Salzburg

We took a train from Prague to Salzburg, which took the majority of a Wednesday. We were on the slow trains, which was actually nice as we got some views of the country and had lots of privacy (not to mention it wasn't that much slower than the fast train and the tickets were half the price). The train was fantastic...kind of old, but it was one of those trains with compartments, so Joe and I had our own "room" to ourselves--two long benches a window, overhead storage, and it was made private by an entry door with a curtain. It was the first time either of us were on a train like that.

We got to Salzburg around 7pm with no hotel reservation and no idea where we were headed. We quickly got ourselves situated, had a nice meal at a Turkish-diner-in -Austria (with the owner's entire family eating their home-cooked meal next to us), and turn in for a much needed good night's sleep.

On Thursday morning, Joe and I headed out to Salzburg and quite accidentally stumbled upon a huge farmer's market. We're suckers for a good farmer's market, so we had to spend some time here.

Huge barrels of olives

I wasn't able to get a picture, but there was one vendor selling freshly made sauerkraut from barrels twice that big. Amazing.

Beautiful fresh veg

Delicious fresh fruit

Largest block of cheese ever

This was the Thursday before Palm Sunday and the market was full of people selling hand decorated eggs and Easter floral arrangements. Nearly everyone we passed was purchasing what we can only guess was a traditional Austrian Palm Sunday item. We asked, but could not find an English speaker in the market (though we did manage to confirm it was for Palm Sunday):


Every floral vendor--and many of the others--were also selling this (I can't remember what it's called). We also think this had something to do with the Easter season.


Up next: Salzburg's Old Town