After the gloominess of Friday, I honestly felt a little disappointed that I wasn’t returning home on Saturday, my usual routine when traveling to Europe. But I outlined a plan for the day, determined to make the best of it and, in the end, experienced another wonderful day in Salzburg.

I started the day by walking to the Salzach River and purchasing a ticket for the short river cruise. I had timed it perfectly between breakfast and the walk to the river to catch the 11:00 cruise but the tour operator advised the next available tour was at 12:00.

This gave me the time to take a walk along both sides of the river, photographing many of the lovely sites. I had hoped to do this all week so it was nice to make it happen on my last day. The day was cloudy and cool but weather for which to be grateful and a dramatic improvement over Friday’s rain.

On the opposite bank of the river, across from Altstadt, the villas are fronted by a row of trees which I found to be rather enchanting. Pre-bloom due to the cold weather, their stark, firm trunks and branches just caught my eye. I must have taken about 30 shots just of the trees alone, trying to capture their essence. I’m not quite sure I got the shot I wanted, but here are two of those shots.

I also took several shots of the bridges along the river. These two shots are of Mozartsteg, a bridge crossed by the vonTrapp children with Maria as they frolicked around Salzburg in The Sound of Music.

The boat cruise was lovely, as cruises usually are. Apparently the boat, named Amadeus (what else?), was built specially for the strong currents of the Salzach river. Although we went at a crawl under the bridges, the pilot opened it up a bit once they were behind us and you could definitely feel the power of the boat. It was nice to get a different view of the city and also to see a bit beyond the normal, well-walked areas of Salzburg.

The Sacher Hotel Salzburg, home of the original Sacher Torte and apparently a very ritzy hotel frequented by the rich and famous

A boat view of the same bridge

After the cruise, I set out to grab a quick meal ahead of my planned FestivalHaus tour at 3:00. I’ll share more on that tomorrow, so stay tuned!