Two days in Salzburg

 We arrived in Salzburg after 11pm after an hour and a half on a dark and quiet bus.  At the bus station, there were only a couple taxis that were quickly taken, but a public bus pulled up that said Zentrum on it, so we hopped aboard.  They didn't seem to expect us to have tickets.  It ended up dropping us off just 2 blocks from our hotel, which is just off the Mirabellplatz.  

In the morning we walked across the river to the old town and up a very long set of steps to a Benedictine cloister and the start of the Panorama trail.  A tall cliff lines the edge of the old city and offers a beautiful view of the city to the north and of the Alps to the south.  We walked along a little used road at the top of the cliff that goes past the old fort and several villas and other fortifications until it ends at a modern art museum.

A Tyrell skypace - the 3rd or 4th one I've seen!

The panoramic road

View of the fortress

Mini snowmen along a wall near the convent

Back in the old town we had a traditional Bavarian lunch of venison ragout and wiener schnitzel.  After a nap we went to the historic Sacher Hotel  cafe on the banks of the river for Sacher torte and coffee, a delicious combination.  Having now consumed far more calories than we expended on our morning walk, we strolled around the city looking in shop windows and getting to the Christmas market outside the Cathedral in time hear a choir singing.

Christmas market in Salzburg

Tuesday we had breakfast at another historic cafe next to the Sacher hotel then walked to the train station to get our train tickets to Hallstatt, Austria for Wednesday.  The OBB ticket office was very helpful.  I had downloaded the RailEurope app, but it doesn't seem to have all of the different country's trains on it and had much longer travel times listed.

We got back to the Cathedral in time to hear an organ concert.  A single organist goes to 4 of the cathedral's seven organs and plays a song at each one.  Organ music has never been my favorite, but it was quite contemplative to listen too in such a huge space.  At the end a group of 3 Ukrainian musicians played guitar and sang, but could barely be heard in the space.

wood carving at the cathedral

The Salzburg Cathedral

Around 5pm we stopped in a BrauHaus for a winter bock beer and a "beer snack".  The snack is a wooden platter with a salami, mustard, a pretzel and a pile of what looked like shredded cheese, but we discovered was actually shredded horseradish!

Tuesday was also Krampus Day!  According to legend, the krampuses joined the St. Nicholas legend as those spirits who punished bad children, but they also seem to carry the bags of presents handed out to good children.  We got to watch the Krampus "run", more of a walk, as they came through town.  The first glimpse was right as we stepped out of the bar.  One krampus hit our legs with his brush, so I guess we haven't been good all year!  We made our way to the stage in front of the cathedral to watch the different krampus groups pass by.  The costumes and masks are really amazing.  You can hear them coming because they wear large cow bells.  The body suits are long fur and the masks usually have long curved horns.  These are definitely the beasts of nightmares.