Salzburg Photos: Old Town (Altstadt)

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Dreaming spires - this image was first used for a university town in England. In the case of Salzburg, the phrase is commonly used by the local tourism mafia. The spires you see here are (from left to right) the dome of the Salzburg cathedral, the left tower of the same building, the church of the nunnery Stift Nonnberg (red top), the dome of the Kollegienkirche or Collegiate Church (the dark dome in the forground) and finally the right tower of the cathedral. Missing from the picture are the towers of St. Peter and the Franziskanerkirche, which would be just right of the picture (coming two photos from this one). Speaking of tourism mafia: Do you happen to know the famous quote from Alexander von Humboldt? Is is "Salzburg, Naples and Constantinopel are the three most beautiful cities I have seen." This picture was taken from the Humboldt Plattform, a look-out at the Mönchsberg, where you can find this quote engraved in a marble plate. A few years ago, a historian tried to find the original source - but all he found was a late 19th century travel guide that talked about it. As of today, this is the oldest reference to the quote that was found and it is now considered likely that the ancestors of today's Travel-Sopranos made it up to promote Salzburg.

photo (c) visit-salzburg.net