Christmas Market Salzburg 2014
Christmas Market Salzburg
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ne of the regular highlights for me over the last few years has been a trip to the Christmas markets in Germany and Austria. It really is special. Outdoor ice skating, outdoor markets selling traditional decorations and selling hot snacks and warm gluwein. It’s a memory that brings a smile to my face every time. There really is no place like it for warming the cockles of the heart at Christmas time.
Street Photography
It provides me with a great opportunity for some street photography. Street photography is a well-honed genre of photography, one that I seldom get the chance to practice. Having 2 small children and working commercially pushes that practice aside most of the time. But there’s nothing I like more than a challenge and a recent trip to Munich & Salzburg provided this in abundance, while igniting my enthusiasm for my new canon 50mm 1.8 lens. It gave me a great opportunity to use it to make some images for fun – something I had not made time for in a while. It was a breath of fresh air in the middle of the busiest month of the year for me in 2014 as Ciara O’Donnell Photography went east for some downtime!
Gluwein
We started out trip by flying into Germany staying only one night in Munich. What a great trip back after 7 years…a nostalgic revisit to this Kris Kindle Market to sip some gluwein in the cold winter night air and taking in all the festive sights Munich had to offer at Christmas time.
Train to Salzburg
We took a train east the next morning to Salzburg after some well earned rest…and 3 nights in the Unesco world heritage site did not disappoint. Stunning architecture and cozy cobbled streets…a step in the right direction for comfort and relaxation. The birthplace of Mozart and home to the 11th century Hohensalzburg Fortress, Untersberg Mountain just outside the city and the stunning 17th century Salzberg Cathedral. I really had so much to look at my head was in a spin.
Photo Essay Salzburg
I chose to bring my 6D and just my 50mm lens thinking it was a good challenge to create a photo essay limiting my visual to the one lens size and giving me some one-on-one time with this new addition to my kit.Having to fly Ryanair I had only one bag with me and chose not to carry my camera case…so the risk to damage was a little high as I planned to carry the camera & ipad around in my handbag every day. I had no worries about scratching or screen damage as I had my super-sturdy screen protectors from screenshield.co.uk on all my devices these days. They last months of man-handling and worked a treat. Check them out.
Sound Of Music Salzburg
So we walked the length and breath of Salzburg. This glorious city which was the backdrop to the Sound Of Music film is jam packed with museums, galleries and architechture all of which can be accessed with a great value Salzburg Card. The walk up and down to the fortress was a workout in itself but the reward is sipping a gluwien while soaking up the view overlooking this magnificient city. Another highlight was taking the cable car to the summit of Untersberg mountain just outside Salzburg a hair raising experience but worth every minute for the sights all the way to the top. It really was an experience to clear the head and breath deep the Alpine air. Of course no trip to Salzburg is complete until you have sampled a slice of the world famous Sacher Torte chocolate cake in the cafe of the Hotel Sacher.
I will have fond memories of this trip. Thanks to all the staff at the YoHo – International Youth Hostel in Paracelsusstraße who were so welcoming during our stay. It was a great base from which to explore Salzburg. Have a look at the photos in the youtube clip below and please share this post using the social icons on this page. Thanks