Austria, Day 3 – Munich to Salzburg.
DB Bahn  Star Inn Hotel  Hohensalzburg Fortress  Hangar 7  Halal food

Checked out of our hotel and took a leisurely 5 minutes walk to Munich Hbf for our 11:34 am train to Salzburg. Tickets were purchased on-line from DB Bahn more than 1 month in advance. Cost for an advanced purchase ticket for 2 persons is €29. Just to ensure we get seats, for an additional €4.50 per person, you can reserve yours. Unfortunately, seat selection during the reservation process was not possible and we were allocated seats 101 & 102 in coach 21 automatically.

Our on-line DB Bahn ticket.

The booking was for Railjet (ICE) Inter City Express train and there were no stops in between. Traveling time was a smooth 1 hour 28 minutes with a top speed reaching 150 km/h. A little disappointed as the scenery along the tracks wasn’t as picturesque as anticipated.

Railjet at Munich Hbf.

Being our first time taking train in Europe, we were a little puzzled why the train doors are shut, when few passengers can be seen already seated inside. Only later did we noticed that you need to press the button on the door to open it. Luckily we did not seat around and wait, as the trains are electrically operated and would have rolled out silently if you were not aware.

Press the button to open the train door.

Seats in the Railjet.

Numbered and unnumbered seats are in different coaches. There are storage area for your bigger luggage and overhead storage for smaller ones. The coach has chairs with table for those who require to do work and also chairs without. Refreshment can be bought from the push cart trolley attendant. Toilet facilities are available.

Salzburg Hbf.

From Salzburg Hbf, we took a taxi (€8) to downtown Star Inn Hotel Salzburg Gablerbrau where we stayed for 2 nights. Not wasting much time, we then headed for Mirabell Gradens about 5 minutes walk away. It’s mid October and the flowers were still blooming and what a beautiful sight. The Hohensalzburg fortress about 2 km away can be seen clearly in the background.

Route from Star Inn to Mirabell garden.

Hohensalzburg fortress on the hill 2 km away in the back ground overlooking Salzburg town & Mirabell garden.

Mirabell garden.

Mirabell garden.

From Mirabell gardens we crossed river Salzach using the Makartsteg pedestrian bridge over to the other side of town. From the bank of the river or on the bridge to your left, you’ll have a great view of the Hohensalzburg fortress whilst on your right you’ll see the Museum of Modern Art.

Walking trail from our hotel to Mirabell garden onwards to Mozart’s birth place.

Hohensalzburg fortress on the hilltop.

Towards your right, on the hilltop is the Museum of Modern Arts.

Over to the other side, a walk on Getreidegasse street will take you to Mozart’s birth place, building No 9. Just beside this premise is Nordsee seafood outlet, where we had our early dinner before we ventured a little bit more around the area before returning to our hotel.

Getreidegasse street, Salzburg.

Mozart’s birthplace. No: 9, Getreidegasse.

 

Austria, Day 4 – Salzburg

Today, after the drizzle eases, we went up to the Museum of Modern Arts. We took the lift up to the museum from the foothill for €2.10. As you exit the lift at the top, go outside the glass door and have a panoramic view of Salzburg. Avid photographers should not miss this photo spot. The views are worth more than the €2.10 you paid.

Exterior of the Museum of Modern Arts.

View of Salzburg from Museum of Modern Arts.

Views you get for €2.10

From the Museum of Modern Arts, we trekked through the woods to Hohensalzburg fortress which is about 1km away. A slow leisurely walk along the narrow paved roads will take you about 35 minutes to reach the fortress and you will descend to the other side of town taking another 15 minutes to do so. If you have the time, this is one fantastic experience no travel agent will have in their itinerary nor many locals knows about.

Trekking route from Museum of Modern Arts to Hohensalzburg fortress and descend to town. Google says 3 minutes drive, but a slow leisurely walk of 35 minutes.

You’ll first walk through this beautiful woods right after leaving the Museum.

Into this short tunnel.

And out this way what seems to be like a fortress wall but isn’t Hohensalzburg.

At this point, you’ll see the other side of Salzburg with the airport control tower (middle) in the distance.

Continuing further, you’ll see this walkway. I presume this is the way up from the other ‘side’ of Salzburg.

Pass this house (mini castle?).

The foothill of Hohensalzburg.

Downhill descend that will take you to Salzburg University and onwards to University Square where you’ll end up at the back portion of Mozart’s birthplace.

Later in the evening, we spent time traveling to Hangar 7, a musuen owned by Red Bull. It will be wise to get your hotel to call them to check whether they are opened to the public as they do close for private functions. Don’t rely on Hangar 7 website for updates.

Take bus No. 10 at Hanuschplatz Zentrum bus stop across the Makartsteg pedestrian bridge and drop off at Pressezentrum/Kuglhof. The journey is about 20 minutes and cost €2.50 one way. The bus will stop about 50m from Hangar 7. You can actually see it from the bus stop. Hangar 7 is situated on the opposite side the Salzburg airport and you can observe planes landing and taking-off.

The bus route from Hanusch to Pressezentrum/Kuglhof.

As you alight from the bus, looking ahead, you’ll see Hangar 7.                 Credit : mylongwaydown.wordpress.com

 
Front view and entrance to Hangar 7.

What are displayed at Hangar 7 are all types of Red Bull sponsored sport vehicles. What prides me most at Hangar 7, are several Formula 1 cars with ‘Malaysia’ & ‘Petronas’ on them.

Whilst Malaysia … is my country, Petronas is our country’s petroleum conglomerate. Although Petronas currently sponsors the Mercedes F1 team, they co-sponsored with Red Bull the Sauber F1 team previously.

‘Malaysia’ & ‘Petronas’ in a private museum in another country.

A futuristic covered cockpit Red Bull F1 car?

Overview of Hangar 7.

Red Bull jet pack suit.

This ‘alien’ made out of scrap parts attracted my attention. Or did I attracted his attention?

And a must visit to another ‘section’ of Hangar 7 …… the wash room. There are no tissues at the wash basins, just hand towels. You discard them into the bins.

With regards to halal restaurant in Salzburg, we came across one at Linzer Gasse 36. It’s called ‘Tokyo Japan’ restaurant but we didn’t eat there though as we had dinner at Nordsee. You can read about this joint in this blog. If you google, there are a few more halal restaurant around.

Tokyo Japan halal Restaurant.