Travel Archives '06: Salzburg, or, Do-Re-Mi

Salzburg is a city that takes great pride in its musical heritage. Statues, museums, schools, chocolates, and festivals celebrate Salzburg's most recognized musician, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. For those of you disappointed to hear that the same recognition is not given to the von Trapp family, no need to worry: there is a "Sound of Music" tour, and it would seem, every hostel in town shows a screening of the film daily at 10:30 AM sharp. Having not the time to sit and enjoy a screening myself, nor the desire to do so, I wouldn't be able to tell you if anyone in fact takes advantage of this offer (it is free after all). I also have no idea why the staff at these hostels are willing to endure hearing "Do-Re-Mi" every morning. Salzburg, apart from being the home of Mozart, was, of course, the former home to the von Trapp family, and the location for the 1965 film classic starring Julie Andrews. Interestingly, Salzburgians have heard of neither.

Salzburg is a beautiful city, nestled amongst the Austrian Alps and divided by a large river through its center. It's most recognizable landmark is a sprawling fortress that sits high above the city, and has the distinction of being Central Europe's largest intact citadel, whose construction began as early as the mid-1000s. Hiking up to the fortress is one of those experiences that teaches you that no matter how in shape you think you might be, there is always something out there willing to show you otherwise. It is worth climbing up though, since you get a fantastic panoramic view of the city, and for miles around.

I met a few people in Salzburg, one of whom travelled with me to a small village called Hallstatt, whcih is about 2-3 hours away from Salzburg by train, and can only be reached by boat. Hallstatt is recognized as a World Heritage Site, and really is an idyllic Austrian village made up of chalet-like homes surrounded by mountains on all sides. The village itself is built on a slope, going up the base of a mountain, and looks out onto a beautiful, crystal clear lake. I'm going to guess that Hallstatt is listed in some Japanese guide book, as there seemed to be a large number of Japanese walking through the streets, more so than I've seen anywhere else. But other than that, most of the "tourists" there seemed to be of Austrian origin, who were there, it seems, to enjoy a summer getaway by the lake more than anything else.

I was in Salzburg at the same time as the city's Mozart Festival, celebrating the musician's 250th birthday. Not being able to quite afford the hefty price tage attached to the actual performances going on, I did catch a couple of recorded concerts from previous years on a giant, outdoor screen in one of the town's squares. The first of these was the opera, "The Magic Flute," which had I known clocked in at 185 minutes, I might have passed on. I fell asleep after the first 20 minutes, not for long mind you since I got a poke in the side, but long enough to think that I had missed a crucial plot point necessary for understanding the rest of the play. It was enough that I don't speak any German that made it difficult to follow, but apparently that doesn't matter, since no one really knows what happens, including the person in charge of putting together the summary of the opera's plot together in the Festival's program. The second night was a symphony, which was made up entirely of pieces that weren't by Mozart. I came better equipped this time, with a bottle of cheap Austrian wine that tased more like Welch's grape juice with simulated wine flavouring. Nevertheless, the wine did its job, and even though I shared the bottle with two other people, it still made watching the performance all the more enjoyable.


Next: "Whatsa matta for you? You no like a my butterfly sunglasses?"