Salzburg, the home of Mozart, salt, Sound of Music and Red Bull.
After a small drama in locating where we were staying with the instructions provided:
Continue by public bus No. 1 or 2 to the Old Town then take bus No. 21 and head for HAMMERAUER STRASSE -Bloberger Hof.
Old Town is an area of the town which is not marked on any bus maps as well as seeming to indicate getting off at a bus stop called Bloberger Hof (which doesn’t exist and is actually the name of the place) in the direction of Hammeraurer Strasse. To confuse things a little more it was transcribed onto our instruction notebook as Bloberger Hbf. In German Hbf is an abbreviation for Hauptbahnhof which means train station (that also didn’t exist). The difference a single letter can make when asking locals for directions.. anyway after working it out we arrived at the lovely Bloberger Hof. Then went to check out the salt mines…
As Salzburg was once the capital of salt in Europe, these salt mines were the engine. They provided salt for hundreds of years to the entire continent and only until the modernization of salt production, mining, and shipping did these mines become obsolete.
The train ride into the mine was very narrow and took 5-10 minutes along tracks that haven't been replaced in a couple of hundred years. While I am sure it was all perfectly safe, the carnage of a derailment would be ugly. They urge the more vertically enabled members of the train to not sit up too tall as the ceiling is much closer that way.
The highlight of the tour was their method of getting the miners down into the mine without having to build elevators - long slides of polished wood. You form a kind of train, two or more people, with each person holding the legs of the person behind them. Once your train gets started there is not much else you can do, but hold on until you reach the bottom. Weeeeee!!
There was also a boat ride, in a cave. One of the later methods of salt mining was to create large water filled caverns which would slowly dissolve the rock, then the briny solution would be pumped out of the mine and the water evaporated. The ride only lasted a few minutes but it was definitely a unique experience, a boat ride 150 meters below the surface over pitch black water. Then after some rather pro-salt propaganda and a funicular ride it was back to the train for the ride out.
The next day we took a jet boat ride (as you do) up the river to Hellbrunn Palace.
Built in 1613-19 and named for the "clear spring" that supplied it. The palace is famous for its jeux d'eau ("watergames") in the grounds.
These games were conceived by Markus Sittikus as a series of practical jokes to be performed on guests.
Some of the smaller water features. The scenes with people in them sharpening knives, slaying dragons, flour mill and potter at work were mechanical and moved.
The Archbishop would entertain his guests on warm summer evenings. The guests would cool themselves with chilled wine from a trough in the center of the table. Later in the evening when the Archbishop wanted them to go home he would signal a servant who would release a shower of water from the middle of each seat — except the host’s. Because no one could rise until the Archbishop did they had to sit there and be soaked. Fortunately, the gathering and never-empty wine trough had everyone in a merry mood.
This short video was playing in the Birdsong Grotto and shows how it worked behind the scenes. You can hear the ‘birdsongs’ in the background. Remember this was made nearly 500 years ago…
This video I found shows it well. The crown weighs about 5 kilograms and is perfectly weighted to balance in the stream of water.
In 1748 the Archbishop at the time commissioned the construction of a Mechanical Theatre. The Mechanical Theatre with 141 moving figures depict scenes of life during that period accompanied by the sounds of a pipe organ playing the music of Mozart and other Austrian composers. All powered by water…
And if all of that wasn’t enough there was a zoo next door… I’m sure you know what a tiger looks like.
Back in Salzburg on Festungsberg Hill, Hohensalzburg Castle is is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe.
Construction of the fortress began in 1077. The castle was gradually expanded during the following centuries. The ring walls and towers were built in 1462. The only time that the fortress came under siege was in 1525, when a group of miners, farmers and townspeople tried to oust the Archbishop, but failed to take the castle.
Finally, Mirabell Gardens which is apparently (I haven't seen the movie) a location in Sound of Music.