Trip to Salzburg and Munich

Last week, I went on holiday. First, I visited the Austrian city of Salzburg, for the second half I went to Munich in Germany. Here I met up with a friend of mine who lives there. I had a really lovely time with lots of history, culture and beautiful nature and it was really nice to spend time with my friend.I want to share with you some of the best sites I saw, I hope you enjoy it!

Salzburg is a lovely small town at the edge of the Alps. Since the 8th century, Salzburg was the seat of the prince-archbishops and from the 14th until 1803 it was an independent territory. The city is famous for it's well-preserved baroque architecture, being the birthplace of Mozart and lastly, for being the setting of Sound of Music!

Day 1: I arrived in Salzburg after taking the night train from The Netherlands. I visited the beautiful Mirabellgarten (see above), one of the settings used in the Sound of Music.

 

Sebastiansfriedhof, a cemetery with many baroque-era graves of rich Salzburg families.

 

View over Salzburg and the surrounding mountains from the Kapuzinerberg, one of the two mountains hemming in Salzburg.

Day 2: Visited the rest of the Old City of Salzburg.
 
 
The Gstattengasse, one of the oldest streets in Salzburg is build unto the steep sites of the Mönchberg.

 
The Pferdenschwemme, a beautiful fountain with horses paintings from 1732.

 
Almost all of the churches I've visited during this holiday were built in baroque or rococo-style. Though I don't always love this style, I must admit the stucco above the main altar in the Kollegienkirche was quite magnificent.


 
View on the Old Town of Salzburg with it's many church spires and the river Salzach streaming through it.

 

Festung Hohensalzburg, the castle towering above the city. This was absolutely one of the best places I visited this holiday. I love castles and this is a prime example with it's many towers and also richly decorated interior rooms.

Day 3: Schloss Hellbrunn and Wolfgang Lake

 
Schloss Hellbrunn, the 17th century summer palace of the prince-archbishops. In the garden there are many fountains and 'watergames'.

 
In the grounds of Schloss Hellbrunn you can also find the famous gazebo from The Sound of Music, where Liesl sang the song '16 going on 17'

 
Lake Wolfgang, one of the stunningly beautiful lakes in the Saltzkammergut region to the east of Salzburg, where I took a boat ride.

 
The sweet town of St. Wolfgang at Lake Wolfgang with many typical Austrian streets.

Day 4: Seisenbergklamm

 
The Seisenbergklamm is a gorge near the small town of Weisbach. A tributary of the river Saalach squeezes through a narrow gap in the mountains.

 
In some places, the gorge was really narrow! The sound of the rushing water echoing against the mountain sides was overwhelming!

 
Hintertal, the beautiful valley you find at the end of the Seisenbergklamm.

Day 5: Schloss Nymphenburg
I went to Munich the evening of day 4 to go stay with a friend. Munich is the third largest town in Germany and capital of Bavaria. 

 
Schloss Nymphenburg is a summer palace of the Wittelsbach family, the rulers of Bavaria from the 12th century until 1918. Building was started in 1664.

 
King Ludwig I had the Gallery of Beauties painted, a collection of 36 paintings of the most beautiful women of his acquaintance.
And next to a number of these beauties is... me!

 
In the enormous park of Schloss Nymphenburg, a number of so-called park-palaces can be found: extremely luxurious garden pavilions. The picture above shows Amalienburg, a hunting lodge in high rococo style.

 
One of the other park-palaces, Badenburg, has a very large tiled bath/swimming pool.

Day 6: Residenz

 
As it rained this day, my friend and I decided we needed to find an activity inside. We couldn't have chosen better than the Residenz, the city palace of the Wittelsbach family, where no less than 90 rooms were open for viewing! 

Above you see the Antiquarium, the largest Renaissance Hall North of the Alps. Along the sides a large collection of Greek and Roman antique sculptures are placed. 

 
Most of the rooms were decorated in baroque or rococo style, so it felt good to my gold-and-frills-weary eyes to see these more quiet Regency-style appartments in the Charlottengang.

 
The Cuvilliés Theatre, the former court theater of the Residenz. The theater was bombed during WWII, but the carved and gilded boxes had been dismantled and stored for safe-keeping


Odeonsplatz, with to the left the outside of the Residenz and to the right the large 19th century army monument the Feldhernhalle.

Day 7: City centre of Munich 
 
View of the city centre of Munich from the tower of the St.Peter's church.

 
The central city square, Marienplatz with the New City Hall. The column in the center, topped with a golden statue of the Virgin Mary, was erected in 1638 to celebrate the end of the Swedish occupation during the Thirty Year War.

 
The Bürgersaalkirche, one of the many churches to visit and marvel at in Munich.

 
A row of neoclassical and Jugendstil houses in the artist quarter, Bogenhausen.

Day 8: Dachau and Freising

 
I visited the site and the museum of former concentration-camp Dachau, which was very impressive and sobering.

 
The town of Freising, a cute little town close to Munich with a nice historical center.