Mozart and Markets

The next stop on our European adventure was the city of Salzburg in Austria.

After another day of driving, mostly on motorways, we arrived at our accommodation in Puch, a few miles from Salzburg. I had booked a ground floor flat on the edge of the village. We were welcomed by Bea and her husband who are in the process of renovating the rest of the house. The house was at the end of a lane and had beautiful views of the mountains. The flat was spacious and cosy, with an all important washing machine to catch up on laundry.

It was only a 10 minute walk to the bus stop to catch a bus to the city centre. We certainly had a wonderful view while we waited!

We only had two days to explore Salzburg so the first day we packed in quite a lot. Firstly the cathedral which was quite different to the Italian churches we had visited in Florence.

Around the cathedral was Salzburg’s main Christmas market, but we decided to save that until later and headed for Mozart’s residence. His birthplace wasn’t accessible, but we passed it on the way and even did a bit of shopping in the Spar supermarket underneath it. There wasn’t all that much to see in the house, but Racheal had great fun listening to all the musical boxes in the shop and choosing one to buy.

When we came out it was starting to go dark, so we wandered back towards the market, enjoying some Christmas entertainment and a couple of smaller markets along the way. The main market was very busy. There were all sorts of things for Racheal to hear, smell, feel and experience, and of course things to buy!

We set off back to catch a bus back around 8pm. This was the first time our travel arrangements didn’t go to plan. There was already a wheelchair user in the one space on the bus meaning we had to wait an hour for the next bus. Racheal didn’t mind at all and enjoyed the sound of the traffic passing, but it did make us much later back and we still had all the evening jobs to do before bed.

On our second day we decided to take the funicular railway up to the fortress. A lot of it wasn’t wheelchair accessible, but there were parts we could all get to, including a puppet museum. Summer went round the main building and told us what she had seen, while we explored the courtyard, chapel and cannons! The panoramic views alone made it worth the journey.

We spent longer exploring the fortress than expected, and after a late night the previous day, so we decided to go back to the flat. Summer and Racheal caught up with the logbook, and that night Summer showed Racheal how to press the switch on her ‘bed genie’ so she can sit herself up in bed. She was very pleased with herself! (The bed genie is a wedge shaped inflatable pillow which goes under the mattress to raise the head of the bed, similar to a hospital bed.)