Although our the cycling route from Golling to Salzburg should have taken only around 30km we ended up doing 50km, after we had explored Salzburg and continued on to our budget accommodation around 10km out of town (to the north).

We still enjoyed the, by now familiar, alpine scenery at the start of our route – but this morning was the last of it.

Scene just out of Golling

There was a strong smell of sweet onions riding through this stretch of forest, emanating from the plants on the sides of the path.

Elsbethen is a small town just before Salzburg (must be named for Kris’s mother!)

We enjoyed riding into Salzburg – the bike paths got better and better as we drew closer, until we were riding on a sealed path alongside the river, passing by some very attractive large public gardens. The castle on the hill dominates the view of the city as you get closer. A strong wind began to blow on this part of our ride, but luckily it seemed to blow itself out by the time we reached the city and there was no rain.

We meandered about a bit enjoying views of the Cathedral, castle and other old buildings.

Locks on a bridge (promising everlasting love)

Up-market shopping street

My favorite part of the city was the Mirabellgarten – you are not allowed to ride bicycles here, as the garden is a quiet space in the city, so we pushed ours through.

German poem about the garden – now also accessible to me as my German improves

Once we had seen enough, we made our way to the river again, to head out north alongside the river bank. We passed more sprawling university buildings here.

Our accommodation is well out of the city and is a large hostel like hotel – very clean with practical functional rooms and at a very good price. However booking.com had stated the wifi was rated as excellent, so I was disappointed when it was pretty much sub-par. We got to the hotel at around 2pm, with the idea of spending the time planning our time in Berlin – we had to book 13 nights accommodation and a rental car. We ended up sitting in the breakfast room as the wifi was so weak in our room, and the connection kept on dropping. So we spent many hours doing the research and making the bookings.
With this kind of traveling, you can never totally predict or control what you will get – in our experience even if you pay more!