The hills are alive... in Salzburg!

On my trip through to Vienna, I dropped into Salzburg for a couple of hours. I have visited Salzburg once before, in the middle of summer, so it was great to see it covered in snow. There is no subtlety to the seasons in this part of the world.

The view over Salzburg old town from the Hohensalzburg fortress

During my time in this pretty little city, I took the walk to the Hohensalzburg fortress, as can be seen on the top of the hill in the photo below, wandered the Christmas markets, visited the Salzburg Dom, and wandered through the frozen Mirabel gardens (of Sound of Music fame...)

The tourism bureau of Salzburg seems to push two angles prominantly - the home of the Sound of Music, and the home of Mozart. The Mozart angle is particularly amusing, as he spent much of his life in Vienna, and was not really made "at home" in Salzburg. Still the city seems to love him now, right down to the shop windows full of Mozart kugeln (Mozart balls - a chocolate made with marzipan) to Mozartplatz, with a statue of the man himself in the centre, and decked out with an ice-rink for the winter. Whatever the reason, Salzburg is a great city, a beautiful setting, and charming gardens and shops.

The Mirabell gardens, at the moment completely frozen over with a heavy layer of snow. Probably not the best time to run around singing "The hills are alive..."

The Salzburger Dom roof, and the view from the pathway up to the fortress

Here I am climbing the hill to the Hohensalzburg fortress, and two others doing the same

The view along the Salzach river

Christkindlmarkt - Christmas Markets in Bavaria and Austria

I spent the week before Christmas between the three towns München (Munich) in Germany; and Salzburg and Wien (Vienna) in Austria. In this part of the world each town sets up many Christmas markets, or the Christkindlmarkt. I visited many of these during the week as can be seen in the photos below. In short, at these markets, you can buy all sorts of things, including cute Christmas decorations, embroidered linen, toys, hot nuts, other assorted foodstuffs including potato pancakes, lebkuchen (a German gingerbread type biscuit), chocolate covered fruits, winter clothing (I bought a funky beanie in Vienna) and other assorted items.

Most importantly are the hot drinks. There are a variety of different kinds, but the standard is Glühwein, a mulled hot red wine with cloves, cinnamon and other spices. Variants include Engelstrunken (Angel's Drink) and Feuerzanganbowle (for the more adventurous... My sister has done some research into it... See her page for the details!)

A Christmas tree sparkling at the Odeonsplatz markt in München, glittering streetlights for Christmas on am Graben in Wien, and Marienplatz in München lit up with its Christmas tree

The Rathaus markt - Frohe Weihnachten from Wien!

Frohe Weihnachten from Wien! and a glühwein with my brother Greg at the Chinese Tower markt in München, Feuerzangenbowle being made at the Rindermakt in München, and a sample of the wares in Salzburger Christkindl