Salzburg 2010: Assorted pics (1)

Here is the first of two posts containing a selection of assorted pics I took in Salzburg 2010. Hope they give you a bit of Salzburg flavor and you decide to go and see it all yourself next year. If you book your hotel (and even better, various bed & breakfast deals!) in January or February, you may get some good deals and staying in Salzburg will not be expensive.

This is a central street of Salzburg downtown. It's always lively pedestrian-area, touristy, but pleasant anyway. When you cross the bridge you can find a street very similar to this one [that other street is called Linzer-Gasse]. Still this central street remains more attractive because in the middle of it you'll find the birth-house of Wolfgang A.

Besides, on this side of town you also have the complex of Festival's three main theaters, so... If you cross this street on your way to Festival theaters, you will pass through one of many nice passages and see the city market place

where you can find fresh fruits and vegetables -- no balooney, there are many folks who come from  villages surrounding Salzburg  to sell their goods on the market [they are all extremely nice and don't speak a word of Englisch :) ]. Here is a pic of their Bergkäse:

On one side of that wide square is a cool church,

and on another there must be one of zillion sausage outlets: they all eat hot-dogs everywhere, and at any time of the day --  totally amazing!

Kitsch is EVERYWHERE though, but it doesn't strike you as something out of place. It is charming and in Salzburg it's fun. Anywhere else it would be... well...

One more passage and you're next to the famous Tomaselli Café

That café is not only a fancy place to sit in, but is also everybody's reference point: everything is left-right... from Tomaselli. More interestingly, on the side (where there is an old entrance to this building), you find this:

Inside Tomaselli, there is always a lady with a platter filled with various sorts of cakes, you stop her and she serves you one of your choice... Not cheap but not expensive either.  Connoisseurs however prefer the Fürst Café which is right accross the square -- face to face with Tomaselli-- and there you can eat the best Sacher in Salzburg, with their good coffee. [Sacher is not my preferred cake but when in Austria... you do what Austrians do]

Do not ask why they serve it with whipped cream! That's just the way it is: too-much is a keyword you have to accept right from the beginning. But it's charming...



OK, now that small square which hosts both Fürst and Tomaselli cafés is also the Olympus of what I called the Salzburger kitscherei ;)   Here is a small selection for you:

Want more? :)  I cannot resist showing you my personal favorite Mozart kitscherei: at butcher's [which is also kinda gourmet shop] I saw a basket planted among sausages full of squeaky Mozart ducks  :-)

OK, from Tomaselli's square you're immediately out on a huge square surrounded by many museums and galleries (which, to be honest, are not all that great -- but that can be a question of tastes...)

Beyond that nice white building is another square with a large Mozart statue in the center of it:

and just a little to the right of that square is another.... square which is important because during the month of August it becomes the city's open air cinema where the operas from previous Festivals are shown  every other night on a big screen. It's financed by the city mayor and the main sponsor [Siemens], and it's free for everyone in Salzburg...

OK, that's what you find if you turned right from the Mozart Square. If instead you keep going, you won't miss the Papageno Platz

This is all nice and fine when it's sunny. But when it rains, Salzburg is surrounded by mountains and the rain-showers are wild... and refreshing.

Ah that's Triangel, the restaurant where the meals carry the names of the artists performing at the Festival (c.f. my previous post)

The street in front of the Grosses Festspielhaus -- after it rained on your parade