After four days of pushing my body to its limits on the Tyrolean mountains, it was time to focus more on the mind. The last two days of my trip were dedicated to soul food in the shape of sights and culture. I hopped on a train to Salzburg. The reasonably priced Salzburg Card allows free admission to all the essential tourist destinations within the city, and it also includes free public transport. I bought the card for 48 hours and, once again, wanted to get all my money’s worth out of it.
My first stop was the Salzburg Zoo. I have conflicted feelings about visiting zoos in general, but at least to the untrained eye, the arrangements in Salzburg are definitely not the worst. Compared to many other zoos, the furry residents have a lot of space and activities.
The highlight of my tour was spotting the lemurs roaming free (!) around the park. A few of them climbed down their enormous tree and stopped to pose for pictures. In the picture above, a lemur mother with a mini-lemur on her back. I could have stretched out my arm and scratched the handsome couple, had I wanted to! I like to move it, move it.
To finish off the day, I also took a quick tour of the Hohensalzburg Fortress. The panorama view from the top of the hill was amazing, you could see the whole city. The fortress itself was no match to my beloved Turku castle, but I have to admit the state halls with their ornate decorations were quite impressive.
The most curious part of the tour: a display of old torture instruments. The picture below shows a few of the imaginative torture masks tailored to specific crimes. Dem peasants better learn how to behave demselves, eh?
