Missing Solo...always!

Solo, kota kecil yang "hanya" berpenduduk sekitar 500ribu orang ini juaranya yang namanya makanan. Jangan bayangkan makanan enak yang di mal2 seperti di Jakarta ya. Cobain deh makanan-makanan jalanan (jalan besar atau nyempil di gang-gang kecil) atau di pasar-pasar tradisional.

Ini daftar rekomendasi makanan enak di Solo... versi saya lhooo... (urutan tidak berdasarkan favorit, tapi acak yang terlintas di kepala saya). List ini akan terus diperbarui jika saya kebetulan menemukan 'harta karun' makanan enak lainnya di Solo :-) So here we go...

• Nasi liwet "Bu Tini", dulu letaknya di warung tenda di trotoar depan hotel (lupa namanya), hanya beberapa meter dari stasiun kereta api Balapan, tapi sekarang sudah pindah ke area tepat di samping stasiun Balapan. Ada satu area (seperti pasar kecil) yang dikhususkan untuk beberapa pedagang. Penutup warungnya warna hijau ngejreng dengan tulisan "Nasi liwet Bu Tini". Jangan lupa minta sayap (bahasa jawanya: suwiwi) dan cobain juga ketan dan teh angetnya. Buka sekitar jam 5.30 pagi sampai sehabisnya (sekitar jam 9-930 pagi). Biasanya saya selalu habis 2 porsi (harga per porsi Rp 6,000 - kalau ngga salah ingat) dan dilanjutkan dengan sepotong ketan (banyak yah!).

• Alternatif sarapan lainnya adalah "Soto seger Mbok Giyam". Tadinya saya beranggapan soto gitu loh dimanapun rasanya sama aja. Tapi anggapan ini berubah ketika makan soto Mbok Giyem, yang terletak dekat Lottemart (maaf, agak lupa detil tempatnya karena waktu itu tinggal duduk dan tahu beres). Apa yang istimewa dari soto ini? Soto Seger memiliki kuah bening yang rasanya gurih dan menyegarkan. Disini tersedia soto ayam dan soto daging sapi, tapi yang paling populer adalah soto sapinya. Soto disajikan dalam mangkuk kecil dengan isian daging sapi/suwiran ayam, kecambah, ditambah taburan daun seledri dan bawang merah goreng. Untuk soto ayam biasanya ada tambahan keripik kentang di dalamnya. Yang menyenangkan (banget!) adalah di meja tempat kita makan, kita akan menemukan deretan panjang makanan kecil / lauk pendamping untuk soto. Ada sate ayam, sate kikil, sate babat, Sate paru, sate udang tepung, sate cingur, sate telur puyuh, sate hati-ampela ayam, dan berbagai macam gorengan seperti tempe goreng, mendoan, tahu bakso, bakwan sayur, sosis Solo, mentho (makanan kecil khas boyolali yang terbuat dari kacang, singkong, dan kelapa), dll. Tempe gorengnya enak, sangat renyah sampai ke dalam (Favorit saya!). Warung soto ini buka jam 6 pagi, tepat sebagai pilihan sarapan yang mengenyangkan.

• Nasi timlo "Sastro" yang ada di belakang 'Sar Gede (orang Solo bilang "Pasar" dengan sebutan "Sar"). Warungnya persis di pojokkan jalan, buka mulai pukul 06:30 - 15:30. Perhatikan penjualnya yang menghitung masih dengan papan tulis hitam kecil ala jaman baheula... Sup ini rasanya segerrr banget, cocok untuk sarapan. Rasa Timlo ini seperti gabungan antara sup dan soto, berkuah bening dan gurih yang berasal dari kaldu ayam pekat, berisi ati ampela, potongan daging ayam, semur telur bebek kecoklatan, dan sosis ala Solo. Sosis ini bukan seperti umumnya sosis yang panjang, namun lebih seperti martabak telur yang digoreng. Walaupun tempatnya sederhana, namun suasananya menyenangkan dengan adanya live performance dari pengamen menyanyikan lagu keroncong ataupun lagu tempo dulu.

• Sosis solo yang paling top adalah di Varia di daerah Coyudan. Bentuknya kecil tapi isinya padet dan ayamnya benar-benar gurih. Harganya Rp 2,500/biji.

• Wedangan (air jahe hangat) tidak ada yang ngalahin warungnya "Mbah Wir". Warungnya sederhana ala rumahan dan letaknya ngga jauh dari perempatan Purwosari. Wedangan paling top dilakukan malam hari dan disertai makan nasi kucing dan pilihan lauk yang beraneka ragam: tempe mendoan, sate ati, tempe + tahu bacem, sosis solo, dll. Favorit saya adalah wedang ketan (air jahe dicampur tape ketan). Pilihan rasa lainnya adalah coklat, susu, kacang, original dll... (lupa)

• I'm a big fans of milk! I am. Dan di Solo saya penggemar "Susu Shi Jack" yang menjual susu segar dingin atau hangat. Konon Susu Shi Jack merupakan pelopor warung susu murni di kota Solo. Selain segar dan gurih, Susu Shi Jack memberikan nama unik pada pilihan rasa susu dan cemilan, contohnya Tante Susi (Susu sirup tanpa telor), Superboy (Susu perah Boyolali), Sukatman (Susu coklat manis), Roti Bacok (Roti bakar coklat) dll. Warung Susu Shi Jack dapat dijumpai di beberapa lokasi seperti Jl. Dr. Rajiman atau Lojowiten (Jl. Kapten Mulyadi), Jl. Raya Solo Baru. Warung buka sore hingga malam. Kalau kalian bukan penggemar rasa manis, jangan lupa untuk bilang ke mas-mas nya untuk mengurangi gula atau susu atau sirupnya.

• Gudeg di restauran Adem Ayem di jalan Slamet Riyadi (boulevardnya kota Solo). Rasa gudegnya ngga semanis di Yogya sehingga pas banget di lidah. Daging ayam kampungnya meresap dengan bumbu dan kreceknya enak bgt, agak pedes dikit tapi mantab!

• Serabi solo. Yang terkenal pastinya serabi Notosuman di jalan Notosuman. Tapi setelah saya coba tempat lain, rasanya juga not bad lho. Contohnya serabi yang dijual di trotoar sepanjang jalan Slamet Riyadi atau kalau mau yang ukuran jumbo, cobain deh yang dijual di mbok-mbok di gerobak di depan toko abon Varia di Coyudan. Semua enak!

• Tengkleng. Nah ini dia salah satu jagoan kota Solo, tapi krn isinya daging kambing, saya ngga suka! Tapi bolehlah saya masukkan dalam listi ini karena memang khasnya Solo banget dan banyak yang bilang enak. Tengkleng semacam gulai tapi lebih encer kuahnya dan isinya adalah segala pernak pernik kambing khususnya bagian kepala (mata, kuping, pipi, dll). Yang terkenal adalah yang di dekat gapura di Pasar Klewer (Tengkleng Bu Edi, kalau ngga salah).

• Es dawet di Sar Gede. Ini masuk dalam kategori must-have!! Tidak bisa tidak, saya harus mampir ke sini kalau ke Solo. Tempatnya ada di dalam Pasar Gede, masuk dari pintu samping dan langsung terlihat kiosnya yang terbuka di pojokkan, pas di seberang yang jual ayam goreng. Es dawet ini seger banget, isinya tape ketan hijau, bubur sumsum, selasih, ketan hitam, kuah santan encer plus gula dan es batu. Oiya, nongkrong di kios ini cukup mengasyikkan buat saya. Terletak di tengah-tengah pasar, saya menikmati pemandangan dinamika pasar dengan hilir mudik orang-orang (tua dan muda) berjualan atau menjadi kuli gendong dan mendengar selentingan dalam bahasa jawa.

• Selain es dawet ini, di Solo juga terdapat es tape yang biasanya di jual di abang-abang keliling dalam sebuah gerobak. Mereka berkeliling namun ada juga yang menetap seperti di depan rumah makan Adem Ayem atau Tahu Kupat (dekat Mal Paragon). Ciri khas yang terlihat adalah ada gelas-gelas ceper yang digantung di gerobaknya. Es ini mirip 'es kenong' waktu saya kecil, namun bedanya es ini hanya ditemani topping tape ketan. Perpaduan dingin dan manis membuat es ini terasa segar. Satu gelas dihargai sekitar Rp 6,000 (agak lupa).

• Ke Solo, rasanya belum lengkap tanpa mencoba nasi kucing, dan ada satu tempat yang rasanya enak namun tempatnya di design modern - berbeda dengan umumnya warung tradisional. Namun jangan kuatir, walaupun tempatnya modern, harganya cukup bersahabat (saya ingat makan ber-tujuh hanya habis 140 ribu). Tempat ini namanya "3 Tjeret", berlokasi di samping lapangan Pamedan, Mangkunegaran. Jika masuk dari jalan Slamet Riyadhi, tinggal jalan kaki kira-kira 200 meter (mungkin ya, I'm really bad at counting distance, hehe...). Makanan disajikan dengan menggelar di satu konter dan pengunjung mengambil berbagai pilihan lauk yang diingini (ayam, tempe tahu bacem, paru, bakwan dll). Nasi tersedia dalam bungkus daun pisang dengan berbagai pilihan lauk pedamping di dalamnya seperti "Nasi daging terik", atau "Nasi teri" dll. Kasir akan menghitung lauk pilihan kita dan menawarkan untuk dipanaskan atau dibakar atau digoreng.

• Ayam goreng 'Sar Gede, letaknya pas banget bersebrangan dengan counter nya es dawet di atas. Biasanya saya mampir ke es dawet sembari nungguin ibu yang jual goreng ayam pesanan saya. Ayam kampung yang rasanya asin dan gurih ini memang khusus take-away alias ngga bisa makan di tempat. Dijual dalam potongan setengah ayam seharga Rp 10,000 (yang agak kecil) dan Rp 12,000 (agak besar), ayam ini biasanya dinikmati dengan nasi putih anget aja rasanya udah nikmat banget, apalagi dengan sambal yang dijual juga di tempat yang sama. Kalau untuk oleh-oleh, saya diajarin tante saya untuk bilang ke penjualnya "pesan untuk dibawa ke Jakarta". Jgn lupa kata "Jakarta" nya ya, hehe...bukan untuk pamer, tapi supaya yang jual bisa memperkirakan tingkat kekeringan dalam menggoreng ayamnya (dan ngga perlu juga dijelasin ke Jakartanya naik apa atau kapan perginya...ngga penting banget! haha..)

• Abon dan serundeng tetap masih juara di Varia, daerah Coyudan. Mau coba yang less cholesterol, bisa memilih yang namanya Abul dengan harga sedikit lebih mahal tentunya. Abul ini tidak digoreng minyak tapi digoreng kering tanpa minyak (disangrai mungkin ya) dan rasanya tetap sama gurihnya. Namun sekarang Varia bersaing ketat dengan competitornya yaitu Mesran yang menawarkan harga lebih murah. Letaknya tokonya pun tidak jauh dari Varia, tapi buat saya pribadi Varia lebih jagoan. Cuma ingat, Varia selalu tutup di hari Minggu :-(

• Kue-kue kering untuk oleh-oleh seperti sus kering, kue letter S, usus goreng, juga bisa didapat di Varia dan Mesran.

• Nasi rames di (lagi-lagi) Sar Gede. Sebenernya ngga sengaja nemuinnya waktu saya laper dan celingukan cari yang jual nasi, saya ketemu dengan mbak-mbak yang jual aneka lauk, tidak jauh dari tempat ayam goreng tadi. Aneka lauk digelar di meja pendek di tengah jalan/gang tempat orang lalu lalang. Rekomendasi saya adalah tempe dan tahu bacem, buntil dan krecek.

Itulah daftar shopping list saya kalau di Solo, walaupun selain itu ada beberapa jenis makanan lain yang khas Solo seperti sate buntel, (ke)tupat tahu, dll, yang saya ngga masukkan dalam list karena saya ngga begitu doyan.

Jadi pergi ke Solo, siap-siap untuk naik berat badan ya karena benar-benar tiada hari tanpa makanan enak. Dan satu lagi tips saya, usahakan sesering mungkin menjelajahi pasar-pasar tradisional yang banyak ditawarkan di Solo karena selain (buat saya) tempatnya asyik, biasanya ada makanan-makanan yang enak tapi belum komersil. Dan pesan terakhir, sebelum makan, jangan lupa berdoa dulu supaya ngga kesurupan waktu makannya...haha..

Happy eating ... :-)

Interlaken - a little piece of paradise

This is my second visit to Interlaken after the first one in 2006, and the city has never ever failed to amaze me with all it has to offer!

We entered the city by train from the southern side of Switzerland, Italy. The closer it was to Interlaken, the more "wow" I heard from the people in the train while jumping from window to another window for taking pictures. Yes, the road to Interlaken offered a mind blowing view. Having located between two Alpine lakes (Thun and Brienzee) and surrounded by the Swiss Alps, Interlaken had made itself to be a superb holiday destination.

Interlaken was actually more like a transit city for us before going up to Jungfraujoch, the endpoint of highest railway in Europe, at the peak of Jungfrau mountain. We plan to go to this place the next day and decided to take the most out of the city in the evening - a very limited time space indeed.

The rainfall as we landed at Interlaken Ost station has made the weather even colder. We took the bus to our hostel, Balmer's Herberge Youth Hostel, a very nice backpacking hostel which claims to have been providing a good value accommodation for the past 60 years (!) especially for backpackers. After checking in and getting refreshed, we headed back to the city to grab a dinner and fulfill the wish of buying some merchandise (say.. watch..hehe..).

The next day, we were supposed to get up very early to catch the morning train to get into Jungfraujoch, but having physically exhausted, we chose to enjoy the bed a little bit more. By this, we had to give a miss to a significant discounted package to Jungfraujoch, called "Good morning" package.

Going up to Jungfraujoch can be done through two options:
- Interlaken (Ost/West) - Lauterbrunnen - Kleine Scheidegg - Jungfraujoch

- Interlaken (Ost/West) - Grindelwald - Kleine Scheidegg - Jungraujoch.

And yes, the ticket fare is very pricey (well, what is not in Switzerland), but yet several discount deals are available and most railways passes are valid to reduce the cost. Alternatively, there are two discount packages for day trippers:

-Good Morning: available during summer (May - October). You must take the 6.35am train from Interlaken Ost and should head back from Jungfraujoch at 12.00 noon at the latest. During winter, the ticket is also valid for the train at 07.05am.

- Good Afternoon: available from April to October. You must leave Interlaken Ost at 2.35pm and leave the mountain at 5.45pm.

For these two packages, they offer a return ticket fare at CHF 140, cheaper from the normal rate CHF182. The package price can't be further combined with other discount from the railway passes, which can offer up to 50% discount (In 2006, I used Swiss Pass and got 50% discount).

While my friends took the opportunity to go up to the peak, I decided to go only up to Kleine Scheidegg. I thought that mountains will not much be different from what I have seen back in 2006, so I would rather to give myself a break and enjoy my me-time, do whatever I wanted to do...alone! :-)

So while waiting for my friends to go back, I walked around the station. It was totally freezing cold, especially when the snow was falling very heavy and I couldn't stand outside too long. So I went from one place to another. I went to souvenir shops, a cafe to enjoy a hot coffee, Bratwurst and Rosti (Swiss dish consisting mainly of potatoes) before staying at the warm station waiting room to enjoy my reading.

Picture: train to Grindelwald ready for departing from Kleine Scheidegg

While reading, surprisingly I caught some words that I was familiar at: Bahasa Indonesia! I saw two ladies (mother and daughter) that seemed to be confuse about the train. I approached them and made some brief conversation, helping them with the train information (sok tahuuuu banget!).
After my friends were back, we headed to Interlaken via Grindelwald, during which we again were enchanted by the view: the vast snow-covered fields, the trees with snows at the tip of each leaves, the foot prints of some rabbits at the snowy ground, the giant look of the Alps from far and yet the green biiiiiigg green fields as drew closer to the city. We were so tempted to get off from the train and made our self lost in that green, running wild as far as possible....but of course, it was not :-(

Arriving in Interlaken, we were supposed to rush back to the hostel, packed up our stuffs and continued to Luzern before going to Munich the next morning. But again, we were so tired. So we decided to stay another night in Interlaken, have a relaxing evening, enjoy ourself with good food and nice walks around the city. Life is so beautiful! Hahaha...

People said that you have to try fondue (cheese or chocolate) while you're in Switzerland, so that's what we did. Though the price was quite expensive (chipping in didn't really help), but we enjoyed the food.

We closed our day in Interlaken by walking around the park near the church and back to the hostel (miss the bus...again) *sigh*

What I regreted most from my two visits was that I didn't get a chance to explore more about this little piece of a paradise. It was always to only transit before going up to the mountain, but someday... one day, I will... (a promise I made in my heart)

Walking..

I love walking very much, for the reasons that I just simply find it enjoyable. Sustained walking session for a minimum period of 30 to 60 minutes a day, 5 days a week, with a correct walking posture, reduces health risks. It also increases the bone health and reduces cholesterol (yeay!). But to be honest, I really didn't think much about this reason. It's good to know though :-)

Every day I take a bus to go home from work. Though the bus is actually running in front of my office building, the fact is I have to walk down a bit further to get a seat. Luckily, the pedestrian in Sudirman street is quite nice, at least, you don't have to fight for a space with motorbikes.

To think further about what I most like about walking, I feel that it helps me clear my mind. I get a chance to talk to myself about anything (by 'talking, it means really talking, with a voice comes out). Call me crazy, but sometimes it can ease your stress by talking it out (quitely!) without people noticing so much. Well, occasionally, I also laugh (quitely!).

During the evening walks, I also get to remember all the things happened during the day, things that annoy me or amuse me most, or even simple things that really matters to me. Then sometimes, I also happen to meet interesting things like people doing funny things, street food that smells really good or the grand decorating lights of several buildings especially before Christmas or New Year. I often bought some snack like otak-otak and eat it while walking :-)

Though most of my daily walks was in the evening (no sunshine), I once took a morning walk from the train station to my office. I remember that I wasn't in a good state of mind, a lot of things bothering me so much, so I decided to take a walk to help me clear my mind, relaxing it a bit. It helped, it did. Didn't solve the problems, but it helped me to get refreshed.

During my last trip to Europe, I couldn't remember how long have I walked, but I think it could be like from Jakarta to Bandung, really. Otherwise, I wouldn't have lost 4 kg in just 2 weeks, right?

Of course, I will only enjoy the walk under the condition that the weather is nice (at least it's not freaking hot), the environment/walking path is in safe surroundings (enough lights, good crowd) and only for certain distance. Don't expect me to walk from home to office! :-)

Enjoy your walks...

Sepenggal cerita "injury time" di Salzburg

Venice menjadi kota tujuan setelah Salzburg. Dengan jadwal kereta jam 10.30, kami masih sempat jajan di mini market dekat hostel, browsing internet cari info untuk destinasi berikutnya, masak nasi dan lauk untuk bekal di kereta dan juga mencuci baju di basement hostel yang menyediakan beberapa mesin cuci dan pengering. Pagi itu pokoknya agak santai deh, ngga kudu bangun pagi pula.

Tapi saking santainya, kami ngga memperkirakan waktu, padahal cucian belum sempet kering sempurna, packing juga belum kelar, dll. Alhasil, kami terburu-buru gila, semua barang disumpelin secara paksa ke dalam backpack "Aah, nanti aja lah ngaturnya di kereta, yang penting masuk dulu semua" pikir kami. Cucian yang baru setengah kering langsung dimasukin ke plastik kresek dan angkut. Waktu tinggal 15 menit lagi. Yang tadinya mau jalan kaki ke stasiun, saking mepetnya, terpaksa panggil taksi (iya, iya deh....ngga bacpacker banget kan naik taksi) habis gimana, daripada telat dan harus kesiangan, sayang waktunya.

Ketepatan waktu di eropa memang luar biasa. Taksi datang benar-benar dalam 5 menit, sesuai janji. Perjalanan dari hostel ke stasiun hanya sekitar 6 menit dengan ongkos taksi EUR6.7.

Tiba di stasiun, kami langsung ngibrit untuk cari layar informasi jalur berapa kereta kami. Begitu ketemu jalurnya, lagi-lagi dengan gembolan di punggung, kami mesti berlarian lagi menuju jalur kereta yang ada dalam petunjuk. Fyi, antara satu lintasan ke lintasan kereta di Eropa, umumnya harus turun ke bawah tanah jadi ngga bisa langsung nyebrang rel begitu saja. Jadi kebayang kan, turun dengan tangga, dan naik lagi, dengan gembolan sekitar 15 kg di punggung belakang dan 6 kg di dada depan!

Untuuuung keretanya belum datang dan kami sempet mengatur napas yang ngos-ngosan banget. Begitu kereta terlihat dari ujung, maka saya langsung ingetin yang lain untuk pasang mata mencari gerbong kelas satu, yang berupa kompartemen, bukan deretan bangku-bangku pada umumnya.

Nah, ada kejadian lucu pada saat kereta datang. Berikut kutipan percakapannya - semuanya dalam keadaan berteriak, bersaing dengan deru kereta yang lewat di depan mata:


"Cari gerbong yang warnanya beda, itu biasanya first class!"
"Semuanya warnanya samaaaa!!!"
"Iyaaa! Semuanya ada orangnya!"
"Ya iyalah, kalo isinya hantu, baru kita kabur, pegimane sih lu!! Cari yang kompartemen!"
"Ga ada!! Semuanya bangku!!"
"Woy, kalo kaga ada bangku, itu mah konteiner, bukan kereta"
"Gerbong paling belakang kali"
"Yang paling belakang ngangkut mobil, kaga ada lagi....Oh itu...ituuu!!! Itu gerbong kompartemen!!"
"Cepetan geserrrr....geserrrr...lariiii cepetaaann!!!"


Dan alhasil kita berlarian menuju gerbong kompartemen. Boleh dong gaya sedikit, biar kata backpacker ngere, tapi sebagai pemegang Eurail Pass, kita mendapat fasilitas kelas satu di kereta yang menyediakan fasilitas ini. Begitu tiba di dalam gerbong, kami tertawa sampai sakit perut, ingat kejadian tadi. Udah tahu ada kereta yang meraung lewat di depan mata, tetep nekat ngobrol....sempet-sempetnya ngebanyol pula! Hadooohh....what a day! :-)

I left sum of my heart in Salzburg (one day I will reclaim it)

This story is a only beginning part of my notes from my recent 18-day backpacking trip to Europe with my other 3 friends. The sequence of the next stories may not reflect the actual route as the writing really depends on the writer's mood to write :) Enjoy!


My three friends and I got to agree that Salzburg ranked at the top of the most enchanting city during our trip. This certainly came with reasons.

We entered Salzburg from Prague at approx 2 pm by train. As usual, we got a little bit lost in locating our hostel, which was supposed to be not far from the train station. We stayed at YoHo (Youth International Hostel), which was very nice and most importantly at affordable rate (only EUR17/person) :-)

We decided that we were too tired to walk around the city or event wondering the city transportation route, and that the city was too beautiful to get passed by without strolling every inch of it, so we rented a bike. The weather was relatively cool so it was perfect to have a bike ride. With a map in our hand and EUR 10 as the rent fee, we started our journey.

Salzburg is the fourth largest city in Austria after the capital, Vienna, Graz and Linz. It is very difficult not think about the legendary movie The Sound of Music when you hear about Salzburg. It is as well difficult not to burst into songs when you're walking along the rivers or stopping by at Mirabel Platz, our first stop in our bike ride. Well, that seemed to happen with one of my travel mates, Dewi. With no shame and doubt, she sang the song "Do-re-mi"...and danced....publicly!! Hahaha...yeap, she actually did those! She successfully served a public performance when people were openly watching and smiling at her.... :-)

We parked our bikes and encountered a three storey house (or castle) which initially we thought to be the house Von Trapp family but sadly it wasn't. The house was surrounded by a vast garden with several pools and fountains. Of course, there were always statues of horses, guards, just to name a few. Adding with the perfect weather, the place offered a very peaceful ambiance to simply walk through the green. I envied several old couples who sat at the wooden chairs next to the fountain and in the middle of a beautiful garden or hand in hand walked slowly, enjoying the presence of one another. Huuhuhuhu.... I really wanted to be like them when I grew old.

As we continued riding, we tried to read the map to get to the next stops, but then we decided to just follow the roads wherever it led us to. The view was too beautiful to be ignored as we may get busy reading the map. Renting a bike was an excellent choice we have made. Salzburg has over 100km bike paths and using bike was often faster than taking bus, car or foot. There were, of course, times when we were not sure whether it was allowed to ride on the bus lane, so we took the pedestrian side. Apparently it was not allowed as it was for people walking, well of course :-)

We rode the bike to the paving-block alleys with shops and restaurants on our side, until we finally encountered a river, a beautiful one! The view was really like a painting. The blue river with green hills as the far backside of it. The combination of dark green hills of forests and light green as huge pasture with some old farm houses spreading over the hills created a breathtakingly enchanting view!

Following the path (and intuition), luckily the ride brought us to Salzburg Museum with a big statue of Mozard, glaring so elegantly! We took our time to catch some breath as well as some snaps, hehe...and managed to buy some merchandise ;p

The next stops (again, with no maps, just follow the road and instincts) we managed to get to Hohensalzburg Fortress. It was located on top of a mountain, but of course we didn't ride up with our bike! We got there by a cable car, a vertical furnucular at a cost of EUR 4-6 (can't remember the exact ticket fare). It was around 6pm and there were only few visitors. The story said that the fortres was used to serve as the residence for the prince archibishop for many years, and also served as military barracks and as a prison. We climbed up to one of fortress areas which offered visitors a breath-taking views of Salzburg and the Alps. We also got to look down on a field below to find only one house. The story said that it was the prison excutioner's house and it was believed that to live anywhere near the house would bring a bad luck. We stayed for few moments to enjoy a beautiful sunset, while the weather was getting cold (poor me, I made a wrong outfit with a short pant).

Going inside the fortress, it was a bit gloomy. I didn't know if it was because the atmostphere of having to see weapons , some torture instruments, dark chambers, or simply it was because it got dark so it was quite creepy. We didn't manage to check more rooms like the chambers, chappel. Anyway, we saw one outdoor cafe right at the edge of the walls, which could serve very romantic candle light dinners, but it was closed for the reasons I didn't bother to find out :)

Oh, before going up to the fortress, we happened to sit back a while in a quite big open space, looking at some men playing a giant chess. Really, it was a big chess game, where the pins were half size of a man.

After the fortress, we then rode back, heading to the hostel as it got darker. Again, we were so proud to be able to find the path back without looking at the map, hahaha... As hunger was catching up, we turned to find a place to eat first. We ended up in a very nice Turkey kebab restaurant near the train station. With EUR 5.5 we enjoyed a quite big beef kebab (so big that we couldn't finish it up) and a cup of hot tea.

We finally managed to get back to hostel, tired but so fullfilled (and with full stomach!)

We left the city the next day, heading to Venice....whoaaa....Italy, we're comiiiiingg...!!!