TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Travel: Old Town and the Hohensalzburg Castle in Salzburg, Austria

Old Town in Salzburg is compact and the place seems small, however it's packed full of many sites to see. Here are some of the tour sites that we saw today, on foot:

Baroque architecture, including many churches
Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom)
Franciscan Church (Franziskanerkirche)
St Peter's Abbey with the Petersfriedhof
Nonnberg Abbey, a Benedictine monastery
Salzburg Residenz, the magnificent former residence of the Prince-Archbishops
Residenzgalerie, an art museum in the Salzburg Residenz
Mozart's Birthplace (yellow building)
Mozart's Residence
University Church
Siegmundstor (or Neutor)
Getreidegasse
Sphaera, a sculpture of a man on a golden sphere (Stephan Balkenhol, 2007)

I learned that Salzburg and its surrounding area has salt mines, which made the place prosperous.

For years, the Archbishop of Salzburg was also the ruler of the place, allowing the church control over the income from the salt mines, during a time when salt was referred to as "white gold."

After the tour, we ate sausage at a local market and had a chance to chat with some Australian tourists.

From there, we took the funicular up the mountain to the Salzburg Castle or Fortress (the Hohensalzburg). It's a spectacular castle complex with commanding views of the whole area.

Here are some pictures of the Old Town and the Hohensalzburg Castle and views. The last two pictures were taken at the Marionette Museum. One shows the Von Trapp family, and the last shows a creepy looking puppet. My husband gamely offered that I could say that's a picture of us after the tour.