Salzburg is the fourth-largest city in Austria (for details on Austria as part of this blog see August 2017). Its historic centre is renowned for its baroque architecture (heavily decorated style in buildings) and is one of the best-preserved city centres north of the Alps.
Flag of Salzburg
The fast-flowing Salzach River run through the centre of town, your gaze is raised inch by inch to graceful domes and spires, the formidable 900-year-old clifftop fortress and the mountains beyond
The city centre is very beautiful and is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Salzburg was the setting for the musical The Sound of Music, also the nineteen sixties movie Where Eagles Dare.
Martin was keen to visit. Hohenwerfen Castle to see Where Eagles Dare had been shot back in 1969 it is a medieval rock castle, situated on a 623 metres precipice overlooking the Austrian market town of Werfen in the Salzach valley, approximately 40 kilometres south of Salzburg. The fortress is surrounded by the Berchtesgaden Alps and the adjacent Tennen Mountains. Just beautiful.
The Salzburg Festival was on while we visited it is a prominent festival of music and drama, eating local food and drinking some great beer, they also had a good selection of Gin I might add. The festival was established in 1920 and is held each summer.
We stayed in the beautiful town of Hallein which is surrounded by alpine mountains and was a short train or bus trip into Salzburg City.