As we’re British we should mention the weather and sadly now common theme of biblical rain storms! Yet more fell overnight leaving the campsite a little lakey, however we did our best to block it out (and dodge puddles) as we grabbed the bus into town!
Our first stop was the fortress, standing proud on the edge of the old town. We wandered up, had a look around the outer perimeter and admired the views over the city before heading down to the Dom Cathedral and St Peter’s Catacombs. We paid a colossal €4 entry to the catacombs and walked up the steep narrow staircase, revealing a series of caves complete with alter, tombs and baroque murals. Unlike the ones we’d visited in Paris, for us anyway, these seemed unusual as they were carved out of the Mönchsberg rock rather than being underground.
After emerging into the sunshine we had a walk around the surrounding streets and squares, dodging tour guides, horse drawn carriages, pavement painters, souvenir stands and beggars before grabbing a bite to eat in a pretty garden behind the Colligiate church.
After food we popped into the church to find a wonderful, bright space with amazing light and beautiful sculptures. It was a refreshing change from other more traditional and darker churches that we have seen recently and really showed off the building’s structure.
We had a quick detour via St Blaise’s church before heading over to Mirabell Gardens, but not before learning about the Austrian-Yugoslavian labour agreement which lead to thousands of migrates coming from Yugoslavia to help support the dwindling Austrian workforce. Quite topical considering this Thursday’s vote!!
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