"Salzburg, the Birthplace of Classical Music" Salzburg by mydreamquest

Located in the Central of Austria about, a 3-4 hour drive west from Vienna, Salzburg is an intimate town with and old town European flare about it.

Every summer is Salzburg's Annual Music Festival. If you like opera, chamber music, piano recitals, and symphonies, you will have to come to this music festival as you'll be in the presence of the greatest virtuosos in the world.

The best sopranos, tenors, baritones, violinist, conductors, symphonies (from all over the world) and virtuosos meet in this quiet, charming city that was the birthplace of Mozart.

This picture is of Mirabelli, a nicely designed garden. Salzburg is divided by the Salzach river. Do you like movies? Well, by now, you must've researched about "The Sound of Music" and it's relation to Salzburg. If not, do research that.

While planning a trip, I strongly recommend that you purchase tickets to chamber performances, operas, and symphonies (especially performances by the Berlin Philharmonic, easily the greatest symphony in the world) at least 6-8 months in advance. If you wait, 2-3 months prior, all the good performances will be sold out and you will have to pay 4-10 times the price through ticket brokers.

Vienna Philarmonic Symphony Playing Bruckner's 9th

In August 2002, I was fortunate to watch a performance of Bruckner's 9th Symphony as conducted by the Vienna Philharmonic, here in the Festivalspielhaus (the Large Concert Hall in Salzburg).

It was a very short walk from my hotel room just on the other side of the Salzach River. I cannot remember the conductor (possibly Nicolas Harnencort), but the performance was special.

It is a very heavy symphony with a profound statement of the delicacy of life.

The Salzach River

I enjoyed the five days I spent in Salzburg. Back in the summer of 2002, there had been a lot of serious flooding in Prague and even the Salzach River was at dangerously high levels.

It did rain a lot, but I had an enjoyable, romantic stay there. There are plenty of grocery stores to purchase excellent deli meats, and very good mini-bottled wines.

This picture was taken from my hotel room in the Hotel Mozart.

• Pros:Excellent Food, Summer Music Festival, Excellent Scenery
• Cons:Expensive, Concerts Sell out quickly
• In a nutshell:A charming city to get lost in for 5 days where you really feel the sound of music