Prague-České Budějovice-Linz-Salzburg-Villach-Ljubljana

when you fail to plan, you reach Salzburg

Czech train conductors still cause us some problems and we had to pay again for the trip from Prague to České Budějovice.  To make matters worse, the train had to stop halfway due to some reason unknown to us and we had to take the bus for the remainder of the journey.  Problems did not just stop there.  When it was time to get on the next train, we got on the wrong train (my fault!) that was going in the opposite direction, to Prague!  So we quickly got off the next stop and cycled back to the main station and waited another 2 hours.

After all this, we had smooth sailing with no more conductor problems.  We passed by Linz but had to stop in Salzburg for a night since the next train did not have anymore bike spaces.  Being stuck in Salzburg for one night was actually the best thing that could have happened since it is in my humble opinion, the nicest city in our bike journey so far!

We first unloaded our bicycles at the hostel we chose to stay in and then quickly went to the Salzburg castle.  While finding the way to the tram that brings people up to the castle, we passed by a concert hall and it was jam packed with men in suits and ladies in nice dresses.  As we continued towards the hot of the hill, we found Mozart's statue and a super huge nice fountain in a nearby street.  There are so many distractions before we actually went up to the castle.

The evening view from the castle as amazing.  The picturesque view is in my opinion due to the fact that Salzburg is in a valley with nicely coloured buildings and it gets better when night falls and the street lights turn  on.

After the castle, we continued cycling around the streets and had dinner quite late.  When the shops were all about to close.  The next morning, we continued our journey on the high speed Austrian OBB rail to Villach, crossing the Alps and some of the most scenic sights of the towns, villages and grazing grounds in Austria.  After Villach, it is only a short trip to Ljubljana and we reach it at about two in the afternoon.  Our bicycle journey restarts here again.