Day 13: Salzburg and Innsbruck, Austria

Thursday, August 19 2010

My alarm clock rang at 6.45. We got ready and went for breakfast. It was 3€ for all you can eat. I was still sick so in addition to coffee, buns, cereal and juice, I got some tea and put a Finrexin in it. 

Our room had like a corridor with doors to the toilet, bathroom and the room with all the bunk beds. When we came back from breakfast, we just went in the room quickly with the beds and the lockers. The smell was disgusting!!! Ugh the room smelled so bad!!! We quickly took our stuff out of the lockers and dropped it all in the corridor. And that looked like this. 

And the end result was this. We had to take the sheets off the beds too. We packed, returned our room key and left our luggage to the common corridor lockers. We had to ask the front desk for directions to the Untersberg.

The bus stop was in front of the Mirabell castle. We took bus 25, and it cost 2.10€ to go to the Untersbergbahn, where the cable car went to the top, the Geiereck peak. The mountain's elevation is 1972 meters (6 470 feet, Google converter), but the Geiereck peak is at 1300 meters (4 265 ft, Google converter).

It takes about 10 minutes to go up with the cable car. It costs 20€ to go up and down. It would've been 11€ or so one way, but the climb down would've taken 3 hours, and we simply didn't have the energy or time to do that. And I'm sure we would have gotten lost!!! 

I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves. This was my favorite thing about this trip and I would go back a hundred times.  You can click on all the pictures and see them in full size.

The numbers here are not the same as listed in Wikipedia, oh well... 

Going up

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We wandered around the mountain for a long while. It was really cold and windy. In the beginning it was really foggy up there too. The weather was clearing up when we were returning to the cable car station. There was a restaurant there and we ate and had beers.

We went down with the cable car eventually, took a bus back to town, I fell asleep, and we had to find a grocery store before our train to Innsbruck. Of course, we couldn't find the closest one to the hostel, we went really far and had to hurry back to pick up our luggage and find our way to the train station. 

Our train to Innsbruck left 16.02. This time it was very easy to find a compartment (for 6 people). I'm sure we went directly to the right end of the train where these places weren't reserved. We shared it with an English couple. We nearly missed our stop since we didn't really hear the announcements. There was something wrong with the speaker in the compartment.

In Innsbruck we found a tourist information and got a map from there and asked for directions to our camping site, Natterersee Camping. BEST CAMPING PLACE ON EARTH!!! Pictures will be in another post. The map would've been 1 euro, but the old man selling the maps was kind and gave it to us, and gave us bus schedules too. We could take the first bus 4143 to Natters, and then change to a 4168 to the Camping place. One way ticket was 2.30€. The bus goes from town to Natters more often, but from Natters to the camping site every two hours.

Brain's side-note: we also asked the old man at the tourist info if it would be possible for us to buy some sort of a travel card to save money on bus tickets. He didn't know, and sent us to the nearby kiosk. We went there and they didn't know either, and sent us to the post office. The young boy working at the post office said that he's not from Innsbruck and so doesn't know anything about tourist cards (I thought that was a very strange excuse). He sent us somewhere else, but at that point we just gave up and went to the bus stop.

We arrived at the camping place and were in awe of the place! It's so fancy looking! It cost 62€ for the two of us and a tent for two nights. The bathrooms and showers were brand new. They had sinks to wash clothes in, and dish washing sinks. The kids playground was amazing and the artificial lake too! So awesome! 

Brain's side-note: after we checked in, one of the employees took us to our spot on a small car thingy (kinda like a golf cart). He was very weird, maybe Italian, kept talking funny, and I didn't really understand half of what he was saying. He seemed to be friends with everybody at the camping site and was very very talkative. Oh, and we ate our first real Austrian apple strudels at the restaurant there :)

The campsite quieted down around 11 pm and that's when we went to sleep as well. It wasn't cold this time really. 

-Pinky

Day 12: Vienna and Salzburg

Wednesday, August 18 2010

Our morning routine had to be changed. Our alarms rang 6:45, and we had planned on leaving with the 9.12 bus, but we didn't make it. We went with the 9.22 bus. Packing the tent wasn't complicated, it was just annoying. The inner tent was difficult to fold neatly. Also that had been directly on the ground, and the ground was wet, you get the picture. And we had to get rid of all the spiders, crickets and ants off of it too. 

Our train to Salzburg left 10.20 from Wien Westbahnhof. We there early enough and I went to get some tea and since I was still feeling like I was going to get sick, I added a bag of Finrexin, a cold medicine to my tea. Brain thought that the combination is disgusting.

The train was really packed this time too, and luckily we were there early enough to get good seats. The trainride wasn't very eventful. 

Salzburg Hauptbahnhof was under construction and it didn't look like it was going to be done anytime soon. It took a while for us to find an info place where we could get a map of the city.

Originally we were supposed to stay at a camping place, but we got an email from there while in Berlin, that they're fully booked and we can't go there. I had also gotten sick in Vienna, so we decided we'd stay in a hostel. We started walking to the wrong direction first, luckily not that badly, but still too much. I was tired and sick and getting cranky. I apparently was very cranky while we were walking to the hostel. I noticed it myself, but I didn't think others would, and Brain did. I thought I managed to hide it so well!

Our hostel was YoHo International Youth Hostel in Salzburg. We hadn't reserved anything and just went there. The 6-bed mixed dorm cost 22€/night/person. Including us there was an Asian girl and boy and two guys who we never saw awake. They weren't in the room when we got there, they must've been in town somewhere cause they got there around 2-3 am. And we left before they woke up the next day. Our dorm room had a bathroom and a toilet, and they were separate too!

YoHo hostel pictures (all clickable)

 We left our luggage in the room lockers, and left for town. We walked onwards on Paracelsusstrasse and turned onto Franz-Josef Strasse. There was a little cafe there, we got coffee with toasts. I got an Italian toast (mozzarella, tomatoes, olive oil and lettuce of some sort) and a caffe latte. Brain got a Greek toast and a caramel macchiato.  MasterCard wasn't accepted. Dun dun dun

Since it was already afternoon, we wanted to climb up to the Hohensalzburg fortress. We walked around Schloss Mirabell. I wasn't very impressed with it, after all, I've seen Sanssouci and Schloss Schönbrunn. This was in the very middle of the city, and it wasn't as grande as one would assume a Schloss to be. (Although there were sculptures of unicorns, which I thought were cool! -Brain)

  Schloss Mirabell (clickable)

We crossed the river and walked through the old town towards the Hohensalzburg fortress, but didn't spend too much time in the old town. We did buy a couple postcards, one for our friend's fiance who was fighting in Afghanistan at the time. The address was strange, it had no country on it. We assumed it was going to England first, so we just got stamps to England..

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Views of the fortress and around it

A funicular up to the Hohensalzburg fortress would've cost over 10 euros, so we decided to walk up the hill. It didn't take too long, and it wasn't very difficult, although it was a very steep hill. At one point we noticed we had taken the shorter way, which meant a whole lot of stairs. Once we were up high, there was a gate and entrance through that cost 7,40€ and that included the entrance to the courtyard, the museum in the castle, and some audio guide. We didn't want that, we just wanted to get to the courtyard, so we didn't pay the 7,40€. We turned around and started walking on the Mönchberg, which is the mountain/ridge the fortress is located on. 

To get back to the old town we had to climb down a whole lot of stairs, and some were quite scary too! We saw St.Peter's Abbey. It was very different from Vienna's St. Peter's. The Dom was near too and we had a look inside. It was very pretty. The center isle was probably as long as the one in Tuomiokirkko in Tampere, but this was wider and higher.

Brain's side-note: I don't think I'd ever seen a real-live nun before the visit to Salzburg, or after it, for that matter. But in Salzburg we saw several: one was riding a bike, and there was one on the bus as well. 

Mozart's birth house on Getreidegasse

We walked to Getreidegasse, which is one of the main streets in the old town. We saw the yellow Mozart's birth house. We ate at an Italian restaurant. Our waitress had the craziest hair, I tell you! Small pizza was 5-6€ and bit 8-9€. We thought we ordered the small pizzas, but I guess we weren't clear enough. The check had some funny numbers on it. Pizzas and drinks together were supposed to be less than 20€, but the total cost was 23€ or so. After dinner we bought Mozarts kugeln, they weren't that good. It had been raining a little the whole day so we walked back to our hostel and hung around there.

More pictures of Salzburg taken on the Mönchberg. You can click on all the pictures to see them in full size.

Stairs we had to climb down to get to the Old Town from the Mönchberg.

The Salzach river was a weird green color. Like all the rivers in Austria...

-Pinky

Salzburg, Austria

Austria is a country located in the Alps andAustria's capital city is Vienna and it is Austria's largest city. Currency is not a problem, because Austria uses euros.

The InterRail pass is valid on the S-Bahns in most cities. In Salzburg and Graz there are some S-Bahn lines that are operated by a private railway company, and the InterRail pass is not valid there.

German is the official language, but Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene are recognized regional languages.

Typical austrian food:

• Krapfen, doughnuts that are filled with apricot marmelade
• Apfelstrudel
• Topfenstrudel, filled with sweetened sour cream
• Sachertorte
• Wiener Schnitzel
• Mozart Kugeln

Famous people of Salzburg:

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Maria von Trapp, originally from Vienna, but later lived in Salzburg, married Georg Ludwig von Trapp. The Sound of Music is inspired by her life.

Salzburg is right by the Salzach River. It is 150km away from Münich, Germany and 300 km away from Vienna. The Salzburg Hauptbahnhof is in New Town of Salzburg, by the Salzach River and international trains from Zürich and Budapest for instance are frequent. There are nearly hourly trains to Vienna. Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the Austrian Federal Railway Company (OBB) operate the trains and the Salzburg Hauptbahnhof.

It is very good to walk in Salzburg. Late night buses are not recommended, because they most likely will take you too far and out from the city, so taxis are preferred. Renting a bike is possible. Bus tickets can be bought from Trafik for a cheaper price.

Places to see:

• Old town, nominated as a World Heritage site.
• Getreidegasse, a long and narrow shopping street full of little shops.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts birthhouse. Entrance is 6€, but we don't have to go in. ;)
• St. Peter's Church, Cemetary and the Catacombs

 St. Peter's Church

• The Untersberg. It is a mountain a bus ride away from Salzburg. There is a cable car going up to the Geiereck peak at 1805m from the St. Leonhard station in Gartenau. The cable car lifs you 1300m up. 

 The view from Untersberg

• Hohensalzburg Fortress. A fantastic view of Salzburg and the Alps from Hohensalzburg Fortress. Inside the fortress there is a museum of medieval weapons and torture instruments as well as something about life on the fortress. A funicular goes up the mountain if you want to avoid the nearly vertical hike, however it does cost 9.80€. I think that includes the entrance fee to the inside of the fortress. I heard that the hike would not take too long and since we're healthy 20-something year olds and most likely not carrying our backbacks we can do the hike up. But I have read different stories about the hike and someone said that there is an entrace fee anyway to the castle once you have climbed up.  I want to climb up, funiculars are boring. :P

 Hohensalzburg Fortress

• Schloss Mirabell is right next to the Salzach River and Mozarteum Uni. It is a castle with gardens, Garden of Dwarfs and Garden of Roses. Schloss Mirabell apparently has the world's most beautiful wedding hall, the Marble hall.
• Toy Museum. Entrance for adults is 2.70€ and for children/seniors/youth (16-26) it's 2€. 

Augustiner Bräustübl is a local beer garden with self-brewed beer. They sell food there as well, but it is possible to bring your own food to the area, but no drinks.

Places to sleep:
Camping Nord-Sam, Samstrasse 22a. Easily accessed by bus. It is not too expensive and the pictures look wonderful. It is 8.50€ per person/night. A tent is 5.50€.


Youth and Family guesthouse Salzburg (Josef Preis Allee 18), newly renovated, linen & breakfast is included. Pricess 15-43€. They show The Sound of Music every night at 8PM.

Eduard Heinrich Haus (Eduard-Heinrich-Strasse 2), 16€ and up, offers internet & tv.

YoHo (International Youth Hostel Salzburg, Paracelsusstrasse 9). 19-29€. They show the Sound of Music every morning.

Meiniger as well. I stayed at a 5-bed dorm in Cologne, Germany, for one night and it was a very clean place but breakfast was not included. But it was a nice, clean, and a safe hotel so it was good anyway. The price depends on the city and season. I'd say 13-25€.

Wikitravel Salzburg