Salzburg - A quick cider.....and 11 hours later.

Before I get to the cider, firstly Salzburg (Salt Castle). Famous for Mozart and being the movie set location for The Sound of Music. Thankfully the town wasn't over-run by Julie Andrews wannabes and Mozart paraphernalia so the cheese-factor wasn't anywhere near as high as I had feared.

The city came to prominence in the 8th century when the city's wealth was generated by the salt industry. The castle that can be seen from almost everywhere in the town was founded in 1077 and expanded over the centuries (photos below).

Very small old town....could probably walk end to end in under 20 minutes. Lots of little alley ways crawling their way through arch-ways and hidden churches etc. The major site, looming over the city, is the castle which was initially a very modest building but expanded considerably over the centuries. From atop views extend to the Austrian/German mountains and over the city and surrounding districts. Very warm day when I was up there. Not convinced it is a spectacular tourist attraction - really not that much to see once inside but I guess you have to do it if you happen to be in town.

My stay coincided with the Salzburg Festival which is largely a cultural festival of opera, supposedly one of the biggest in Europe. So the town was invaded by the rich and old attending opera shows each evening costing hundreds of dollars. It was funny one morning to walk past one of the theatres and see dozens of grey haired people holding signs pleading for tickets. Needless to say I had no chance of getting any tickets even if I wanted to go. The Mirabellgartens are on the other side of the river and worth a wander.

After checking out the sites on both the mountains (more hills) on the second day in the blazing sun, I was knackered. It was just after 4pm and I was wandering through some of the back streets to keep out of the sun, heading towards my hostel. I walked past a small Irish pub called Murphy's Law (on Gstattengasse) which has a sign out the front saying they sold cider. I hadn't had one in ages and was sick to death of beer. I snuck in for a quick one....11 hours later I made it back to the hostel. Why does this keep happening???

So....the pub was owned and run by a Dublin guy. It is heavily decorated in Irish trinkets and soccer and rugby jerseys. There were three patrons, a couple talking to the barman, and another guy. I sat near the couple. They turned out to be Irish (Mark from Dublin also) and Anna (half German and Irish). They had just moved from Regensburg to Salzburg as Anna's medical education department had relocated to Austria and apparently the working conditions in Austria are much better for doctors than in Germany. After a couple ciders they invited me to their friend's dinner party that night on the outskirts of town.

We decided to have dinner in town at a pizza place as it was too late and too much hassle to buy groceries to cook on the BBQ. It must have been around 9pm by the time we arrived and there was plenty of food to go around. The dozen beers we bought on route didn't last too long, but that was ok, as by that time schnapps and vodka had made an appearance as they were in an evil mood. Two, maybe three???, large shots of vodka...a brief pause....a shot of cherry schnapps (quite tasty)....another longer pause....and then the really nasty stuff, the pine infused vodka. Yep, tastes like how I imagine floor cleaner may taste....pine fresh!

They were all very nice people and of course all very drunk like myself. Our host and three of his friends were also doctors (or studying to be). We all called it a night around 3am and not a moment too soon, I couldn't take any more.

I was due to leave for Vienna later that morning. After a hand-full of hours sleep I arose, still a bit drunk and feeling rather shite. Caught the bus to the train station, got off the bus and nearly fainted. I sat down for a few minutes to compose myself. Trains for Wien leave very regularly. I purchased my ticket. The train was leaving in 15 minutes. By the time I worked out were I was headed and walked to the other end of the earth to get to the platform I nearly missed it! Needless to say I slept most of the 3 hr journey to Wien. It was a two day hangover.

Other places to check out....

Cafe 220 degrees - (Chiem-seeg St). Nice little cafe away from the main touristy area but still within the confines of the old town. Has a selection of coffee beans to choose from, maybe half a dozen single origin and a few blends. Can certainly taste the difference. They don't do much food but what I had was quite tasty.

Ice-zeit - Just a few metres from Cafe 220 is this ice-cream shop. I stuck my head in a few in town and my conclusion is that the Salzburg people don't have any decent ice-cream. This particular place looked as though it was frequently more by locals than tourists so I gave it a go. It was ok, not great. Did the job on a warm afternoon.

Cave le Robinet (Steingasse 41)....tiny wine bar on quiet laneway. Is more a shop front for a vineyard thats sells its wares by the glass as well. Worth a try.

Monks bier garden - A must if you are in town. It's massive and everyone in town goes there. When you finally make your way to the thirst quenching area, you have to buy your beer voucher/ticket, then collect the appropriate sized stein from the shelves, give it a rinse at the fountain, and present your stein and docket to the barman who will swiftly pour your beer. Efficient in a convorluded way. Capacity is 2900. Packed on this Friday night. Only a few seats left inside. Must be some wealthy monks, although 1L of beer is only 6 euros. Food is obtained from the market style food outlets selling typical Bavarian fare. One outlet was serving ham and sausages and other mystery meats. I liked the look of the ham and potato salad photo so ordered that. The misleading part was that you get a whole pork knuckle, not just part of it, which weighed in at a hefty 1.1kg plus a side of salad. 20 euros for dinner. Ridiculous amount of food. Impossible to eat. Took most of it home with me hoping to find one of the homeless people I'd seen earlier in the day to give it to. Couldn't find anyone so had to throw most of it out. What a waste. Stupid me. Another kilo added trying to eat as much of it as I could.

Cave le Robinet

Mirabellgartens

Bavarian Day Trips & Munich

Neuschwanstein

A 2 hour train ride from Munich through the Bavarian country-side with the strong smell of cow manure wafting through the train constantly....refreshing in a way. A full day trip including a wander around the nearby city of Fussen.

Stupidly perhaps, we (Will and Ovidiu) opted to walk from the train station to the castles instead of taking the free courtesy bus. Nice walk but took us much longer than anticipated. Once we arrived at the ticket area, it was a further 20 minute walk up the mountain to the main site, Neuschwanstein castle, purportedly the castle Walt Disney based his iconic Magic Kingdom on (or at least one of) .

The castle is a 19th century Romanesque palace that was commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner (a German composer who died just before it was completed).

The castle at the moment is half covered in scaffolding as invariably these old buildings need constant maintenance. Was a little concerned about this as I had only wanted to visit it to take photos from the outside. The tour inside was apparently rubbish and not worth doing. Thankfully, the money shot from the bridge over the adjacent gorge was of the other two sides. Make your way down the stairs to the bottom of the gorge (under the bridge) around the back of the mountain.

Tip - push to morons who gather at the start of the narrow bridge whom seemingly don't realise there is another half to it either over the edge or into the railing (please yourself which one) and head straight to the far side where you'll invariably have plenty of wriggle room and no morons bumping you when you take photos.

There is a second castle which we whizzed around (less interesting) and ran back to catch the bus into town. Will stayed behind for a bit longer to chill out. Ovidiu and I wanted to see Fussen. Fairly small, quaint town. Our tour was interrupted by a visit to a bar within the local market...one pint of hell (clear) and one pint of dunkel (dark) from memory. Given all our walking that day, those beers went straight to our head. Sat at a table with German Mario Brother Luigi.

The money shot 

They do love their pork in Bavaria 

Ovidiu when I was trying to take the photo of the woman in the above photo...he carefully positioned himself so the side of her so it wasn't so obvious. 

Speaks for itself 

Fussen market pub....Ovidiu and Luigi 

The hofbrauhaus where you don't get any service. 

Dachau

Not sure how you write about a concentration camp, the main attraction in Dachau. Most people don't even go to the city/town centre, just to the camp and straight back. The concentration camp (now) was predominantly a reconstruction, yet a constant reminder to the German people of the atrocities that occurred on their doorstep. The iron gate, concrete housing foundations and the crematorium were the only original structures. You will spend most of your time in the extensive museum which takes a couple hours to work through and is well worth the admission. The remaining sites are commissioned memorials (unusual and not to my liking) and the crematoriums in which at least 30,000 bodies were burned. Needless to say it was a barrel of laughs. Dachau was the first concentration camp established by the Nazis but by no means anywhere near the largest.

Ovidiu and I decided we should see what Dachau town was like. When we were walking towards the hill top where the old town is situated, we happened upon a carnival/festival. It was the Bavarian regional festival this week with Dachau the major draw-card on the Wednesday. Every second person was in traditional dress (both male and female) which created a very good atmosphere. After a quick look at the carnival we headed up the hill to the town centre. As we made our way I commented that some of the cyclists on the road seemed rather professional. Sure enough, at the top we discovered a cycling race, with some notable teams riding (perhaps their B or C squads though), and more beer stalls and pork based food....a winning combination. I guess we just picked the right day to be in Dachau.

That afternoon, Ovidiu, Etna (Turkish) and I walked to the English Gardens in Munich and on to the Chinese Temple (after a game of volleyball in the park with some locals - my team won of course, great comeback from behind with myself putting in the winning tap) where the Hofbrauhaus in located. Has a capacity of 9,000 people. It's a massive outdoor beer hall. The set-up is better than the place in town as you get your own beers and food (we didn't get any service at all in town, but that's Germany for you). Much more efficient. Perfect for a balmy afternoon and evening. 1L steins and many, many pork dishes. This time we went for the smokey pork ribs. Everyone was a winner.

The Gate into Dachau camp. 

Not a pizza oven

The stupidest carnie game I've seen in a while - you roll as many balls into the red holes as possible in a set time....then your numbered horse above will move a pro-rata distance to the person who got the highest score and wins the horse race. Dumb.

I just realised that this is a cleavage shot...haha, was trying to take a photo of the kids in traditional costume. Amusing.

Some local lovelies in their traditional dress. 

Lunch! 

The boys slogging it out in the heat doing laps of the town centre. 

A rotunda in the park (the English Gardens I think) where anybody can turn up and dance to the music.....only this couple was though. 

Surfing Munich-style 

The Hofbrauhaus at the Chinese Temple 

That pretzel big enough for you Ann? 

Some other photos of the city....

Etna from Istanbul