Wheels Around Europe . . . . . . . : Well, Rock me Amadeus ! We`re in Salzburg

I`ve got over my disappointment of yesterday`s Grossglockner High Alpine Road wet and misty decent, a couple of glasses of red wine helped out there.

Today we awoke to a cool fresh sunny morning in Zell am See.

I decided to get my bike out and go for a cycle around the lake. It was a stunning location for a cycle ride.

We later set off for the historic city of Salzburg, Home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the setting for the 1964 film The Sound of Music and you couldn`t miss either connection, the reminders are everywhere.

It was also downhill almost all the way from Zell am See and it`s very noticeable in the climate as it`s very much warmer here. It`s about 1000` lower, closer to sea level.

I had selected Reisemobil Stellplatz (GPS 47.83577 13.05983) as our stopover for tonight. It`s on the north side of the city about 2.5 km from the centre with a bus outside the gate for access to the city. Other options were very limited and this seemed the best by far. It`s only been open a short time and so everything is new. For 21 euro a night it`s a good deal. Other campsites in the area are 30+ for a night. Austria is a very expensive place to visit.

The sat nag took us directly through the city center which I was a little surprised about, so I pulled over in a side street to check where she was taking me. It turns out she was right and had the correct destination after all.

I also realised we were directly adjacent to the new part of town where there are some sights of note. Furthermore, upon checking I found out we could actually park where I had pulled up, three euro for two hours on the PandD would do us nicely, five minutes walk to the sights.

So off we set, the new town is on the east bank of the River Salzach and that was where we would explore. As it turns out, the new town is very much like an old town so we should be in for a treat tomorrow.

Lots of very elegent baroque style buildings many of which I suspect are quite modern, but still very attractive to look at and some were genuinely old I`m sure.

First stop was the Mirabell Palace and the magnificent gardens that appeared in The Sound of Music, the Mozart Museum was next door and a number of other churches, monuments and statues.

Next we took a walk along the River Salzach which is remarkably under developed, I`d expected loads of bars, restaurants and tourist shops but there was barely anything of that sort which was quite refreshing, it was mostly residential and some very descret high end businesses I feel, you know the ones for whom anominity is everything.

Other sections of the waterfront may be different, we`ll find out tomorrow.

We saw the skyline of the old town with the twin domed Cathedral and the Festung Hohensalzburg Fortress dominating everything from above.

One thing about the town that`s odd is there is a electric trolley bus transport system. Basically buses that rely on overhead power lines that are so ugly and impinge on many photos of attractive buildings, someone must have thought it good idea ?

So that was our day in Salzburg, tomorrow we will catch the bus into the city and have a good look around the old town and the historic buildings and try not to get tempted to buy any Mozart memorabilia.

Now, who would suit a frilly collar I wonder ???

I was glad to hear of England`s win last night, I know it`s only Tunisia but as Graham Taylor would have said “you can only beat the side your up against” or some such words of wisdom.

We can`t seem to get any television here even on the digital aeriel, I think Austria digital tv is transmitted on a different frequency to UK so my aeriel isn`t up to the job here.

Thank the lord for the power of t`internet.