July 2022
I ended up in Salzburg straight from the city of Linz.
Actually, I was only in Linz for an hour, since the main destination was Salzburg itself.
It's important to note that this is the first city I visited not on my own dime.
You can congratulate me - I was invited for a job interview, they bought the tickets and hotel and even fed me. Life's good when you're 30.
Got the offer, didn't accept it, but hey, what an article came out of it. I should note that one of the job conditions was relocating to Salzburg, so I was looking at the city through the eyes of a potential mover from Prague.
YAY, first sponsored article...
I arrived late, it was dark, not a soul in the city at 11 PM. At reception they called me "sir". Learning I was from Czechia, the concierge hinted he'd been to "Czechia", if you know what I mean. I know, sir.
In the morning I walked to the interview, over an hour's walk from the center. Photographed signs.
First thing that catches your eye - mountains.
And greenery
The whole center looks like this
I hope this woman won't sue me
Safety
Misty mountains literally everywhere you look
Schoolgirls. Going to breakfast.
Road to the suburbs - if you walk here it'll be very noisy
Reached the edge of the city, you can buy strawberries and asparagus by just leaving money
Pedestrian paths are always marked with this sign, and here dad grew a third leg
Courtyard (apartment prices are nice, you can save almost your whole life and still not save enough)
City ended
Field begins
Whoa - traffic jams here
Made it to the interview after all, nothing interesting happened there
Weather improved on the way back
Walked along the embankment - completely different story
Here, of course, at some point I really wanted to move
About 40 minutes to walk to the center along the river, much better by bike
In the center - unattainable beauty
The very center is packed with tourists
The difference from Prague is in the mountains and the type of tourists. I was the smallest here (definitely at the hotel). European junkie schoolkids come to Prague to drink cheap beer and, well, not just that. They can't afford Salzburg (which makes it especially hilarious to occasionally meet, well, Salzburg schoolkids in Prague)
Lunch and dinner for 9 euros. Prices about 20% more expensive than Prague, taste about 20% tastier, so it's fair. Buying Austrian not because Hitler, but because it's the cheapest.
Went out into the city again in the evening - it's quiet at 8 PM
The city's getting some repairs
For enthusiasts
Classic Austrian theme - bathing
No people
Old folks go here
Again, the damn 20% price difference turns Prague into a school drug den. Salzburg, being slightly more expensive, looks like a retirement home.
But it's quiet
Also Mozart lived, ate, slept here, and they exploit this fact as much as they can
I think this is roughly how I imagined Europe before I visited it
Oh yeah, lots of trolleybuses here, but somehow I wasn't thrilled about them
The next day it was time to leave
Views from the main bridge
This is how I remember Salzburg
And like this
Won't lie, wanted to move, precisely because it's "more expensive" here
But salary-wise it's not that much more expensive :)
But yeah - everything you expect from Salzburg, it's all here
But as I understood, for locals it's either unaffordable, or only available to those who've lived here for 3 generations
The rest live in the suburbs
Which aren't any worse, just a fact
I also walked to the bus, to the very edge of the city
FlixBus distinguished itself by arriving to the most ass-end part of Salzburg
So leaving Salzburg you'll see this
And you'll think it'll always be like this
But then it'll be like this
And then like this
And then you'll already want to go home
I didn't move to Salzburg, but at some point I wanted to. The silence, wealth, nature influenced me.
Also I was riding FlixBus and had seat 20-C. And the bus had 16 rows. They screwed up.
And when I arrived in Prague, pissy Euro-schoolkids were zooming around on scooters on tram tracks and yelling.
Anyway, Salzburg is also memorable for showing me that things can be better than they are now.