Vendor City Guide: Salzburg, Austria

Our guides this week: Georg and Eveylne Aigner sell Austrian street paper Apropos. “It has turned my life around,” says Georg. “My wife and I visit schools and universities to talk about the street paper and poverty in Salzburg.” Eveylne adds: “My self-confidence was built up with the
help of Apropos, and we are somehow a little famous now in the city.”

Why we like living in Salzburg

Georg: We grew up here and I love every stone of Salzburg. For a long time now we did not go away for holidays, because we like it here as it is. Most of the people here are friendly, peaceful and always ready to help.

Evelyne: It is a beautiful city where living is pretty good, and it is not as big as Vienna.

What every visitor must do

Georg: What Salzburg is most famous for is Mozart, Festspiele [a classical music festival] and Mozartkugeln [a chocolate ball]. On one side it is an accurate image of the city, because the portrait of Mozart is omnipresent in the city, but this glamorous image belies that there is poverty in Salzburg as well. Every visitor should go is Mozart’s birthplace [Hagenauer Haus], the Salzburg fortress and the old town by day and by night.

What to do without spending money

Evelyne: Walking along the river Salzach is free and beautiful in every season. From Makartsteg, which is a bridge, you can enjoy the famous view of Salzburg with all the huge baroque buildings and the fortress above them all.

Georg: A very nice thing to do is walk up the beautiful mountains Kapuzinerberg and Mönchsberg. On days with clear weather you can even see far out to the countryside and to the east of Germany. With the mountains we have nature in the midst of our city; from the Apropos office, which is
located at the foot of the Kapuzinerberg, we sometimes see chamois, squirrels and lots of different birds.

Our favourite place in Salzburg

Georg: We live in Lehen. It is more quiet than the city and everybody knows and supports each other.

Evelyne: It is also perfect for walking our dog, because there are more parks than in the city. Lehen is sometimes known for being a problematic district, but we do not think so. 

Best place to eat

Georg: There is a restaurant called Schmankerl, which means “speciality” in Austrian dialect. You can eat inexpensively, which is not common in Salzburg. Our favourite café is the bakery Resch & Frisch.

Evelyne: You can borrow a book in the library next door and then read it while drinking good coffee in a warm atmosphere.

Georg: Salzburg is also known for its culinary delicacies. Some of them are known around
the world…

Both: Wiener schnitzel, salzburger nockerl, sachertorte, kasnockn, kaiserschmarren and bosna.

How to escape city life

Evelyne:  We do not have to go far, we walk around the Lehener Park. If we want to go a little bit further away from the city we drive to DaxLueg with our moped. It is a restaurant on a hill 10km away from Salzburg.

Our favourite time of the year

Georg: In spring you can feel how the trees live and the plants start to grow again. I like that very much. And autumn because the fruits on the trees become ripe and the leaves change their colours. Both times are also good to drive with the moped.

Image: Megan Reddi