Salzburg
Thursday July 6, 2017
Upon arriving in Salzburg, we were greeted with a beautiful panorama of green mountains, and I could not help but play the Sound of Music soundtrack in my head - apt, because Salzburg is famous for having many of the movie's filming locations.
After checking in, we wandered down the river towards the centre of town, enjoying the magnificent view from the Museum der Moderne. We went to take the lift down to ground level but were shocked when we saw we had to pay a fee! We took the lift anyway and exited through the entrance while the ticket officer was talking to someone; we never looked back.
It's no wonder that the hills in Salzburg are alive with the sound of music, because it is also birthplace to none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His image can be seen around the city, oddly enough, mostly on chocolate boxes. We walked by the house where he was born, as well as a statue in his honour, before heading to the Salzburg Castle, a stately structure overlooking the whole city. It was interesting to see how the castle had changed over the past thousand years, with extra walls, houses and fortifications being added in response to various threats from warring parties.
We had walked a lot that day, so we headed home for a nap and went out for dinner later. We took a stroll down the river front afterwards, as the evening sun dipped behind the horizon.
Yesterday, we took a train out to Werfen, about an hour south of Salzburg. Werfen also has a magnificent castle with some great views, but we were here for the largest ice caves in the world, the Eisreisenwelt. Nestled in the mountains some 1.6km above sea level, the caves are an almost constant 0C, and span 42km of which only 1km is open to the public. The shuttle to the ticket office arrived immediately as we got off the train, and after a 20m walk, a very quick gondola ride and another 20m walk, we were on top of Werfen and at the entrance to the cave.
Theo regretted forgetting his jumper very quickly. I had brought thermals along, as well as my hoodie, despite the weather outside being 26C. I lent him my hoodie while I put my thermals on, hoping it would be enough to keep the both of us warm. Armed with a kerosene lamp, we entered the caves with the tour guide.
The interior is massive and mostly made of limestone with various pools and columns of ice. There's no light in the caves, natural or electric, which explains the use of the kerosene lamps to navigate. We weren't allowed to take photos but the few of us at the back did so anyway; I don't think the photography impacts the integrity of the caves at all. The ice is a beautiful azure colour, much like what you see in glaciers, and large walls of it exhibit the characteristic banding which gives clues on how old it is. Theo and I were pretty cold by the end of it, but we survived, and it was quite an amazing experience.
We're crossing borders into Germany today, heading north from Salzburg to Munich!
Posted by Jeremy at 7:35am on Thursday July 6, 2017 :: 0 comments :: 