2 Perfect Days in Salzburg

Finally, a road trip! Salzburg is about 5 scenic hours from Frankfurt. We left on a Sunday, since there are restrictions for trucks driving on the "Ruhetag" (quiet day), anticipating less traffic. Though we still hit some, and took a not-so-en-route detour to see Dachau, we enjoyed the journey and the trip.


It was handy to know beforehand that Rastaettes / Rasthauses / Rasthofs are available throughout highways in Germany, and offer self-service food, snacks, and clean (for 0.70 cents) bathrooms. Signs for these stops always include the distance to the nearest stop, as well as to the next possible stop - really handy for planning purposes (e.g., determining how much longer we could handle the crying baby in the carseat...). Food can be pricey though, so we brought our own and just sat inside.

The first day involved a lot of driving, and the stop in Dachau. Entrance is free, as was the audioguide. Unfortunately, we didn't have time so just walked through the camp on our own. What floored me was how close the camp was to the town of Dachau. Just over the fence, there were normal people, living a normal life, probably clueless to the atrocities. There are some really nice memorials, including churches, markers, and sculptures, to honor the lives lost... Still, I had a tough time walking through it all. Somewhat appropriately, the sky was gray and the day very chilly while we were there.

From there it was 2 hours to Salzburg, where we stayed at the NH City. The location was a 10 minute walk to major sights in Salzburg, and had free wifi (though not really strong enough to do more than surf the internet). It was an easy dinner the first night, pizza delivery from lieferservice.at, since we would wake up early the next day...

The first morning in Salzburg was lovely. After a pastry and coffee at Kaffee Alchemie, we walked past a big Mozart Statue to the Festung Hohensalzburg - the big, beautiful fortress grandly atop the city. The 11,30 euros entry ticket included the train up and back, an audio tour of part of the fortress, entry to a (pretty neat) marionette museum, and access to the grounds. You can connect to the fortress wifi network, and get more information on key sights around the grounds - I thought this was very cool. We finished the tour with a drink at the fortress restaurant, enjoying a stunning view of the city, and the Alps.

After seeing the breathtaking views and returning to town, we walked through the Alstadt and stopped at Fuerst for a bag of Mozart kugeln (handmade / original / etc. And also: super delicious). We continued on, stopping for some Austrian schnitzel at a restaurant on the Judengasse for lunch, we continued on to see Mozart's birth home. The museum was beautifully organized (although keeping his hair still seems a little strange..), and made for the perfect end to a lovely day in the city. Dinner was uneventful soup from the hotel restaurant, followed by the famous Salzburger Nockerl! We weren't able to make it to the Hotel Sacher for their famous version, but the NH's was pretty yummy.

The next day was spent in Bavaria. We drove to Schoenau am Koenigsee to see the Koenigsee by boat. Although a bit pricey at nearly 14 euros per ticket, the tour offers wi-fi so you can follow along the German-speaking guide as you pass points of interest. My favorite part was the echo wall...our tour guide played a little tune on his trumpet and the song multiplied as it echoed off the mountains. The lake is the cleanest and deepest in Germany, and takes 30 minutes to arrive to St. Bartholomew. Since it was too cold for a long hike, we just did the well-marked 30-minute circuit around the island, saw the church, and had a soup at the somewhat overpriced restaurant on the island. The island used to be part of the royal hunting grounds, and with the foggy rain, wintry trees, and spooky atmosphere, you could really feel the ghosts of kingdoms past around the island.

We headed back to Mainz the next day. A few stops and a bit o' traffic later, and we were home.