Germany/Austria Trip, Part 7: Salzburg

Day 15
On Saturday, October 1, we spent the day exploring Salzburg. We'd arrived the evening before, and were staying at the Institute St. Sebastian, which runs both a hostel for travelers and a dormitory for college students studying abroad. It felt very sterile, and was probably our least favorite hostel of the trip. But it was a decent, cheap place to crash which is just what we looking for.

We began our day, as usual, with Rick Steves' walking tour of Salzburg's old town. Our first stop was the Salzburg Cathedral.

Then we saw St. Peter's Abbey, which includes a chapel, cemetery, and small catacombs carved into the nearby cliff side. This community of monks has been there since the year 700! The original chapel burned down, but the current one has been there since 1319. The cemetery is one of the oldest in the world.

Next we walked down Getreidegasse - a long, narrow street of shops famous for its old-style signs of profession outside each store.

Even McDonalds has an old fashioned sign!

We saw Mozart's birth place, but did not go inside.

Instead, we toured Mozart's childhood residence, which has been turned into an informative museum about his life.

We walked through the beautiful St. Sebastian cemetery. 94-95

Then we rode the funicular up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which sits high above the city. The view from the top was fantastic! 96-97

We ended the day with a walk up to the Augustiner Braustubl monestary and brewery, where we had dinner in the beer garden. The beer was fantastic!

Day 16
Sunday, October 2, was the final day of our trip. We once again spent the day having fun in Salzburg. But after our whirlwind sightseeing day yesterday, we wanted to take things at a more relaxed pace today.

We started our day with a hike up to a look out point above the city that was recommended to us by the students at our hostel. We had to walk up a lot of stairs to get there, but the view at the top was worth the effort!

Then we rented bikes and rode down the riverside path a little ways outside town. Riding through the green, grassy meadow with the mountains in the distance felt like a scene right out of the Sound of Music!

After we turned in our bikes, we sat on a riverside bench for awhile to just relax and enjoy the last day of our trip. As we watched the sun go down over Salzburg, we talked about all the fun we'd had over the past 16 days exploring Germany and Austria. It was truly an unforgettable vacation!