We left Munich in the morning and took the 8.48am train to Salzburg. It arrived at the station at 10.45am. From there we walked to our hostel which is a short distance away.
After we have placed our luggage in the hostel, we went back to the station and enquired about the Salt mines. Salzburg means ‘Salt Castle’ as it is an important town in the region salt mining industry.
We bought the 12.21pm train ticket which will arrive at the nearest salt mine train station at 12.40pm. We took a walk around the mountain town as the next bus only depart at 1.30pm. The journey is another short 15 minutes.
Here we are all dressed in white suits.
We took a mini-train down to the mines and started walking from there.
It is an education tour which describes the importance of salt is to Salzburg, its technological break through, the miners working conditions and how salt is extracted.
We came back up at 3.30pm. It is drizzling slightly. Heard there is a Celtic village in area so we checked it out. From there we took the 4.19pm bus back follow by the 4.50pm train.
At the station, we took a bus to the city centre and walked around. Salzburg is renowned for its cultural and musical heritage, so we started looking for some good performance for the night. We settled for the “Mid summer night dream”. It is a ballet performance.
13th June (Sunday)
We work up early at 7am, had our breakfast at the hostel before going on to the train station. We took the train to Werfen station which is an hour ride away. It is followed by a 15mins bus ride and another 15 mins walk away. This day we are going to explore the ice caves of Salzburg.
Here we are walking along the passage upwards. The beautiful mountain cliffs.
The guide speaks German but luckily we have a fellow tourist who is able to translate for us into English.
He is able to skate on the ice with just his shoes. There are many beautiful formations in the cave, particularly the icicles. Too bad it is too dark and our camera is not receptive to low light conditions so we are unable to take much photos.
We walked back down and took the 12.41pm train back to Salzburg.
While walking around Mozartplatz, we had lunch at Nordsee. It is an amazing seafood restaurant that attract crowds by its tantalizing window display of fresh seafood.
We did a bit of shopping, along the way we saw Elizabeth’s friends who are also backpacking in Europe.
There is also a beach volleyball game going on in town.
For dinner, we went back to Nordsee again.
We took a stroll through the Mirabellgarten before returning back.
14th July (Monday)
In the morning, we took bus 25 to Schloss Hellbrunn. We reached at 9.40am after a 15mins ride. There is a large group coming through and we sat together while observing what is going on.
This palace is notable for its extravagant use of water.
The guide spoke to us in a mix of German and English. He asked for volunteers to sit at the chairs. He then used a remote controller to control the water coming out. Those sitting there are all soaked by the water.
While walking around the gardens, we encountered more ambush.
Here is Si Yu making a quick run out amidst heavy fire.
We are back to the palace with the audio guide. In there we learnt about water dynamics and feng shui.
We got back to Salzburg and had lunch at its university.
Visited the Mozart residence and found out about Mozart life story.
He was a child prodigy and spent a third of his time travelling. Here is the piano he used when he was a child.
The weather is splendid so we just lay back next to the river and just sun-bathe.
The tomb of Johann Stravss.
