Salzburg Squares: Domplatz, Kapitelplatz, Mozartplatz, Waagplatz, thatâ€™s a lot of platz!

For a small and compact city such as Salzburg, it is amazing to see that the old city centre has so many squares. Some of these squares are located side by side as with the case with Domplatz and Kapitelplatz, and then you have Residenzplatz (deserves a separate entry because of the concert and my impromptu lunch) and Mozartplatz located on the other side.

I still didnâ€™t have a map of the city so I decided to just wander from platz to platz. Always a good idea!

Moi here at the Domplatz with the Salzburg Cathedral in my background.

Domplatz and the Salzburg Cathedral
Website: Salzburg Cathedral

Home to the baroque Salzburg Cathedral (circa early 17th century) which you see on most Salzburg postcards towering above the city with the Hohensalzburg Fortress in the background, the Domplatz (Cathedral Square) is also where you can find the ubiquituous touristy horse carriages.

I did not bother to go inside the cathedral though. Perhaps Iâ€™ll reserve this for my next time around in the city. Who knows?

Kapitelplatz and the Hohensalzburg Fortress
Website: Festung Hohensalzburg

From Kapitelplatz one can go up to the 900+ year old Hohensalzburg Fortress. I donâ€™t know why but when I was there I had no interest of going up to the castle, especially when I saw the crowds swarming below the cable railway entrance. Perhaps because of its sheer ginormous size I lost interest. I am not fascinated with massive fortifications anymore. I have seen many of them. In Prague, in Krakov and in many other places. Last January I was in Vianden, Luxembourg as well, and I had a similar sentiment. I did not want to visit the Vianden fortified Castle.

This is clearly what happens when you have travelled and seen a lot of castles, palaces and fortresses, you become astonishingly picky. I definitely have! Which sometimes make me wish I hadnâ€™t seen a lot. Because now, they all looked the same to me, although there are some exceptions though, and until that exception is there you cannot see me walking on the ramparts of these massive strongholds. I do however appreciate these fortresses from a distance of course.

A lovely exemption is for example the Le Mont Saint Michel in France. If you havenâ€™t been here, itâ€™s time to go and visit.

This PIETA sculpture is one of the eerie ones I have seen. It reminds me of a movie I saw when I was younger, creatures like this who trap humans with their cloak and gobble them up alive.

Mozartplatz â€“ Waagplatz

A statue of Mozart is in the middle of this square while the adjacent Waagplatz is small and quite hidden, leading to a popular food and shopping street, Judengasse.