Salzburg Podtour
There's more to Salzburg than Mozart
Salzburg is best known as Mozart's home town - though in fact, it seems he couldn't wait to get out of the place! But there's much more to this Austrian city than just Mozart. Salzburg's origins go back to the Romans, who built a camp here, but the modern city goes back to the early Middle Ages when its importance as a salt trading centre gave it its name - 'salt-mountain'.
The audio tour of Salzburg will show you how the city evolved from a medieval trading post to the seat of a prince-bishop who ruled his own domain. You'll be introduced to two of the bishops - Wolf Dietrich, who laid out the area around the cathedral as the first baroque urban centre north of the Alps, and Johann Ernst von Thun, whose patronage of the architect Fischer von Erlach made Salzburg a treasurehouse of the high Baroque.
We'll visit the Franciscan church, with its surprising mix of dark Romanesque and luminous Gothic work, and you'll see the portraits of the masons who were responsible for the lovely choir. Th
e tour will show you the cathedral, together with a number of Fischer von Erlach's churches in a rather austere Baroque style, and I'll explain how Fischer borrowed many of his themes and ideas from the Roman architects Bernini and Borromini. We'll also see Fischer's less severe successor Hildebrandt's work in the Mirabell palace - originally built for Wolf Dietrich's mistress Salome von Alt, but later rebuilt as an episcopal palace.
I'll also show you the superb Renaissance mausoleum where Wolf Dietrich is buried - close to Mozart's wife, as it happens.
Podtour of Salzburg
Price : £5
Also try our Podtour of Vienna - from the Romans to the Secession, but with a definite bias to the flamboyant Baroque.
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Other things to see and do in Salzburg
- Take a walk along the top of the Moenchenberg, the hill that overlooks the old town. The walk takes you from the old fortress of the bishops to the little suburb of Muelln, passing old fortifications and the modern art museum, which has a superb restaurant with a balcony overlooking the city.
- Visit one of the traditional style restaurants for some hearty food - the Wilder Mann, off Getreidegasse, serves huge portions which you can wash down with a mug of 'Zwickl' (unfiltered) beer.
- Visit the Augustinerstubl in Muelln, a beer cellar and beer garden run by monks. You pay for your beer first, then get a mug and take it (with your receipt) to get it filled. And the choice is simple; beer or beer. There are food stalls in the beer cellar where you can buy snacks, ranging from cheese and olives or traditional sausages to dumplings in mushroom sauce.
- A day trip to Hallein gives you a chance to visit the salt mines of the Duerrnnberg, the mines that made Salzburg's wealth.
- Don't forget the Mozartkugel - pistachio inside marzipan inside chocolate. Konditorei Furst, in Alter Markt, claims to be the originator of the Mozartkugel, but you'll find others too (usually less expensive).
- As you might expect from the birthplace of Mozart, the standard of busking is very high. I listened to an accordion player under the arch leading to the Cathedral Square who counted in his repertory works by Couperin, Mozart, Scarlatti and JS Bach.
- Go to the farmers' market in front of the Collegienkirche, any day except Sunday, all day.