Inseparable.
Term that came to mind when talking about Salzburg and its classical music counterparts. It was the birthplace of none other than Mozart. His music had moved thousands of people across generations worldwide, even the unborn ones – as famously advertised for pregnant moms to closely listen to his composition. Growing up, Mozart was one of the composer that I listened to, well until now, his pieces were listed down on my classical-music Spotify playlist.
Then suffice to say, I’ve been dying to see Salzburg.
Other classical music-slash-movie example would be the Sounds of Music. Adore them so much! Most of the songs I know by heart. Many of the scenes were shot in Salzburg, the most famous one was probably the Mirabell Palace where Maria and the von Trapps gleefully running around singing the Do Re Mi song.
As tacky as it was, we recorded ourselves running around the autumn trees there to mimick the scene. More of a trap of Trapp (pun intended) should I posted the recording here, no intention to ruin your inner childhood memories.
Mirabell Palace was a historic building that’s listed as cultural heritage from UNESCO. It consisted of a grand palace and a vast beautiful garden. Our timing was quite lovely as crimson and yellow of autumn were adorned the whole complex.
Inside the palace was this Marble Hall, an iconic hall where on every night it held classical concert displaying marvel in architecture and music. It was said that Mozart used to practice and perform in the very hall. A chance that we wouldn’t miss for the world. We bought ourselves ticket to see the concert performance there.
The repertoire that night was unfamiliar to myself, they were from Schubert’s, Haydn’s and Dvorak’s. Unluckily my friend didn’t survive the night – sleeping through the performance serenaded by hundred-years of harmonious composition. There I noticed that classical music world was not at all close and familiar to everyone, my friends included. Their musical terms, confusing Italian tempo and numbering on the title were easily mixed up. Though we enjoyed the overall performance and regarded it as experience to hear music from the very hall that Mozart used to display his heavenly musical talent.
The name Salzburg meant Salt Fortress. It was attributed to the salt extraction from ancient underground sea that had long since evaporated. It explained why all of sudden there were abundant salt mines on a city where far away from nearest ocean. Back then, salt was considered as white gold. These rich background of Salzburg where to be found during our day trip visit to the famous Hohensalzburg. A fortress that overlooked the Altstadt area, or Old Town, of Salzburg. The fortress was dated back from the 11th century – almost one thousand years ago.
The fortress, on these days, largely became museum and restaurant. They built a nice facilities that also friendly for people with disabilities with all the elevators, slanted pathways and modern funicular. The museum inside offered glimpses of medieval ways of life complete with real-size bed, kitchen with ancient utensils, artilleries and kinds of armor suits. Historical stories of Salzburg were presented in detail. It was easy to spend hours inside that museum-slash-castle.
Hohensalzburg sat atop a hill at an altitude of 500 m. A real eye-catcher wherever you were in the Altstadt area. Due to its high location, we practically were able to see most of Salzburg from the fortress’ viewing points. One of the best city view ever.
Walking down from the fortress, we came across Mozartplatz. A square or plaza where the statue of Mozart was erected as much respected figure of the city. Indeed, a photo with our idol was a mandatory. The platz was located near Salzburg Cathedral, probably the largest and most famous church there. It was also the church where Mozart was baptized. It occurred to us that much of the trip was indeed surrounded on Mozart’s life timeline. Again, it’s the inseparability of the figure from Salzburg’s whole narrative.
On the other day, we too ventured outside the city to see the beauty of Austria’s Alps. You can read it here
-R
Some photos were taken using iPhone, if you noticed some drops in quality.
Journey on Journal 