Waltzing Through Salzburg

Inder Raj Ahluwalia discovers the mesmerising city of Salzburg in Austria

The hills are alive with the ‘sound of music’. Well, not exactly! But things are abuzz all right. It was the kind of idyllic scene one reads about and sees in tourist brochures. “The pristine beauty of this, the innate charm of that, the crisp air of the mornings, the glorious sunsets, magical valleys, friendly locals, sumptuous cuisine…”

But this was no tourist brochure. It was all there, stark, surreal, but real enough. Bathed by the morning sunshine that gave it a golden coat, the Salzach River and the buildings that flank it seemed part of a giant portrait. Partly courtesy the superb weather, partly the fact that both tourists and locals in some places just can’t seem to sit indoors for long, it seemed like the whole city was outdoors and on the move, on a discovery prowl. “Thanks to the fact that there’s something always going on, we welcome tourists all year round, but it’s been a particularly good season.” Working for the local tourist office, Gunda Bleckmann’s assertion was based on long personal experience.

Some places are destined for success! This one had it easy. Known as ‘the heart in the heart of Europe’, Salzburg had just about everything going its way for centuries. If being Mozart’s birthplace, and the locale for the filming of the smash-hit ‘Sound of Music’ has enhanced its cultural value, a superb scenic backdrop and close proximity to places of great natural beauty hasn’t harmed its interests either. Ask the tourists who flock here from all parts of the world.

All cities have a history. Salzburg’s is long, eventful and interesting one. For local origins, go back to 696, when Bishop Rupert of Worms received the desolate Roman city ‘Juvavum’, as a gift from the Bavarian Duke Theodo. Lavished by revenues from the Reichenhall salt mines, courtesy the Bavarian Dukes, Salzburg owes not just its wealth but also its name to the salt revenues. Buoyed by the wealth, the Prince Archbishops shaped the city after their dreams. And made quite a job of it too, as I discovered on my very first visit.

Hemmed in on three sides by wooded hills, Salzburg’s houses aren’t aligned in straight rows, but ramble in easy, uneven fashion along the Salzach River. Narrow lanes curve around stately sacred buildings, flow into spacious squares, and then squeeze again between century-old burgher mansions.

It’s a formula designed for success, as the statistics show. 1,50,000 local inhabitants welcome some 20 million annual visitors who flock here from far and near to savour the scenery, climate and culture. “Festive celebrations are our strong point,” Bleckmann said without false modesty. Strong point indeed! There’s the Summer Festival, Salzburg Culture Days, Mozart Week, the Easter Festival, Advent Singing, Pentecost Concerts, the Palace Concerts, the famous Salzburg Festival that celebrates Mozart’s works, and ‘Szene’, a fine example of the traditional and modern co-existing in harmony. Providing a dramatic counterpoint to the Salzburg Festival, the theatre-dance festival, the ‘Szene’ has a large following of fans and is a major cultural event in its own right.

Over the years, the entertainment industry embraced the city. The Bee Gees and Herbert Gronemeyer turned the city into a natural backdrop for their open-air concerts, and Tina Turner went a step further and used the whole city as a stage. But if Mozart’s city was animated enough to start with, a huge publicity bonus came courtesy the locally filmed, Oscar winning, ‘Sound of Music’. Suddenly, it wasn’t just classical music anymore. The city became a household name around the world, among the young and old.

“The Sound of Music is one of our greatest ambassadors and has got us enormous publicity. It lives on in the city, and our guests continue to relive those famous scenes that are so well known and loved worldwide,” Bleckmann said.

I spent the afternoon discovering for myself that it does, indeed live on across the city. In the Mirabell Gardens, you see it all. A baroque museum, statue groups depicting Greek mythology, marble vases designed by Fischer von Erlach, a hedge theatre, and a baroque dwarf garden on the bastions, all immortalised by the film. You see the fountains where Maria sang ‘Confidence is me’. With its impressive façade and baroque monumental stairways with pictures by GR Donner, Mirabell Palace is a grand structure. The Marble Hall here is the mayor’s home and a beautiful example of regal architecture, but also a popular concert and wedding venue. There wasn’t an empty seat the night we were there. Minutes away is the fabulous Hotel Bristol which Christopher Plummer made his home during the film’s shooting.

A thousand years is a long time to nestle snugly in the shadow of a fortress, but that’s exactly what Salzburg has done, and continues doing. With its late Gothic church of St George, castle, courtyard and museum, the hill-perched Hohensalzburg Fortress – the largest completely preserved fortress in Central Europe – dominates the region’s skyline.

I trooped up the winding road to the fortress, negotiated the firmly settled snow on the sides, and saw the city fall away beneath me with each step. One enters through a grand gateway that abuts onto another path that leads one straight into the fortress’ heart. I spent half an hour exploring the barracks and courtyards with their faithful canons, before stepping onto the rampart that overlooked the city.

There are views and there are views. This one was just simply stunning. Before and below me lay the city, characterised by its famous steeples, domes, and slate roofs. In the distance, the river snaked its way through, and everywhere, streets hived off in different directions. Further a-field, ringing everything, were the mountains, clearly visible in patches, hazy in other parts.

Amidst all this, one must not forget the cathedral! Considered the most impressive baroque building north of the Alps, the cathedral is another prominent local landmark featuring two cathedral museums and a stunning, magnificent marble façade.

Tempered over several centuries, the Old City is exactly what one expects and wants a European old city to be! Antiquated, charming, busy, just a little disorderly, and full of atmosphere! Ride horse-drawn carriages, jostle with the motley crowds of tourists, walk narrow streets, stop at little cafes for freshly brewed coffee and tidbits of conversation, and talk to old-timers. Linger on in Getreidegasse, the most famous street, discover lovely inner courtyards and lanes, and admire wrought iron and gilded shop and firm signs with medieval graphics. I counted 30 in a minute’s walk. And then arrive at No 9, Mozart’s birthplace and family residence, a typical old Salzburg burgher’s house with an in-built museum stocked with the famous composer’s artifacts that include a collection of letters, music and portraits.

Are you shopping-resistant? You better be if you’re on a budget. It requires supreme will-power to resist being drawn to the glittering jeweller’s shops and smart boutiques that stock traditional local costumes alongside eccentric creations from Europe’s fashion capitals. If you’re a serious shopper, life can be a dream. Just succumb to the temptations of over 400 specialty shops and boutiques that line both sides of the Salzach. Or play it casual and just browse around and pick up typical knick-knacks like scented nosegays of dried spices and flowers.

‘Salzburger Nockerl’, anyone? This fluffy souflette omelette is but one of a celebrated list of local delicacies, others being the ‘Wiener Schnitzel’, ‘Palatschicken’ (sweet pancakes), and the ever-popular ‘Bauerng Rostel’. Along with the Salzburg Mozartkugel sweets, these are the city’s pride. With such a rich cuisine legacy, it isn’t surprising that one of the world’s famous catering institutes made the city its home.

It makes perfect sense to sift through the vast food and eatery choices offered at the restaurants and bistros around the river. But when all’s done and discovered, stop by at the local cuisine temple. The oldest restaurant in Europe, St Peter’s Stiftskeller has been offering quality cuisine and entertainment since 803. Owned and rented out by Benedict Monks, Stiftskeller was traditionally the place to be seen in, was Mozart’s favourite leisure haunt, and today stages Mozart Dinner Concerts that bring culture right up to one’s table, along with wine from their own vineyards.

The saga continues! Salzburg’s tourist fame hangs like a shroud over the city, but in a happy, positive way. Keeping itself intact, offering a bit of everything, the city’s managed to charm visitors over the years, throughout the year.

So if you were planning that leisure break, now’s the time, and Salzburg’s the place! Take it from me, it’s easy to do.

All you need bring is yourself…

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He's the Coolest One

Shiv Aroor finds that Rajeev Karwal, MD & CEO, Electrolux Kelvinator Ltd, is as ‘chilled out’ as the products his company makes

Rajeev Karwal, managing director and chief executive officer of Electrolux Kelvinator India is rarely seen not smiling. For a person who is the chief of one of India's most visible consumer electronics companies, he is the image of relaxation, be it a product launch, or hurried meetings.

It is an attitude which holds him in good stead during his frequent travels abroad. Karwal is the archetypal business traveller who makes at least one trip every month to Sweden, the headquarters of Electrolux. And that is besides the other destinations that he has to go to, both within and outside the country. Leisure, consequently, gets little time every year and in this too, sometimes business infringes. A recent pleasure trip to Goa was interrupted when he had to rush back to Delhi to sort out some business about sponsorships for Electrolux. “But it’s part of the demands of a senior job. It’s okay,” he says.

It is to deal with such eventualities that Karwal is always accompanied by his laptop, which he turns on in the wee hours to reply to business emails and correspondence. “But only for urgent business,” he smiles.

Karwal is not only an international jetsetter but has also spent five years of his working life in Spain. He was previously better known as the face of Philips India, after a long and successful stint at the Dutch electronics firm.

“Of all the places I have ever been to, my favourite international destination is the Canary Islands and in India, nothing beats Kerala and Goa,” he says.

But wherever in the world he might be, Karwal is obsessed with having at least one Indian meal a day.

“I do try the local cuisine but I love vegetarian food. My family is more adventurous. But for me, nothing like home cooked Indian food. We have stayed abroad for almost five years in Spain and even there, everyday one meal for me had to be Indian,” he says.

Besides having an Indian meal once a day, Karwal is also particular about where he stays. He always chooses the best hotels and it is imperative that they need to be “properties which are spacious”.

And when it comes to airlines, he prefers British Airways, KLM Royal Dutch and Singapore Airlines for foreign travel. Within the country, it is a mix of Jet Airways, Sahara and Indian Airlines, necessarily in that order.

But pleasure travel is not hankered by any airline loyalty. “We travel by the best connected airline to a particular destination,” he says.

His vacations are usually short-notice ones and do not happen at any particular time of the year.

“I normally do not mix leisure and business,” says Karwal, who travels with wife Shobha and sons Saksham and Samarth at least twice every year – once to somewhere within the country, and once somewhere abroad.

Karwal is currently preoccupied by the one place on earth he has not had the pleasure to see so far – Africa. The result, a trip planned to Kenya with his family next year, to enjoy the Masai Mara plains and the Serengheti grasslands, home to the most filmed eco-systems and wildlife, including the African elephant and African lion.

Going by his rushed top job, between commanding business expansion across the country and rendering services until recently as the longest successively running president of the Consumer Electronics & TV Manufacturers Association (Cetma), Karwal prefers a holiday without too much action. None of the run-of-the-mill sightseeing and exploring towns or cities for him. “I just try and relax with my family and close friends. Just unwind. I play a lot with my children during the holidays,” he says. “I don’t enjoy doing anything particular, but often go with my children on amusement rides in theme parks.”

His family has reconciled with the fact that Karwal is a busy man, but his is a “contented family” satisfied with the time they get to spend together during vacations.

The Karwals also regularly have family reunions with their relatives abroad. The last big one, he says, was in Thailand and Singapore in 2002.

Vacations within the country are usually planned for extended weekends. For the extended Diwali weekend, for example, the Karwals packed off to Agra.

Any adventure sports while holidaying? He quickly quips, “Yes, but not really the extreme ones like skydiving or bungee jumping!”

Anything else? “Nothing in particular. I just enjoy being with my family,” he says.

And there you have it, a family man, averse to extremes but willing to ride the odd rollercoaster, not very experimental with food and stubbornly insistent on at least one Indian meal a day. Simple.