fountains and spouts are situated in a nice pond of water, though. They are set up to spray unsuspecting strollers and visitors as they walk around the grounds admiring the gardens and statuary.
One of the favorite fountains is a trick banquet table. When Markus would have his guest sit down to eat al fresco he could seriptitiously start his water and catch the banqueters off guard as the water sprayed over the table and even out of some seats. The guests would be drenched and have to go change clothes. Don's theory is that ole Mark would especially invite ladies to his summer house, get them wet and naked, and do what comes naturally. Really! the Archbishop? Don, what blasphemy!
So.our guide took us around the gardens, key in hand, and managed to spray us all by the time the tour was over. We visited grottoes, and scenes of Greek mythology, and ponds with huge fish.
The highlight of the gardens is an engineering masterpiece, a miniature Austrian village, with hundreds of little people, twirling through the streets, shopping, chopping wood, waving out windows, and doing what people do every day. The entire sculpture is run by water power. It was much fun to just stand and look at each aspect of the village. The guide had fun too, twisting his key and spraying us with water as we watched the village.
At the end of the tour we went into a grotto to see a special lighted fountain and as we exited the water sprayers were activated and we marched through the arched sprays to safety. By this time the kids in the group were having a great time, running through the water sprays, and Helmut, the guide, cooperated, adjusting the sprays up and down to catch the kids off guard as they ran up and down the pathway, hoping for more water.
We also toured the interior of the palace with it's richly decorated rooms, again with those huge tiled stoves.
We walked back to our car, which was parked just outside the palace walls, for free this time, and headed down the road. A very full day.
Back to Salzburg for another day of touring. We decided to park outside of the city center and take the bus into town. The bus rides were included with our Salzburg card and this plan worked out very well. Our first stop in the city today was the imposing Hohensalzburg Fortress, which looms over the city and can be seen from just about everywhere.
To reach the fortress we took a funicular up the hill. As we were gliding up the cliffside we could first see the roof tops of the city, and then the river and then the green valley. The fantastic view from the fortress out over the city will just take your breath away. We spent our first 20 minutes atop the hill just looking out over the scenery.
Then it was time to get our audio guide and join the guided tour of the castle. Up the steep stairs and into the castle keep to visit the state rooms, the gallery, the fortress museum, the marionette museum and the torture chamber. Then up and up and up many stars to the observation tower at the top of the fortress, where we had a magnificent 360 view of the whole region.
The visit was far more than my brief description, but there was much more to do today, so I am saving some space for the rest of the story.
After lunch we hopped on the bus and went out to the south edge of the city to Hellbrunn Palace. This palace was built by another Archbishop, Markus Sittikus, in 1612. This palace was to be a vacation home where one could relax and play, rather than a formal meeting place to conduct business.
The highlight of the palace is the famous Wasserspiele (the beautiful garden with trick fountains). The gardens, lovely in themselves, sport many water features and the fun part is that all over the grounds are fountains and spouts that can be controlled by the guy with the key. Not all of these fountains and spouts are situated in a nice pond of water, though. They are set up to spray unsuspecting strollers and visitors as they walk around the grounds admiring the gardens and statuary.
One of the favorite fountains is a trick banquet table. When Markus would have his guest sit down to eat al fresco he could seriptitiously start his water and catch the banqueters off guard as the water sprayed over the table and even out of some seats. The guests would be drenched and have to go change clothes. Don's theory is that ole Mark would especially invite ladies to his summer house, get them wet and naked, and do what comes naturally. Really! the Archbishop? Don, what blasphemy!
So.our guide took us around the gardens, key in hand, and managed to spray us all by the time the tour was over. We visited grottoes, and scenes of Greek mythology, and ponds with huge fish.
The highlight of the gardens is an engineering masterpiece, a miniature Austrian village, with hundreds of little people, twirling through the streets, shopping, chopping wood, waving out windows, and doing what people do every day. The entire sculpture is run by water power. It was much fun to just stand and look at each aspect of the village. The guide had fun too, twisting his key and spraying us with water as we watched the village.
At the end of the tour we went into a grotto to see a special lighted fountain and as we exited the water sprayers were activated and we marched through the arched sprays to safety. By this time the kids in the group were having a great time, running through the water sprays, and Helmut, the guide, cooperated, adjusting the sprays up and down to catch the kids off guard as they ran up and down the pathway, hoping for more water.
We also toured the interior of the palace with it's richly decorated rooms, again with those huge tiled stoves.
We walked back to our car, which was parked just outside the palace walls, for free this time, and headed down the road. A very full day.
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