J&J's European Adventure

5 July

Salzburg, Austria

It was raining fairly hard when we arose, and continued to do so while we walked to the bus station and rode to the Salzbergwerk salt mine. The bus ride was a bit of an adventure. We knew we needed to get off at the third stop, and we were on a bus without a display showing the name of the next stop. Stop #3 was in the middle of nowhere, and we learned too late that it was actually stop #5. Apparently, nobody asked to get off at a couple of the earlier stops, rendering our counting method of navigation useless. So we un-bussed at stop 6, walked across the road, and waited about 30 minutes in the rain for the next bus. There was at least a little shelter in which to wait.

We managed to get off at the correct spot this time and took the guided tour of the over 500-year-old active underground salt mine. It was pretty cheesy, but fun. We planned to take a bus back to town and stood unsheltered in the rain for nearly 20 minutes before giving up and walking. The bus passed us as we neared our hotel, so it was running about 20-25 minutes late.

We retrieved our packs from the hotel and caught the 1520 train to Freilassing, where we transferred to another train for the eight-minute ride to Salzburg, Austria. We found a reasonably priced B&B a couple of blocks from the station, checked in, and started trying to dry all of our damp things. An evening walkabout took us through the gardens of Mirabelle Palace, along some of the main city streets, and back to the hotel via the river bank. Salzburg seems quite nice for a largish city. The main draws here are various 'Sound of Music' themes and the Hohensalzburg Fortress. We've decided to pass on the fort, as imposing as it looks from afar, since we have other castles we're planning to tour this week. Castle, fort, and museum overload are serious problems in this part of the world.

Daily miles: 7.16

Expenses: 104.42€ (hotel, salt mine, groceries)

Salzbergwerk salt mine