Salzburg & Schwaz, Austria

Salzburg is famous for being the birthplace of Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus. You can visit the house where he was born, right in the city, and you can buy a chocolate called mozartkulgen, Mozart's Balls. Mozart's Balls are round choc balls with green pistachio marzipan centers wrapped in foil with a picture of Mozart on them.  I bought the choc balls from a chocolatier but I can tell you there's not much difference from the cheaper stuff sold in the market square, the reason being that the choc was so sweet I tasted nothing but sweet choc and marzipan .

Salzburg is also famous for being the location for movies, the most famous of which is 'The Sound Of Music'. Our guide pointed out the gazebo where the 'I am 16 Going On 17' scene was filmed but we weren't given time to even take a photo. I thought our group would burst into 'do re mi' but they didn't, thank God.

Salzburg is also the venue for Europe's largest and most important musical event, the Salzburg Festival (Salzburger Festspiele), held from the last week of July until the end of August every year. Hundreds of operas, concerts, recitals are staged and the whole city becomes one big music party. Unfortunately we were there 2 months early. We only spent half a day in Salzburg, enough time for photos outside the buildings of interest but not enough time to go into any of them. Which is why I hate organized tours. They make sure you've been there, just enough for a photograph. That's what a lot of people think travelling is about.

I think Salzburg is good only when the festival is on and I'm sure it's beautiful in winter, with all those alpine hills around it. At other times there's not much to see except for Mozart's house and The Sound Of Music spots. It is a pretty town with a river running on one side and hills around it.

We left Salzburg for a small Austrian town called Schwaz. I think our hotel was Stay Inn, very modern, clean and new. The corridors were energy-friendly and lighted up only when you walk along it.

Schwaz is just the kind of town I'd love to stay a couple of days in. The town is in the bottom of the hills and the houses are all on the hills. Gorgeously beautiful, green, pristine and peaceful. Hub and I took a walk around the town around 8 pm. Not much was happening and the shops were closed of course but it was lovely to walk on the cobbled streets, just looking at the window display. The weather was mild and wet and we walked up the hills where the houses were until we nearly reached the highest point where the church was. When I am in places like Schwaz, I feel envious of the lucky people who live in such beautiful places. It seems unfair until I remember the long bitter winters.