Day 23, 19 6 2014, Traunstein to Tittmoning
Well, Salzburg was a disappointment.
We rode the 40Km to Salzburg gradually descending an undulating ridge to the Salzach River at Salzburg, a very pleasant ride through farmland and forest.
As a tourist I am well aware of the pressure we put on the culture of a town, but rarely have I seen such a mess as Salzburg. Over and above the buskers, horse tours, rickshaws, kitch shops and beggars, the Sound of Music tours take the cake.
As I remember it, the Von Trapp family fled Austria after the Nazi took over, so I don’t exactly see the point.
Roz may be more forgiving.
We spent a little time with our maps and decided to continue on to Passau. To do this, we spent the remaining part of the afternoon on a very pleasant river-side path along side the river before crossing the river into Germany and riding into the town of Tittmoning. We expected a village and found this beautiful town on a slight rise above the river. It happens quite often that we ride past some tawdry infrastructure on the outskirts of a town, and then through the town gate into a spacious plaza with people, life and beauty. We checked into the first hotel we saw, at 70E bed and breakfast, the best deal so far on this trip.
Today is a holiday in Germany, mostly religious. We rode through one town this morning where there was a substantial celebration and the townspeople all had traditional dress, dirndl and lederhosen. We were surprised at how many people there were dressed like this. The day seemed to have some sort of cultural significance over and above the religious one. As the holiday falls on a Thursday many people have taken the Friday off, and left for a very long weekend on Wednesday, and it is a larger holiday period, hence our problems getting accommodation last night.
A number of the hotels we have stayed in have such strict control on their WiFi connection that it is impossible to connect at all. I can understand that in the big cities there is some potential for theft of bandwidth, but here in Tittmoning, it seems astonishingly unlikely.
85Km for the day.
Roz says: Shabby chique would describe Salzburg so far (there are still huge renovations in progress) and of course the wonderful old area is bound to attract the bus loads of en masse tourists. The bike path on the Salzach is a hidden treasure.
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