Yesterday – my last full day in Germany – I decided to do a day trip to Salzburg, just over the German/Austrian border, and just under 2 hours away by train.
After breakfast at the Sendlinger Str. branch of Kamps (a very good little bakery in my opinion), I headed on the U-Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof (Central Station).
Wanting to speak German, I opted to get my ticket from the DB ticket office, instead of from the automated machine. As you can see from the photo of my ticket above, I was successful in getting what I wanted. A return ticket to Salzburg: €25. Ich hab’ kein Bahnkarte… so no reduction in price for me.
Above: The Bavarian countryside as seen from the train.
I arrived in Salzburg at lunchtime, went to the local tourist office to pick up a map of the area, and went to the nearest Tabak (Kiosk – a bit like the Περίπτερο that they have in Greece) to get a day ticket for Salzburg’s bus system.
It’s just 10 minutes from Salzburg Hbf. to the city centre, the pedestrianised area and the Altstadt (the old town). Busses in Salzburg are the bendy busses powered by the overhead electricity cables, very like the Trollybusses they have in Athens.
While we’re on the subject of public transport, the Munich U-Bahn operates like the Athens Underground, but the stations are as unclean and unpleasant as those on the London Underground – and the Tram in Munich is exactly like the tram in Athens.
Above: On arrival at Salzburg Hbf, the train turns round and goes back to München.
Above: Salzburg, looking towards the Altstadt from the river.
On arrival in the Zentrum of Salzburg, the first place I went to… mainly because it was the first thing I saw… was Mozarts Geburtshaus – the Mozart museum, and the birth place of Mozart.
It was quite an interesting place, showing the life of Wolfgang Amudeus Mozart and what it was like to live in Salzburg in the 1700s.
Above: Mozarts Gaburtshaus in Salzburg.
I wandered the streets of Salzburg for a bit, bought some lunch in a small bakery, and found the statue of Mozart in Mozartplatz.
Above: Satue of Mozart in Mozartplatz.
I walked up to the fortress on top of the hill for a look round as well – but didn’t have time to stay long as I had to get back to catch my train back to Munich.
Above: There really were some excellent views of the city from the top.
On returning to Munich, I headed back to my hotel, and got ready for my final night in the city. I had a shower – mainly to warm up after being cold all day – then headed out on the tram.
My destination was the station at Donnersbergerstraße, from where I was just a couple of minutes walk away from Taverne Kyklos, a Greek restaurant whose website boasts that their dishes are prepared using their own extra virgin olive oil from their own olive tree groves on the island of Thassos. There was a big photo of Alyki beach at the bar and a photo of Thassos Town near where I was sitting.
I enjoyed a starter of Gigantes (beans) and a warm Pita bread, followed by Souvlaki. My German sounded really rather fluent by this point in my trip (I could have got away with Greek I think, but I stuck to German so as not to confuse myself – despite my German being about 4 to 5 years behind my Greek at the moment)… I guess the food was so familiar, and you can’t really go wrong ordering a souvlaki, whatever language you speak!
The restaurant was empty: until my main course arrived, I was the only one in the restaurant – and then another couple turned up. It seeems maybe the Germans don’t like going out on Sunday evenings. Either that, or they don’t like Greek food. It can’t have been that the restaurant was bad: it really was an excellent setting and I loved my meal.
Above: Empty on a Sunday evening! I enjoyed an excellent meal, with a Greek radio station (Derti FM) playing Greek music in the background.
Above: Carved in to the floor at the entrance to the restaurant, this sign reads “Kyklos” in Greek, the name of the restaurant.
Above: The entrance to Tavene Kyklos.
Above: Tavene Kyklos lies not far from this building – the headquarters and studios of BR (Bayerisches Rundfunk – the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation), whose radio stations “Bayern 1” and “BR-Klassik” I have been listening to on my DAB+ radio during my stay here.
Today – Monday – is my final day. I will be checking out of the hotel shortly, and my flight back to the UK is at 18:25 this evening. I’m due back in to Heathrow at 19:30 UK time – then I’ll be back at work first thing tomorrow morning.
Getting up at 05:30 6 days a week in the UK (5 days a week for work, 1 day a week because I present a Saturday Breakfast radio show), this weekend away has been a welcome break from that routine – I have had 3 days in a row of not getting up early!
The alarm was set at 8am each morning to go to BR-Klassik (Bavaria’s Radio 3) but on all 3 mornings I woke up naturally before the 8am alarm.
I will certainly feel very refreshed when I am back at work tomorrow…and on the basis that we’re an hour ahead over here, the 05:30 alarm might not feel too bad any more.
I’m off to check-out, do some last sight-seeing and city-wandering.
Bye for now.
FH.
