The present writer passes on the advice.
No one who has waited till day's decline to make the return journey at any period of the year will have reason to regret it, though in the winter months the effects of light and shadow are, of course, far more transient—far too much so—than during the spring, summer, and even early autumn. Then the snow on the towering peaks of the environing mountains glows with at first a golden light, which passes through pearly tones to bright rose pink as the sun sinks behind the soaring crags. The last gleams of the sun linger upon the highest peak as though loth to fade through rose to pale purple, and in turn to change to steely blue, and finally to that blue-black which challenges the deeper indigo of the Alpine sky. Through the pine woods as one passes along the mountain road the golden light filters and slowly dies, throwing long shadows, and at last making the tree trunks loom enormous and fantastical in the fading light. And then from the tiny churches of the mountain side and valley one hears the Angelus ringing forth with a peaceful sound; or if one be approaching Innsbruck itself, then the mellow tones of the greater bell of Wilten float upward from the valley and come to one borne on the still evening air. Under such circumstances of beauty and in the impressive solitude of the forest ways one must be, indeed, unimpressionable if one fails to feel something of the spirit and love of Tyrol, and of restful peace which has enslaved so many hearts throughout the country's history.
CHAPTER VI
SALZBURG, ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE
BEAUTIFUL OLD SALZBURG
Salzburg, though lying some little distance beyond the north-eastern borders of Tyrol, is so historic and delightful a city that many who visit the "Land of the Mountains" make a point of visiting it. They are wise to do so; for of all ancient towns in the Austrian empire few are more picturesque or pleasantly situated, and scarcely any more historically interesting. We have never known any one disappointed in Salzburg who was capable of appreciating beauty and romantic associations.
Many who have roved the world over have yielded to the charm of this old-time city, which even with its touch of modernity seems to preserve the quaint and the beautiful of long ago, and the atmosphere of the days when knights and armed men were the chief passers through its streets, and history was in the making.
It lies at the foot of the northern Alps, in an open and fertile valley somewhat reminding one of Innsbruck, save for its wonderful rock fortress Hohen-Salzburg situated nearly eighteen hundred feet above sea-level and completely dominating the town. There is the Kapuzingerberg in place of the Innsbruck Weiherberg, and its Rainberg in place of Berg Isel. It is by many considered the most interesting of all the ancient towns amid the German Alps.
Its beauty has been compared in turn by several well-known travellers with that of Venice, Naples, and even Constantinople. But to our thinking the parallel is not as exact as it should be to make it of value. There is no sea at Salzburg, and from that fact alone its approach is of necessity less picturesque. Indeed, the immediate approach from Tyrol by way of Innsbruck is somewhat unimpressive and gives little or no indication of the beauty and charm of the old town, though the line on its way passes some pretty scenery and affords some fine peeps of the Bavarian Alps.
Yet Salzburg, through the centre of which flows the silver-hued Salzach, is in a way as beautifully situated and as charming as any of the towns to which it has from time to time been likened. It lies in a delightfully well-watered and fertile plain dotted over with villages, ancient castles, and country seats of the Salzburg nobility, and encircled by wooded hills, which as they open out in a wider sweep to the south become higher and higher until deserving the description of mountains. Here they become a magnificent range of towering limestone peaks, through which are cleft fertile and delightful valleys leading into the neighbouring kingdom of Bavaria. In the valley of the Salzach there is no lack of variety as regards scenery. One has widespread meadows, almost throughout the year starred and gemmed with many coloured and sweet scented flowers, melting away into the woods which clothe the lower slopes of the environing hills, where the sombre hued pines give a darker note of green to the landscape; whilst yet above these in the distance are crags of grey and slate-coloured limestone, and crowning the whole vast snow-fields glistering white at noonday and taking on a tint of delicate rose colour at sundown.