How being green is dangerous....

As a direct result of Salzburg’s green policies there are some unexpected risks to life and limb. That is to say, cyclists whizz past you from all directions - supposedly in their own lanes but often having to cross the pedestrian footpaths, change lane, or get across the many squares and Platzen … and they are almost silent.  Larger and even more frightening, the trolley-buses come swift and silent to their allotted stops and if you happen to be too near the kerb, you can get a terrible fright.

On the other hand, the tourist experience is pretty good. The dog poo clear-up rate is first class, and after we saw a fiacre-horse doing a poo at the traffic lights it was less than 30” before a horse-poo clear-up man came along to make it all clean and tidy, finishing his works with a bucket load of bleach water. I don’t suppose any of the smart shops want any kind of poo walked into their gleaming stores.   On the whole, the pedestrians are fantastically obedient to traffic light control… even when all the vehicles have stopped, they wait and wait and wait for the green man to light up to allow them to cross.   I wonder how long we’ll be able to saunter across any English road at our leisure, how long it will be before European (or American) ideas of pedestrian control come in.  I savour every journey across a road away from lights, or even blatantly ignoring light signals.  Rebel, me.

Today we tried and failed to find the Mönchsberg lift up to the top of the cliffs…. I was sure it was NOT the dilapidated tiled square-section pipe we could see, but we had no idea what we were looking for. Heading back to the centre we called in to see St Peter’s Church as someone had recommended it, and I wondered if it was any kind of improvement on the sterile and horrible Dom.  We looked at a postcard before we went in - a glorious sequence of columns and paintings…..  

But there were great works going on outside the door, and we had to ask if we could look inside.

The whole interior was a mass of dark scaffolding and planks, clearly a huge renovation project in full swing.  We crept away again, through a delightful cemetery between the church and the cliff - there the graves are marked with ornamental iron crosses and swags, and everything is lovingly tended.   

  

At the far side of the graveyard is a reconstructed watermill, now used to create electricity and run a bakery making monkish black bread.  

We headed to the city Museum, one of the old palaces lovingly and stylishly converted to modern galleries and there feasted our eyes on the work of Arik Brauer who - since the war - has devoted his life to painting about the sorrows of women - poverty, torture, martyrdom, ingenuity, labour.  The paintings are magnificent and thought-provoking, starting with a version of the Mona Lisa aged 80. Wonderful.   

In a separate part of the building is a lovely 19th century panorama - a 360 degree landscape painted from the viewpoint of the fortress… marvellous painting, inside a cylinder 5m tall and about 26m all around.    Excellent. Must have pleased the archbishop-princes.   We also learned that the long long period of their rule was known as ‘absolutist’. They had complete powers of life and death over all the local citizens, every aspect of their lives was in the hands of these prelates. The taxes were high. There was no law or justice or privilege outside the control of the rulers, who claimed to arbitrate over all of life and all of the afterlife. The labour was hard, the control was - really - absolute.  No wonder the inside of the cathedral (dom) is so ghastly. It’s all about ego, power, pomp, glitter, swagger, here-and-now.  I am SO pleased with myself for having felt that within a few moments of going inside.  It is truly ghastly.  Anyway……. 

We took lunch in a Polish restaurant, the only one in Salzburg, open for 3 years in the fierce competition of 743 other restaurants in the city. The owner said there are officially just 1000 Poles in Salzburg, probably twice that number in fact, so his marketplace is small.  The food was delicious, freshly cooked and traditional, and we particularly like the soupy stew served in a loaf of bread. 

  

Then we went back to find that elusive lift … and went further than we had in the morning, and there it was…. an ordinary sleek modern lift in a shaft with no way to see the sights as you go up, but - once you get to the top, there are spectacular views along the river each way, and to the mountains.   We looked at an installation on the clifftop - by an American called James Turrell, an elliptical chamber with a hole in the roof and a nice granite bench all around the inside… you can sit and contemplate a section of the sky. Very peaceful and contemplative.  We strolled round some of the exhibits in the Moderne (art gallery) - photographs and paintings by Ernst Kirchner (whose work was later regarded by the Nazis as degenerate, and who committed suicide in 1938 in Davos); and a mixed show on the important of language and art - rather poignant in the age of fake news and establishment lies.     

An ice-cream in the panoramic restaurant would have cost too much, so down we went to the cheaper streets.   We explored a shop called Interior - like going to Habitat in the old days!  Bought 4 little egg-cup things… like we have in the apartment. These have an egg-holding central dip and then a handy surround for your spoon, toast or whatnot.  Stylish - and - four for the price of three.  Then we found our ice-creams, and ate them sitting on the river embankment wall, picked up some herbs and croissants to bring home, and here we are.   Again we walked about 7 miles and felt more familiar with the whole layout of the city.  We are obedient to the traffic lights, admire the cyclists, have yet to ride a trolley bus. Maybe tomorrow.