THE SCENIC EMERALD: WAS IT SALZBURG OR "SOUND OF MUSIC" WITH SCENIC TOURS ?

Coat of Arms of the city of Salzburg

The magnificent city of Salzburg with its internationally famous Baroque architecture and its great castle dominating the city below are on the Scenic Tours Danube cruise itinerary but, from
the viewpoint of Scenic Tours, its picturesque tourist highlights appear to be only incidentals to celebration of its being the location of the movie "Sound of Music".

Continued from "Impressions of Scenic Emerald"

Salzburg or Cesky Krumlov?

We had been warned by our cruise director Marianne that those passengers who opted to take the bus trip from Passau on the Danube to the Austrian city of Salzburg on the following day should prepare for some strenuous walking. Having exhausted the attractions of Vilshofen in one hour, we decided to have a quiet afternoon on the boat to prepare us for our visit by bus to Salzburg on the following morning. Those who did not go to Salzburg were offered a bus trip across the Czech border to visit Cesky Krumlov whose medieval old town has UNESCO World Heritage listing. We were torn between our desire to visit both cities, but my wife is a great admirer of Mozart's music and she was desperately keen to visit his birthplace. I also enjoy Mozart's music very much, but I was equally keen to see the famous baroque architecture of Salzburg, and so we opted for Salzburg.

Salzburg - an organisational shambles orchestrated by Scenic Tours

Salzburg lies 100 km south of Passau as the crow flies but our road took many turns and passed through several small towns and villages. Our bus left Passau at 9.00 am and we found to our surprise that it would take three and a half hours to reach Salzburg. The Scenic Tours Itinerary had mentioned Salzburg as being the "setting for 'The Sound of Music' (starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, and apparently, adored by many women) and birthplace of Mozart. However, it quickly became apparent on the bus that Mozart rated very low as a reason to visit Salzburg, at least from the viewpoint of Scenic Tours. Through most of the journey, we were entertained by our very pleasant female guide with musical selections from "The Sound of Music" and almost all of the discussion on the long bus trip related to aspects of that film.

After about two hours, a welcome break from "The Sound of Music" was provided by a short visit to the small village of Oberndorf on the northern outskirts of Salzburg where we viewed the tiny Silent Night chapel and museum (photograph below). Oberndorf's priest, Father Josef Mohr, composed the words of the famous Christmas carol "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" (more famously known as "Silent Night, holy Night"), and the first performance of the carol took place in Oberndorf on Christmas Eve 1818.

The tiny Silent Night Chapel and Museum in Oberndorf which commemorates the famous Christmas carol "Silent Night, holy Night".

The female passengers on our bus naturally made a bee-line for the souvenir shop thoughtfully located nearby. So it was about 11.30 am before we boarded the bus again, thinking that it would be a short journey throught the suburbs to reach the centre of Salzburg. However, Scenic Tours had other plans for us. For about 30 minutes our bus wended its way throught the suburbs of Salzburg before arriving at the grounds of Hellbrunn Palace. We were not shown the magnificent palace, but taken to an area outside the palace walls adjacent to the parking area for tourist buses and public lavatories. Here we were shown what purported to be the gazebo featured in the film "The Sound of Music" (photograph below).

A "highlight" of the Scenic Tours trip to Salzburg: The gazebo from "The Sound of Music" in its new accessible location outside the walls of Hellbrunn Palace, Salzburg and adjacent to public lavatories.

I wondered at the time why anyone in their right mind would erect a gazebo outside the palace walls and close to public lavatories and a parking area for tourist buses. It was in fact the original gazebo featured in the film but it was not in its original location. The adoring fans on our bus were not told that the gazebo had been moved from the grounds of Leopoldskron Castle and re-erected outside the walls of Hellbrunn Palace so that it would be more accessible to tourist buses carrying fans of "The Sound of Music". After the fans had posed and been photographed in front of the gazebo, we boarded our bus and continued wending our way through back streets to the centre of Salzburg where we arrived at the magnificent Mirabell Palace and gardens about 12.30 pm (photographs below). Another busload of passengers from Scenic Emerald arrived at the Mirabell Palace at the same time. The two guides conferred, and then our guide told us that we were running well behind time and would not have time to tour the palace. We would have only a very short time to see the gardens because our lunch was timed for 1.00 pm at a restaurant located about 1.5 kilometres from the Mirabell Palace.

Two views of the magnificent Mirabell Palace and gardens by an unknown photographer.

We were moved around the superb gardens and fountains at a cracking pace. We were told that there was no time to stop and take photographs. I tried to take a photograph of one of the lovely fountains (below) but my wife told me that our group was already passing out of the palace gates and warned that we would be left behind if I paused long enough to focus and compose my photograph. As a result of this unseemly pressure from the Scenic Tours guides, my only photographic record of the Mirabell Palace and gardens, taken with an expensive Canon camera, is the blurred image below.

My only photograph of the Mirabell Palace gardens. It is blurred because our Scenic Tours guides allowed no time to compose a picture and focus the camera.

After leaving the Mirabell Palace, we were force marched at a cracking pace across the city to our lunch appointment. There was no time on this forced march to stop and admire anything let alone photograph it. When we arrived at the restaurant, lunch could not be served to us until passengers from Scenic Sapphire arrived. They arrived 40 minutes after us, and we had to spend that time just sitting at the lunch tables with nothing to eat and only one glass of wine or beer provided by Scenic Tours.

We finished our lunch at 2.30 pm and were told by our guides that the ladies would have time for shopping in the Getreidegasse, a picturesque alley with many shops and boutiques in the Old Town, before meeting our guides near the Mozart statue at 3.30 pm to walk back to our buses.

Shoppers in the Getreidegasse (left) and the beautiful Baroque Pferdeschwemme (horse pond and fountain) in the Kapitelplatz (right). The fountain was built under Archbishop Leopold Firmian in 1732. The ramp used by the horses to access the water leads straight up to the group of figures: Neptune, god of the sea, holding a trident and crown, and mounted on a seahorse spurting water. The massive fortress of the archbishop of Salzburg (above the pond) dominates the city.

My wife was able to occupy an hour shopping in the Getreidegasse without difficulty. I thought that our lengthy bus trip to Salzburg would enable me to see some of Salzburg's many Baroque architectural and cultural gems, including the beautiful Pferdeschwemme (photograph above). Scenic Tours had other plans. Most were glimpsed from the window of a moving bus or on the earlier mentioned fast walk from Mirabell Palace to the restaurant.

The trip to Salzburg was an organisational shambles produced by Scenic Tours and a waste of time for anyone who wanted to explore the magnificent architecture and cultural features of this beautiful city. My wife and I hope to return to Salzburg when we have adequate time to see and explore this beautiful city, but we will not be employing Scenic Tours for that purpose.

Unless they are devotees of the musical "Sound of Music", I would urge anyone cruising the Danube with Scenic Tours to choose the visit by bus to medieval Cesky Krumlov rather than the trip to Salzburg.

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