Mostly Salzburg

Yesterday was, I think, the biggest drive of our whole trip. I was a bit apprehensive about driving out of Vienna, but it turned out to be pretty straight forward, the route was easy and, perhaps because it was Saturday morning, the traffic was light. Because of the distance we took the autobahn and had decided to stop in the pretty town of Enns, on the way we had another dramatic thunderstorm with rain so heavy that it slowed the traffic to below 70km/h. Our stop in Enns was only successful in that we found a nice cafe for lunch but the rain prevented us getting much of a look at the place.

The situation in Salzburg was much the same, we stayed in our hotel room until the rain eased then took a bus to town but before long it was raining heavily so we headed back quite early. We’d seen enough to know that Salzburg is a nice place, but went to bed feeling that it had been a wasted day.

Today, however, was a complete contrast, the rain threatened at times but never set in and we really enjoyed the city. We walked up to the Hohensalzburg castle (a considerable climb) and found it to be really lovely, a real medieval fortress with steep, winding access and many arched gates which could easily have been defended. It stands high on a steep hill above the town but is large enough to enclose several courtyards, one with an ancient church. I managed another drawing which includes a tower, I think many of my sketches from this trip look the same.

For a complete change this afternoon, we took a “Sound of Music” tour along with heaps of English speakers, many with an obsession with the movie. We had great fun visiting the sites where the film was made and singing along to the songs. Our guide was quite mad but made it enjoyable for everyone. The highlight for me was a visit to the lakeside town of Mondsee, a real Austrian alpine town, so clean and manicured it almost felt like a giant theme park.

Salzburg and environs are really beautiful with magnificent buildings everywhere all surrounded by mountains and with a fast flowing river flowing through the centre.