Three days in Austria...Day 2 (Salzburg)

 My second day in Austria was spent in a beautiful city of Salzburg. It is a birthplace of Mozart and is famous for The Sound of Music film where it was based and filmed.

I got up extra early (for European standards) that morning and had danishes for breakfast in a cute Hungarian cafe.

Then I walked to Central train station and caught Westbahn train to Salzburg. I think it departed every 30 minutes and it took me 2.5 hours to get there. The train was very comfortable and you could also charge your phone while on the train too!

I didn't have a solid plan for Salzburg. I was told that its a fairly small city and I should be fine getting around. I really wanted to see Hohensalzburg Castle as it has spectacular views and dates back to 15th century. So I looked it up on Google maps and started walking in that direction. In couple of km I saw a kiosk selling tickets for the local hop-on hop-off bus tour for €25 which gave a pretty good overview of the city and took you to all the major spots. 

So I took it to Alter Markt (Old Market Square) and followed the signs.

There were few stairs to climb but nothing extreme :)

I got some nice views on my way up too... I was lucky to get glorious spring day, it was warm and sunny.

 The entry to the castle was €9 which I though was quite reasonable. 

 The views from the castle were as spectacular as I imagined them to be...

 After admiring them for a while I went to the restaurant set up on premises. They also had amazing views so I was prepared to fork out quite a bit of cash for my lunch...But a generous bowl of soup and a local beer set me back €11!

 The beer was amazing! It had really well balanced sweetness and bitterness plus had decent percentage of alcohol :)

 I did few laps around the castle and spent some time sitting on the bench and absorbing the atmosphere and gentle sun rays.

 Then I went down to the Old Market Square to explore it more.

 Everywhere I looked I saw gorgeous old buildings, fountains and churches.

There was lots of shops so I picked up hand-made tablecloth for my mother-in-law and L'Occitane Eau de Cedrat perfume for myself.
I also stopped at the Etienne Aigner store and saw lots of bags I loved but unfortunately couldn't afford.

Then I hopped back on the bus and finished the rest of the tour. I didn't realize it stopped running quite early so I was lucky to get the last service which dropped us off at the train station. I took a train back around 6 pm and arrived back at Vienna at 8 30 pm. Return trip cost me €43 and everything went really smoothly. I will retain memories of this beautiful city forever and I hope to come back for few days.

Three days in Austria...Day 1

About a month ago I went on last minute solo trip to Austria. I was on my way to Ukraine too see family and asked my travel agent to extend my stop over in Vienna as I was traveling with Austrian Airlines (which I highly recommend by the way).

I didn't have a solid plan so I asked few friends who frequently travel to Europe. Salzburg was highly recommended to me as a day trip.

Day 1...
I landed and was very tired and jet-lagged so I got myself a SIM card at the airport (I tend to get local SIM cards as it is way cheaper than roaming) and organized a pre-paid taxi to my hotel (€35).

I stayed at Pentahotel in Margareten. The location was perfect - everything I needed was within 30 minute walk. The room (pictured above) was nice and modern, the bedding was super comfortable so I had to take a nap after long and painful 20 hours long journey. After my nap I went to a nearby restaurant to grab some lunch. I had goulash and some local beer.

 The air was filled with the smell of lilacs...I haven't smelt them in over 15 years so it was truly magical.

Then I walk to the center...

Stumbled upon this gorgeous building called Vienna Secession...

 ...checked out the fountain near in the center...

 ...then went to try Sachertorte as it was highly recommended by a friend. Loved the decor at the Sacher hotel.

 Rich and decadent chocolate cake with apricot jam layers...

On the way back to my hotel I made a spontaneous decision to stop by at that interesting-looking building. Turned out it was a museum and architectural masterpiece called Secession.

 It was in 1897 and has few exhibition halls...

The most prominent piece of the museum is Gustav Klimt's wall painting Beethoven Frieze.

 It supposed to represent desire for happiness in a suffering and tempestuous world in which one contends not only with external evil forces but also with internal weaknesses.

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