Hohensalzburg Castle, train ride and massive pizza

Today we decided to go inside the castle, we have spent many days wandering outside the walls and today we went in. You can either walk up to the castle or take the train and seeing it was such a novel experience that is what we did. We walked into old town to the on site valley station - Festungsgasse 4 and bought a basic ticket for 14.50 euros for adults and children are 8.90 euros.

It wasn’t very busy and there were no queues and we managed to walk up and get tickets straight away and go directly onto the train. Each carriage is divided into 3 compartments and they are tiered like steps to match the steep incline and the ride felt smooth but also very fast and it was a very quick trip up to the castle.

Once out of the train we immediately noticed the incredible 360 views of the city and the air also felt a lot crisper and cooler. I was quite amazed at the raw unobstructed view as the ledge overlooking the view was completely open with clear open space and no barricade or barrier which really allowed you to experience the perspective almost exactly as people would have seen it in the past with nothing between you and the view.

Now I expected a well organised tour of the castle with sign posts and clear directions of where to go in an orderly fashion and that is the complete opposite of what is before you when you enter the castle. It felt like a swarm of scattered mice, darting in every direction, each trying to make sense of the castle’s maze-like corridors with no clear path or structure, just a quiet sense of collective puzzlement. No one seemed to care though, so perhaps it was only me that was perplexed as to understanding where to go for each experience. There was of course a map which was colour coded but the sections did not have signs with the colours (as I would have thought). Once I got over that and saw it more of an escape room experience and actually let go of trying to be orderly it really was quite fascinating. Ben was awestruck for most of it and read all the details and signs and Jessy and I loved all the medieval armoury and swords and military history, just trying to understand how they fought in battle as some of the suits they wore weighed 30kg.

The canons were also great to look at as well as all the other peep holes and vantage points to show the views and there was a miniature castle/fortress model, intricately carved from blocks of pure salt.

There was a funny interactive bull statue on a sliding metal mechanical device and it had a rope on either side and the bull slides along the track. We were watching many tourists go up to this and have a game of tug and war which Jess and I tried and within 2 seconds Jess had pulled me off balance and kicked my butt (she is so strong). Then Ben and Jess had a turn and it was a stale mate where the bull wasn’t moving in either direction but then Ben prevailed and knocked Jess off her feet. What a laugh we had over that silliness.

There was a lot to see and we were exploring for a good 3 hours and then caught the train back down to old town.

By now we were very hungry and at Jessys request went to find pizza for lunch and we have found a place I know we will return to many times to come. Firstly it is only a 7 minute walk from our apartment and is absolutely delicious called L’Osteria Salzburg at at Dreifaltigkeitsgasse 10, 5020 Salzburg. The pizzas are absolutely huge at 45cm diameter and we ordered a sharing pizza (half gamberi and half Piccante) as well as a couscous and pomegranate salad with avocado and tomato which was a salad I want to try and recreate.

After filling our bellies we wandered back and spent the afternoon napping and relaxing.