Salzburg; Thursday, 17 April, 2014

With a very large breakfast inside me I headed out into town to hit the sights. First stop of the morning, given they might all have been closed to tourists for the remainder of the Easter period was to hit the cathedral and key churches in the city centre.

After having a wander around the cathedral I popped into the nearby Panorama museum to take in the stunning 19th century panorama picture of Salzburg, before heading back across the cathedral square to the Abbey of St Peters.

Alongside the impressive (and richly decorated) church and the interesting cemetery you can also visit the Catacombs that have been hewn out of the cliff face that rises up almost vertically behind the abbey.

From St Peters it was a short walk round the corner to the Franziskanerkirche for a quick look there, before I headed over to the Salzach to book myself onto one of the short river cruises up the river and a quick spot of lunch riverside before the cruise started.

The specially designed ship has to work hard to battle against, what is in effect a gushing mountain river, which in places is very shallow, but consequently you do get to see a lot as at times it’s barely moving forwards in the strong currents. However, coming back down stream with the motors on full blast you really do fly by. The tour ends with the boat doing its own little waltz in the middle of the Salzach before docking to demonstrate the agility of the craft (and to unsettle the stomachs of a few passengers)

I wandered back through the town stopping off to have a look round the last church of the day the Kollegienkirche before meandering my way through the little streets of the Alte Stadt.

I then headed over to the other hill on this side of the river the Mönchsberg to take the lift up through the middle of it to its summit and the stunning views it offers over the city centre, as well as stopping off at the Museum der modern, modern art gallery located on the summit.

Having looked round the gallery I descended back down to street level and headed back to the hotel to freshen up, before heading back out for dinner in another nice Bierkeller I’d spotted earlier in the day.