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I may never know if busking in Salzburg was legal, but it went pretty well regardless! I only played two sets while I was there because I took Monday off and Tuesday’s weather was awful, but the fact that I didn’t see any other buskers during my stay was pretty convincing evidence. The single counterexample (a flautist playing down the street from a digeridoo player) is sketchy, because a half hour after I saw them I walked by the same place and they were both gone, presumably shifted by the authorities.
Despite this, I performed two sets without any hassle or difficulties. My first was on Sunday night, immediately after arriving in town, where I trusted my instincts to find a good place to play despite not having scouted around first. Later wanderings confirmed my choice as one of the best in town, which gives me some confidence that a few years of street performing have been good for my instincts. I took Monday off as a needed break and then it rained for most of Tuesday, but I got in another good set on Wednesday before heading off the following morning.
Since I didn’t do a lot of performing in Salzburg I had plenty of opportunity to go exploring. Historically it was extremely rich in natural resources, particularly metals and rock salt (“Salzburg” literally translates to “Salt fortress”). The old part of the city is built right up to (and in some cases in to) a sheer rock face, which looks like the result of ancient quarrying for salt, tin, and copper. Later, with the metals exhausted, it became a major city on the trade route from Venice to points further north.
More recently Salzburg is famous for two musical names, Mozart and von Trapp. Mozart was born and raised in Salzburg, and references to him abound (the building where he was born announces this fact in huge lettering written across its face). On the other hand, Salzburg was not only a key place in the historical story of the musical von Trapp family, but it was also (and arguably more influentially) the location for much of the filming of their story, “The Sound of Music”.
With the natural resources run dry and the decline of Venice, since the 1800s Salzburg has been marketing itself as a tourist destination, one of the first places to do so that wasn’t a religious pilgrimage site. Its rulers during the 17th and 18th century countered their city’s declining fortunes with a building spree, and most of the architecture today is beautifully Baroque. The major exception, of course, is the sprawling medieval castle, which overlooks the city from a commanding height atop the hill.
It’s a beautiful city, and one that I was sad to leave. These pictures are of the Salzburg cemetery at St Peters, the view of the castle from the Mirabell gardens, and the city itself.
Despite this, I performed two sets without any hassle or difficulties. My first was on Sunday night, immediately after arriving in town, where I trusted my instincts to find a good place to play despite not having scouted around first. Later wanderings confirmed my choice as one of the best in town, which gives me some confidence that a few years of street performing have been good for my instincts. I took Monday off as a needed break and then it rained for most of Tuesday, but I got in another good set on Wednesday before heading off the following morning.
Since I didn’t do a lot of performing in Salzburg I had plenty of opportunity to go exploring. Historically it was extremely rich in natural resources, particularly metals and rock salt (“Salzburg” literally translates to “Salt fortress”). The old part of the city is built right up to (and in some cases in to) a sheer rock face, which looks like the result of ancient quarrying for salt, tin, and copper. Later, with the metals exhausted, it became a major city on the trade route from Venice to points further north.
More recently Salzburg is famous for two musical names, Mozart and von Trapp. Mozart was born and raised in Salzburg, and references to him abound (the building where he was born announces this fact in huge lettering written across its face). On the other hand, Salzburg was not only a key place in the historical story of the musical von Trapp family, but it was also (and arguably more influentially) the location for much of the filming of their story, “The Sound of Music”.
With the natural resources run dry and the decline of Venice, since the 1800s Salzburg has been marketing itself as a tourist destination, one of the first places to do so that wasn’t a religious pilgrimage site. Its rulers during the 17th and 18th century countered their city’s declining fortunes with a building spree, and most of the architecture today is beautifully Baroque. The major exception, of course, is the sprawling medieval castle, which overlooks the city from a commanding height atop the hill.
It’s a beautiful city, and one that I was sad to leave. These pictures are of the Salzburg cemetery at St Peters, the view of the castle from the Mirabell gardens, and the city itself.
