Auf Wiedersehen Bergen

For our last little foray in Austria we spent some time in the gorgeous town of Salzburg just down from the salt mountains in the alps for which it is named.

Arriving in Salzburg is like getting punched in the face with Mozart. The composer was born in the town, and the very yellow building above which happens to be the fanciest Spar in existence. Not wanting to be seen as a home town hero, at age 17 he actually left the town in search of bigger audiences, meaning he spent longer outside than inside Salzburg despite spending his childhood there. This is a fact the tourist industry in Salzburg is eager to overlook.

Reaching one of our key destinations of the day, the Festung, we spent much of the afternoon in the sun at the heart of this web of museums and fortress features. Originally built as a smaller Schloss or castle on the main hill in Salzburg, when the city became wealthy due to the salt trade it had to be upgraded. As the city became a free imperial city within the Holy Roman Empire, due to its new found wealth, it was confronted with the need to build a stronger fortification to defend its prince archbishop rulers. The result of this was the massive Festung now placed above the town which since the medieval period has lorded over and protected the town below.

Show me you are a British tourist without telling me you are a British tourist.

One benefit for the local inhabitants was the fire fighting abilities of the Festung. Since the entire town was on one side, below, and visible to the windows, there was always a guard on duty ready with a telescope to spot the exact locations of any fire and alert the local fire brigade. How would he tell them the location of the fire despite being so far from the town? The Salzburgians came up with the above solution of a system of bells and flags connected with meanings for the grid coordinates and severity of fires. 

Following a lovely day in the city we turned our attention to the alps for the evening for the first time since we left Switzerland. With only a few hours left of the day we settled into a salt water thermal pool with a view of the iconic Watzmann, the biggest mountain right in the centre of this picture. To the left of if you can see Watzmannfrau, or Watzmann wife, and in the saddle between the two are 5 smaller peaks called Watzmankinder, or Watzmann children. After a nice swim we left the Watzmannfamilie behind and found a nice park up with a view down the road.

Waking up Sunday morning it turned out that we had parked in a hiking car park. Feeling thoroughly outdone by the surrounding hikers we decided to head up a local peak which had the added bonus of this enormous toboggan track. The new grass stains on his trousers and grass burns attest to the importance Rob has learnt having a Toboggan has on a Toboggan course.

On our way out of the alps for the last time in many months if not over a year we realised how much we'd miss these beasts.

Finally arriving back in Germany since our early days on the Rhine we realised how much we had missed this country. Moira however I'm sure did not miss Germany quite as much given the heady speeds we took her to on the autobahn!

Parked up and giving Moira a rest we're now ready for a snooze before visiting our southern most German city of the trip: Munich.