We arrived by train to Salzburg, Austria, the city of salt, the Sound of Music and Mozart!  After checking in to the Hotel Hofwirt, we walked a couple doors down to a delicious restaurant, Alter Fuchs, with traditional Austrian food, which is much like traditional German food, which is much like traditional Swiss food. Dave had the pig knuckle and potato dumpling and I had brats with sauerkraut. Lecker!

Read more about Salzburg from Rick Steves

Before meeting up with our Rick Steves' tour group we adventured through an archway we had passed the night before. It led us up a curving path to stages of the cross, past a church called the Kapuzinerkloster and into an ancient forested park with striking views of the city below.

There were sweeping views of the city and the Salzach river as we ducked in and out of the shady forest.

Back in Town

The Franziskanerkirche

After our free concert, we found a shady outdoor cafe for wienerschnitzel and then met up with our  My Way® Alpine Europe traveling team at the hotel! Kathleen, our tour guide, had some refreshments available as we arrived for our first meeting.  As we shared names and where we are from, we discovered that there were 3 Davids and 3 Susans on our tour!  Kathleen took us on a brief tour of Salzburg and had great recommendations for dining as well as ideas for the next day's activities. Options included biking the Sound of Music tour, attending a variety of concerts, hiking, salt mine tours and of course the Rick Steve's Audio Tour.

One of the places Kathleen recommended was the restaurant, Stiegl-Keller.  Reservations were required for the restaurant, but not for the bar upstairs.  So, we were at the bar for beer and pretzels with this incredible sunset over the rooftops of Salzburg.  We ran into another couple from our group and they took our picture! Thanks, Dave #2!

As recommended by our guide, the next day we followed the RS audio tour.  We had downloaded the Rick Steves Audio Europe Travel App on our previous tour and the Salzburg audio tour the night before while on wifi at the hotel.  It was easy to follow and very informative.  It starts on the Mozartsteg, guides to the Mozartplatz, Residenzplatz, the Kapitelplatz,  Friedhof St. Peter, the water wheel (Wasserad), Stiftskirche St. Peter, University Square, and ended at the Bürgerspitalkirche St. Blasius! We lingered in a few of these locations along the way.  We attended another organ concert which was inside the Salzburg Cathedral.  We checked out the catacombs in the graveyard. We also stopped at the University Square for wurst! See our adventure below.

Organ Concert in the Cathedral

The Catacombs

The University Square

At the square we had "the best of the wurst" and explored the market in the shade!

The Aldstadt

Fortress Hohensalzburg

This imposing fortress is the dramatic centerpiece of the city.  The tram brought us up to the fortress courtyard which has a spectacular view of the city and beyond. It was pleasant to rest from the heat of the day with an aperitivo at one of the cafes inside its walls.