Day 6: Salzburg in Prague and the Danube Travel Log

Today I learned that Salzburg is named after its salt mine and castle, not because it is a hill with salt in it, and that I’d been misspelling it my whole life.

We woke up early in the morning, and the ship moved to dock at Passau old town because some people are going to visit Passau that day. From the dock we could take the exact same picture as on our honeymoon.

It takes 2 hours to drive from Passau to Salzburg; I thought I would sleep through it, but the bus went through quaint small towns by the Alps with a guide giving descriptions and stories about of the town sights, churches, squares, and a house that cut off its roof to prevent damage by passing cars busses, so I didn’t get any sleep. It was Sunday though, so it was very quiet in those small towns, and there was not a lot of traffic. We arrived at Salzburg early.

The walking tour focuses a lot on Mozart and Sound of Music - we started at Mirabelle garden, then up to Mozart’s apartment, and Doppler and Karajan’s birth places (all within a block each other). Then we crossed the Salzach river into old town, through Getreidegasse, to Mozart’s birth house, Tomaselli cafe, then Residenze square, and then the Cathedral. In our free time we went up to the castle on the funicular and took pictures. There were museums up there too but we didn’t have time to visit. I think the problem with visiting main attractions with a group is that there are places you want to spend time on, but have to stick to a schedule. We could easily spent several days at Salzburg, to see all the museums, churches, historical buildings, music performances, and countryside. We went back down only after 1/2 hour because La Professeure was worried about being late to join our group, but we actually had a lot of time left, so we swung by Mozart square before rejoining our group.

We had lunch at St. Peter’s, the food was so-so, but there was live entertainment where two sopranos, an alto and a baritone sang stuff from Sounds of Music. It was a good and hammy, performance, though it’s hard to listen where you’re eating. There were a couple in our group who were clearly drunk and, erm, “participated” in the singing. I found it amusing to see how the performers try to stay professional. We did get Salzburg Nockerl for dessert. I quite liked it - it’s like creme brulee except lighter because it’s made with egg white rather than yolk.

After dinner, on day 6 of our 11 day trip, we finally sailed. We spent a cool and relaxing time on our private balcony at twilight over the Danube, with my birthday cake and drinks, and a spider. Our ship will arrive at Vienna tomorrow night, after which I’m not sure it’s going to move since I heard a rumour that the low water level may prevent us from getting to Budapest.

Last updated September 01, 2022