Salzburg

My first of nine days running about Austria and the Chez Republic was spent in Salzburg! Due to late a late train we didn’t reach our hostel in Salzburg until 1am Friday night, but I had made plans for the following morning so Chris and I were up bright and early. We had a modest breakfast offered in the hostel before our hike through the city to a hill just north on which is the Church of Marian Plain. The hike took us through a small suburb of the city with quaint traditionally built houses. A beautiful marker of the deep Catholic history, along our root to the shrine were stone markers in which were pictures of the mysteries of the rosary. They were strung out on the path, in front yards, in fields all along the way.

Half an hour into our treck we reached the foot of the hill, the morning chill was still only fading as we climbed making the trip more enjoyable and less exhausting. Once we nearly had reached the top we came across a small chapel dedicated to the agony of Christ in the garden, and a few steps later, a chapel dedicated to the scourging. And so the chapels followed the entirety of the sorrowful mysteries in like manner until we finally reached the summit, where the three crosses looked out over the city.

We took a small cobblestone road a few steps to the entrance to the church. It was an immaculately kept high baroque church with beautiful royal blue running with gold and silver. Interestingly it has a rood screen, if that is the correct term, which is a sort of western Iconostasis. Needless to say it was a gorgeous church. We spent some time in admiration and prayer and as we departed people were beginning to funnel in in their lederhosen and dirndls for a local wedding.

After getting back to the hotel I stopped by the train station to get a city pass that allowed me to get into all the museums and churches as well as entrance to the castle and bus lines. I was planning on having lunch with Chris, Bing and Ashley but I was split from them in bus confusion and found myself alone in old-town Salzburg. My first order of business was lunch, I bought a Bosna which is a Austrian sausage sandwich, from a vendor in one of the squares. The place was packed, the weather was beautiful and there was a small traveling circus in town, those ingredients and lots of beer made for quite the party throughout the entire old town. After a mobile lunch, which afforded seeing much of the excitement throughout the streets, I spent some time in the cathedral dedicated to Saints Rupert and Vergilius.

After some time in the cathedral I used my fancy city pass to enter the cathedral treasury, a gallery filled with medieval chalices, rosaries, vestments, paintings, monstrance’s and every other liturgical and churchly item. I saw some amazing items ornamented with thousands of diamonds, rubies, and pearls imbedded in gold and silver. Most amazing was a crosier and miter which once belonged to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, which were adorned more richly than could be imagined. The gallery led along and fed into other galleries and museums, one with many religious paintings, another on music and so on. I spent a bit over an hour in the gallery but it was well worth all the time spent.

Afterwards I planned on taking a tram up the mountain to visit the castle, but getting slightly lost I ended up in St. Peter’s graveyard. It is very well kept and very pretty which was probably why it was filled with people. I said some prayers for the dead, and went into the “catacombs” connected to the graveyard. In reality it was just a few altars in side of the mountain dedicated to offering Mass for the dead, which is still epic.

After the catacombs I entered the Church of St. Peter, which was directly next to the graveyard. It was another magnificent baroque church, my favorite church of all that I saw in Salzburg. The most outstanding point of this church was it’s many beautiful side altars. Interestingly they were positioned not in either of the aisles but down the main the nave with the altars facing either of the aisles.

Next was my excursion to the castle. After St. Peter’s Church and Cemetery I finally put my mind to it and found the tram that takes riders up the mountain into the heart of the castle. It was only a thirty second ride up to the summit and I got of the tram to a breathtaking view of the old-town, the modern side and even beyond the city of Salzburg even to see the Church of Maria Plain on a hill on the opposite side of the city. I gazed out over the city for a few minutes before walking about the castle. In the castle there were exhibits of ancient to world war two era weaponry, as well as a chapel, and states rooms.

After the castle I was getting a bit tired but I had a few more churches to see. I went by the Franziskanerkirche, a Franciscan church which had a side chapel with some of the beautiful phrases from one of my favorite Gregorian chant, the Dies Irae. I got all excited about that. I saw a few other churches before going to see the birthplace of Mozart.

Then I took a leisurely stroll along the river where many local vendors had set up shop. One was selling homemade pesto and dip, nearly twenty kinds and I sampled many of them, which were delicious.

I proceeded across the river and I went to the graveyard run by the Fraternity of Saint Peter, where Mozart’s family is buried. Unfortunately I thought they were having Mass at the church attached to the graveyard but they had it earlier in the morning. An hour later I went back to the hostel to get my bag, met up with the rest of the gang and wandered over to the train station on our way to Linz.