Last weekend, I was lucky enough to visit Salzburg (Salt Fortress) in Austria. The city of Salzburg is nestled between two mountains Kapuzinerberg and Mönchsberg and the River Salzach. It is a picturesque city with small alleyways, quaint colorful town houses, castles and palaces, with beautiful gardens and a large number of churches (41 Catholic Churches and only one Protestant church) and monasteries (incl. Nonnberg Abbey). Salzburg is most certainly a city of music. It was the home and birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Doppler, and the famous ‘ Von Trapp’ family which was in 1965 adapted to a movie ‘Sound of Music’ - the movie which is very well-known in the world except in Europe or among Salzburgers!

Everything is easy to get to. Most everything is in walking distance of the city center. Salzburg has a certain charm that other European cities don’t have. I definitely recommend it. You can see all of the major sites and still have a nice enjoyable place to relax. It has an amazing view of the mountains and the river that runs through town.

Aside from more than 50 places to visit within Salzburg (use Salzburg Card!), several places to recommend around Salzburg:

• Hellbrunschloss, a palace with many surprises which can definitely make you ‘wet’!

• Schloss Leopoldskron, a rococo palacer with a nice little lake

• Eisenrisenwelt, the largest ice-cave in Europe with stunning view from the Alps and aerial view of Hohenwerfenschloss – less than an hour drive from Salzburg in the city of Werfen. Requires about 30 minutes of walking and hiking to the cave. Do not forget to bring warm-clothes! Near-zero-degrees inside the cave while outside can be >30′C!

• Untersberg, a mountain with full of fairy tales from wizards to dwarfs from in 2000m above sea level with also a great view of Salzburger land and Bavaria

There are also many music street performances all day especially during Salzburg Festival! During the late evening, I was treated with a family of musicians (with the spirit of Von Trapp Family) called ‘The Balzats‘ from New Zealand (watch them here).

I will be returning for a second visit!

Snowy Dundee

Taken from Wellcome Trust Building Foyer Level 4