No Tums anywhere!  We'd popped into their nearest equivalent to a drug store and they sent us to the  Apothotek.  They didn't know of Tums but when we said chewable calcium for upset stomach they said it required a prescription!  So back to the "drug" store where we bought calcium tablets that dissolve in water.  Good grief.

 

Walked to the older central part of Salzburg for our first stop, the 900 year old medieval castle/fortress - Festung Hohensalzburg.  The most authentic that I've yet come across, could picture myself back in history as we toured.  

Initially built in 1077, and later enlarged between 1495 and1519, it became one of the largest fortresses in Europe. Since then the castle’s exterior has remained substantially the same. Throughout the long history of Hohensalzburg, the castle was never conquered and remains one of the few castles with this status in Austria.

It's situated high above the city and you can walk (45 minutes almost straight up) or take the Funicular (inclined) railway that was absolutely fascinating.  The FestungBahn ascends 325feet in 1 minute!  It is a kind of cable car that looks like a train since it runs on a track.  It opened in 1892 as a water balance funicular.  Water was pumped into the base of the car and when it was heavy enough it moved to the bottom of the mountain pulling the car on the bottom to the top. It was converted to an electric drive in 1960. Click for a great video I found on YouTube, almost as if you were there!

 

Upon alighting from the Funicular, we immediately went to the Fortress Tavern for refreshments - coffee for Jim, coke for me (in a bottle no less!) and a yummy order of warm apple strudel with ice cream.  Now we were fortified to explore the fortress.

 

We used our iPhones to dial in the # at various info-points around the castle/fortress but the messages were only in German, so of little use.  Occasionally there would be a machine with an old phone headset where you could select the language and put in 1 Euro to hear the history/message but we bypassed those. So we just used the map and strolled around.  We did enjoy the English audio tour of the inner rooms, gallery, torture chamber, lookout tower and Salzburger Stier organ.

Prince Archbishop Von Keutschach (1495 to 1519) was said to be a man of bad temper: the mechanical organ "Salzburger Stier", by playing three times a day, would warn the citizens of Salzburg to obey him and recall the Prince Archbishops power.

The first organ ('bull') was constructed between 1515 and 1519 and consisted of 138 metal pipes and bellows which produced an amplified F major triad. When it was relocated in 1652 a barrel and a further 125 pipes were added so that a chorale could be played on it.  In 1753 another barrel was added to play additional pieces by Leopold Mozart and Joseph Eberlin (court orchestral master).

We spent several hours exploring before Jim finally pried me away to wander around Salzburg.  The architecture and ambiance were wonderful as we listened to street performers, visited churches and cathedrals, walked along streets lined with old buildings, walked thru open air markets and climbed steps for more incredible views.

 

After locating the closest bus stop we walked 1 block to have a glass of wine in the courtyard of the Mozart Residence. 

 

Then back to the bus stop to ensure we are there 15 minutes before the bus was scheduled to arrive.  The 260 regional bus runs VERY infrequently and we planned to catch the last bus at 5:15pm so we'd get back at 7:45pm, in time to have dinner before places close.  When the bus was 10 minutes late picking us up Jim was getting worried but I attributed it to rush hour.  When it was 20 minutes late and we'd watched people come and leave on their busses we started to get worried.  I approached the only other person still waiting with us - a young girl - and we managed to communicate to find out that she takes the 260 every day and it is always late.  When it was 30 minutes late my stomach started churning as well - we wouldn't get back in time for dinner and maybe we would be stranded in Strasburg overnight as our room was 1.5 hours away!  At 40 minutes it was beginning to get dark and Jim and I started talking about waiting a bit more then start looking into getting a room for the night.  Then finally, it arrived, 45 minutes late! 

 

Our plans to alight in Lofer and eat a nice dinner someplace new had vanished especially as we crawled along in rush hour traffic getting out of town.  Thankfully once out of Salzburg we picked up speed so when we got off at Grubhof, we were able to rush to the restaurant in the campground behind us for a late dinner just before they closed.  What a stressful end to a great day!