Day 74: Salzburg, Austria: The Sound of Mozart's Music
Salzburg was one of the major destinations for this trip. It was one of the places that had captured our imagination years back, but was otherwise a complete mystery. We had no idea what the city would look like or what we would find there.
On the other hand, there were three basic themes, the themes that had captured our imaginations.
The first themewas Mozart. We knew this to be the city of Mozart. So we wanted to see where he lived and worked. We wanted to hear some of his music played.
The second theme was the Sound of Music. The image of Julie Andrews romping through the alpine meadows, and of the Von Trapp family appearing at the Salzburg Festival had made a big impression, back when we were seventeen. We did not know if Salzburg knew or cared about this movie, but maybe there would be some traces of it here.
The third theme was chocolate. Somehow we knew that there are “Mozart” chocolates, and probably Mozart coffee houses and Mozart pastries. Naturally we would need to try those.
How did it turn out? Much more than we had imagined!
About the first theme. Mozart: His birth house is right downtown and has been preserved as an erudite and interesting museum. Not only could we stand in the room where he was born and the place where he grew up, but we could see examples of his written work, his violin, even locks of his hair. There was far more to the museum than we could absorb.
Also fascinating were the views from his windows. Some are unchanged, being elegant buildings and courtyards, and some are from the present day, like a market in the street below.
These panels just contained the entry price list. The shot is to show that, unlike other things in Germany/Austria there is a recognition of the international significance here, and therefore, in this case, the use of seven languages.
We had been there 5 minutes when invaded by about 40 Japanese or Koreans on a tour. We debated whether to zoom ahead of them, lag behind, or come another time. It's not these people's individual fault they have to come in a lump, but sheesh!
Now about hearing the music. The Salzburg music festival is a big, big deal. Just the catalog of concerts was too heavy to even think of carrying on the bikes, Ticket prices are up to 300 Euros or more. Still, there are lots of concerts everywhere, every day. We found two.
The first concert was in the Dom. This is a 17th century baroque cathedral dedicated to Saint Rupert of Salzburg. It is huge and ornate, featuring elaborately carved trim and domes covered with giant paintings. It is also the site of Mozart's baptism.
The concert featured seven pieces, five of which were by Mozart, with one by Viadana (1560-1627) and one by Bonelli (1569-1620). There was a choir of about 40 standing under the dome, with two of the four organs in use, at the sides. Musicians were positioned on the sides, in balconies near the organs, as were four featured singers (soprano, mezzosoprano, tenor, and baritone). The acoustics were amazing. The performers were using the building like one of the instruments, and the sound filled the place, obviously without a sound system. Frankly, the music itself was not my style, though Dodie was brought up a bit more with it. However the site, the scene, and the acoustics made the whole thing mind blowing. The (German) program cites the Domkonzerte as a 600 year old tradition!
The second event was a dinner/concert in the “Baroque Room” of St. Peter monastery. The room is part of Stiftskeller St. Peter, claimed to be the oldest restaurant in Central Europe, first mentioned in 803. The performance had two violins, a viola, and a bass with a tenor and a soprano, doing selections from Mozart operas Don Giovanni, Figaro,and The Magic Flute, plus Eine kleine Nachtmusik. This was between courses of an elegant meal. The meal and the costumes of the performers were taken from the 18th century, Mozart's time.
As with the Dom, the room provided the acoustics, and the whole effect was wonderful.
Although there were swarms of tourists around, none of what we saw or heard was “touristy”. This is the real thing. The artists were excellent, all food we had today was superb. (We even liked what we saw in the actual tourist shops.)
About the second theme, Sound of Music: Salzburg has not forgotten. In fact, there is a Sound of Music bus tour, to places featured in the movie and playing the soundtrack. It would have taken up 4 hours though, and cost 69 euros each, so we passed. On the other hand we were anyway walking through the setting of the movie as least for the city part. We expect to see (or almost see) Julie Andrews in the hills as we approach the Dachstein mountains later. On the other hand, the lake district beyond Salzburg is not exactly in our path, so the bus tour would have been a help there, had we had the time.
About the third theme: chocolate: Yes, there were Mozart chocolates and cakes everywhere. But there was also a bonus. Thirty years ago I tried my first “Sacher Torte”, at the Dutch Bakery in Victoria, BC. This was a rich chocolate cake with thick chocolate icing and a filling of apricot jam. I loved it. Later I somehow came to understand that “Sacher” referred to a hotel in Vienna, and that they had invented this cake. Later still, I learned that the hotel shipped the cakes around the world.
I tried “Sacher Torte” in various places, strangely finding the best one at the Continental Hotel in Bankok. But always I wanted to go to Vienna to try the original. So that in no small part is why this tour extends East at least to Vienna! It was Dodie today who stumbled on the fact that there is a Sacher Hotel in Salzburg. Could I have been mistaken about Vienna? The internet cleared it up – they have hotels in both places, with Vienna being the original. However, after stumbling on the fact of the hotel here, we quickly found that it is a five star hotel, and a huge structure on the river, downtown. To make stumbling even easier, it has Sacher Hotel Salzburg emblazoned on it in neon!
So theme three extended to my first ever original Sacher Torte, in the Sacher Hotel.
The Sacher Hotel - five stars in the centre of town. We almost missed it!
Salzburg did not quit with more than satisfying on our three themes. It popped up these additional ones: Stunning architecture, ordinary people wearing traditional dirndls, gypsy musicians, Russian musicians, multiflavoured pretzels, and hand painted Christmas ornament eggs.
All of these basic and extended themes deserve much more description. Plus, the photos below need captions. All this will come. Only thing, we dragged ourselves out of Salzburg around 10:30 p.m. and cycled back to camp. Now it is 1:00 a.m. Tomorrow early we have to cycle to Radstadt. So more Salzburg will have to wait. If you are brave, have a wade through the over 100 photos here. Try to guess which theme each is about!
**FLASH - it is now the next morning. I have added some more to the original paragraphs that are above and put some basic captions on the photos, while moving many near to the relevant text. Stay tuned, though, for some video clips that I may be able to upload to Youtube within the week.
Back through the messy modern city to get to the wonderful old city. Why are modern cities always so dramatically people unfriendly and ugly compared to the old cities?
As we approached the old town we could see the basic layout - with the Hohenwerfen Fortress up high, the city filled with domed churches, and the river.
There are many fashion stores, often with traditional themes. However, this expensive Louis Vitton item is clearly a rackpack. I wonder if it would be sufficiently waterproof for the tour?
The architecture and general feel of the city seem very Italian to me (who has never been to Italy!). One reason is the use of domes (in many cases) rather than spires, in churches.
One of the bridges, like others we have seen, has the many locks left by couples. We learned that the "tradition" is to throw the key in the river, thus making the bond of the couple unbreakable. We think that in this modern day, combination locks might be more appropriate.
One of two balalaika soloists. We bought one of the groups CDs (for Dodie to carry another 3000 km!. )Although the young woman who took my money spoke to me in German at first, she had a mildly Mongolian look to me, though Dodie thought it more gypsy (probably right).
For the first time we used all our locks and left the bikes, at the dinner concert and the Mozart birth house. It was just because we would be gone a long time. There were no actual vibes that our bikes might disappear.
A Salzburg street scene. As we left the dinner concert we got spun around by hoards of people in evening dress, and finally trapped in a square with no exit. A kindly local lead us through some passageways to freedom. It turns out we had run into the end of a premiere of La Boheme, with dignitaries from all over present (with their body guards and entourages). We often walk into things we have no idea about!
