Chasing the Mozart’s golden ball and the sound of music in Salzburg

Chess and golden ball really looks good together!

No, it’s not really a ball of chocolate nor a giant Christmas ball . This is the sculpture named “Sphaera” on Kapitelplatz in the heart of Salzburg. It’s about nine metres high and made by German artist Stephan Balkenhol. It represents a male figure on a golden sphere with a neutral expression. It has become a famous landmark in this city and photo point for many tourists.

Perfection at its best , this is the Mozartkugeln or the chocolate delicacy named after Mozart.

First,we didn’t go to Salzburg to buy the Mozartkugel ( or the Mozart chocolates), named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but I admit buying a pack to taste the locally made ones. It tastes really good, of course, its chocolates and it has marzipan, pistachios and nougats! I have this feeling that the local food tastes better than the ones sold from other places, don’t you agree as well? If you are curious how this chocolate beat your Toblerones and M&M’s and why it becomes the legendary chocolate specialty from Salzburg to the world, then you can read more Here.

She is looking for the golden ball but instead we went through a bridge full of locks! There are some gold ones hanging there.

Taking a stroll through Getreidegasse : One certain house in the Getreidegasse always draws particular attention: **No. 9, the house in which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart** was born. Salzburg’s most famous son came into this world on 27 January 1756. His family actually lived here for 26 years, from 1747 on, occupying an apartment on the third floor .

Anyway, this famous landmark just came into our mind when we saw the brochures about visiting Salzburg. With the little help of our little friend Google maps, we find ourselves squeezed from masses of tourists trying to get a better photo in front of Sphaera. It is in near to the Festung HohenSalzburg or the Fortress, and Domquartier. All this places are nearby to each other and reachable by foot. Wehad parked from Designer Outlet and got the Kombiticket including parking fees and Bus Day Tickets so we can go to all places we wanted to. The Ticket costs us 15 Euros!

Nice little things as souvenir from Kapitelplatz in Salzburg. They are bells attached to cows, they can give a rather loud noise!

Salzburg is only an hour drive away from Kaprun. I think everyone who visited Kaprun visits Salzburg and Zell am Zee because they are really nearby to each other. We went on a day that the rain from good heavens poured its shame in Kaprun and rained all day! It’s a great thing that we went to Salzburg to see something different, and of course, something nice, and yes–aesthetically beautiful. Of course we still have the mountain views, the Salzsach river that follows our route and the never ending winding Austrian roads.By the way, they have really good roads in Austria.

“Travel shapes you” — Mozart took 17 major trips, costing him 3720 days of his life. That equates to 10 years, 2 months and 2 days .

We took our time exploring Salzburg. We had a stop in the nearby playground for my Little Traveler companion to burn her energy with climbing and sliding. We found a great hidden playground beside the Mirabell Palace and gardens and it was really good. We tried avoiding places with huge lines and crowds because my toddler doesn’t like to really wait.

The souvenir coin with engravings from the Hohensalzburg or the Fortress

Amazing views awaited us after a 54 seconds lift from the modern inclined cable railway in Salzburg going up to the Fortress. The Festungsbahn or Furnicular runs every 10 minutes and its quite impressive.It is a must for everyone who visit Salzburg to be in this Fortress. If you’ve never been up there, then you’ve never seen Salzburg! I always loved a good panoramic view of a new city that I visited. Everything looks so small and for the love of architecture, this place is really beautiful close to the river and the neighboring mountains. So much history, pride and culture in this city, It is indeed true to its name: the stage of the world. There is music played everywhere. Street musicians playing different instruments and artists is a typical sight in the streets and in every square. You can really hear the sound of music everywhere. Salzburg is the birthplace of the film the Sound of Music that is why this place is very very touristic! I must add here that during our visit, I saw so many Asians–Japanese, Koreans, Indians and so much more, not to mention tourists from the Gulf. Hearing them talking in Arabic sounds so familiar to me!

Another panoramic view of Salzburg city with the Salzsach river flowing through the city.

Can you find the Golden ball in this photo?

But Salzburg is not only famous because of Mozart, the whole city is so vibrant and the Baroque power and splendor can be seen from its city facades, museums, and the Domquartier or the Cathedral. I have made quite a few photos of the interior of the cathedral but i think photos don’t do justice in this beautiful cathedral. It is really one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever seen. This place is also memorable for us because we took the eclipse photos hanging in our living room in this vicinity.

Mozartplatz : Without music, life would be a mistake.

Beautiful Baroque power inside the Dom Cathedral

Fancy collectibles : Cool fascinating symbols of Salzburg

Everywhere is MOZART inspired! If you are interested to know more about Mozart and read about surprising FUNNY things about Salzburg’s wonderchild, you can read on HERE.

We find tranquility and beauty in the baroque pleasures in Mirabell Palace and Gardens. It is full of intricate details, and the Grand Fountain (or the fountain pool) we saw four groups of statues by Ottavio Mosto (1690). They symbolize the 4 elements: fire, air, earth and water.

It was really packed with tourists and its really surprising to find so many Italians and Korean tourists here! In the famous Hollywood film “The Sound of Music “, Maria and the children danced around the Pegasus fountain and sing the “Do Re Mi “.

Summer flowers in bloom in Mirabell Gardens

We had an amazing daytrip in Salzburg. We saw many sights that I hope to share in my next posts about our summer trip.We had fun, we had a taste of Salzburg, explore the Fortress, seen Mozart’s birthplace and residence, and marveled through the real sound of music in this city. We brought home wonderful memories as well and I am so glad that I can write down my travel memories and share it with you.Hope it can give you practical tips on how to do a family friendly trip!

Still more to explore, hoping for more travels. If you have time to kill, go and please check out our Mountain hiking adventures in Kaprun and Hike through the Krimml Waterfalls with a toddler ! For detailed trip Guide, you can find it HERE.

Until next time and have a lovely week everyone! Tschüss!