Bonus: Salzburg

When I took this photograph, I was standing on the Salzburger Hochthron (1853m/6079ft), the highest point of the Untersberg, an impressive massif about six miles outside of Salzburg, Austria. We arrived at this point by way of a steep path up from the Untersbergbahn cable car station (1805m). In the cable car, we made the total ascent of 1320m in just under fifteen minutes (further fascinating technical data on the cable car available here). The picture shows our lunch on the summit, with Australian tourists and Alps in the background.


This second picture shows the Salzburg fortress, the Festung Hohensalzburg, as seen from the Kapuzinerberg. Our hotel was at the foot of the Kapuzinerberg, across the River Salzach from the heart of the old city of Salzburg. The fortress in the photograph was both an elegant archepiscopal palace and an impressive fortification that made Salzburg virtually impregnable during the Thirty Years War. At the foot of the Mönchsberg (in the lower left-hand corner of the photograph) is the Nonnberg convent, where the real Maria von Trapp taught in the convent school (and which appears as Maria's convent in the movie The Sound of Music).

Both photographs are best quality (1 MB) and can be clicked for enlargements that show more detail.