Salzburg Rest Day 3 – Hohensalzburg Fortress

We wrapped up our last rest day in Salzburg by visiting the Hohensalzburg Fortress. The fortress is one of the largest in Europe and dates back to the eleventh century. The fortress was never conquered so has remained intact. The eagles nest tour guide warned us to visit the fortress early in the day as it gets overrun with tourists later in the day, so we got there early around 9:30. We were glad we did. Even at 9:30 it was busy enough. You get to walk up some of the inner stair cases to the top to get to the panoramic view. Being early meant it was not too crowded so you could actually take a pic. I can only imagine later in the day how busy that would be or how long the lines would be in the stair cases.

Being early meant we could grab a table at one of the hilltop cafe and enjoy the view over coffee. We sat there for awhile and enjoyed the view and marveled at the Austrian Alps and how green the fields were. There weather was once again fantastic in the morning so we had clear views to the mountains. I snapped a few pictures, but honestly they don’t do it justice. Just like other scenic places such as the Grand Tetons or the Grand Canyon, pictures do not convey the beauty of taking in the sight in person.

After coffee, we rode the funicular back down to the city and wandered a few of the streets of old town we hadn’t yet walked. We ended up at the river and took up a park bench for awhile to take in the view of the city and the fortress.

I’ve not mentioned this but for the last several days I’ve been dealing with allergies. I’m not normally allergic to anything back at home, but I’ve been sneezing like crazy and dealing with watery eyes for nearly a week. A little googling an it appears its peak Ragweed season here and it seems it has my number. A quick stop at the pharmacy and a dose of Clarityn and I’m much better. I just wished it did this a few days ago.

We closed out the day with a little siesta before meeting up with our bike tour rep to get the low down on our bike tour and hand off of our e-bikes. It looks as if this leg of our cycling tour will be more leisurely with shorter 30-50km stages. Seeing as we are in the Alps we are hoping for some more scenic side adventures to fill some of the days.

After resting for several days, we are eager to get back on the bikes and burn some of the calories we have been stockpiling.

It’s difficult to rate the places we have visited thus far on this adventure, but we would put Salzburg near the top of places to see. The city is beautiful, well maintained, clean and has a lot of things to see and do. It you are considering an Austrian city to visit, Salzburg should be on that list. We’ve really enjoyed it here.