Cash in on Antigua
SAVE up to £600 on a holiday to the Caribbean if you have got enough Christmas cash left to book by January 15. Tropical Sky has seven-night all-inclusive deals at the four-star-plus Galley Bay Resort & Spa in Antigua, with dates from January 3, costing from £1,839 per person. Go to tropicalsky.co.uk or call 01342 886 941 for details. LOVE Christmas? Then you’ll liebe Salzburg. Even when the festive season ends, Europe’s most Christmassy city still looks good enough to eat. Salzburg can offer a white Christmas long after the last of the turkey has gone.
Snow is pretty much guaranteed in January and February, and there’s baubles and glitter all year round thanks to two specialist Christmas shops and even a Christmas museum.
Moreover, 2018 is the 200th anniversary of one of the world’s most famous, heart-stirring carols, Silent Night – which has a couple of museums in Salzburg’s surrounding villages. Salzburg’s virtually traffic-free Old Town is a place of cathedrals, monasteries and baroque and renaissance squares, often echoing with music. On one of its squares, Mozartplatz, stands the Christmas Museum, which includes a collection of tree decorations, advent calendars and early Christmas cards.
Watch out in particular for the Krampus, a traditional ogre designed to scare children into being good, and Wunschzettel, early children’s letters to Baby Jesus setting out their wishes for presents.
Just around the corner in Judengasse is the Christmas and Easter store, closely followed by the Christmas in Salzburg shop, offering yearround shopping for all that glitters.
Judging by their contents, silver is in fashion – as are painted eggs. GO: Entry to the Christmas Museum costs €6, www.salzburger-weihnachtsmuseum.at. Hop on a train for a 30-minute scenic trundle north to Oberndorf and Arnsdorf, for two museums dedicated to this popular carol.
In Oberndorf the museum is in the former vicarage right by the Silent Night chapel – it also tells the story of the dangerous profession of salt-shipping on the river Salzach, once a huge business here.
From the banks of the Salzach, right by the chapel, you can gaze across the water at Germany on the other side.
The second museum is a gentle 20-minute walk from the Arnsdorf train station to the old farming village, where it fills the upstairs floor of the ancient primary school.
This is where the carol’s composer, school teacher Frank Gruber lived – but visiting has to be outside school hours, so check the website. GO: It’s a 25-minute train ride out to Oberndorf, with Arnsdorf another five minutes further. Train times on oebb.at, and museum details on silent-night.com. You can’t ignore the fortress that looms over the Old Town, the Hohensalzburg, the largest and best-preserved castle in central Europe.
For many centuries Salzburg was a very wealthy independent city state ruled by Prince-Archbishops, and this was their seat of power (although they mostly preferred to live more comfortably downtown in the Residenz, connected to the cathedral).
Even if you don’t see its grand medieval Golden Hall, you need to come up here (either on the funicular or via the winding lane) for the view over Salzburg’s rooftops. GO: The funicular’s cost of €8.40 includes entry to the fortress (the Golden Hall is extra). salzburg-burgen.at. Salzburg Sa is a pricey place to eat out, but there are ar some traditional experiences which are worth w hunting down.
The Café Tomaselli on Alter Markt is the o oldest in Austria (founded in 1700, tomaselli.at), an and serves coffee on a silver platter while ladies ci circulate with cake trays. Best, though, to have yo your typical apple strudel in Café Habakuk, over on Linzergasse, where a slice will set you back €3.50 3 (cafe-habakuk.at).
For a sit-down lunch or dinner on the main sh shopping street, the s’Herzl on Getreidegasse fe feels more like a Swiss mountain hut than a do downtown restaurant – but the ambience is ch cheerful and the price, by Salzburg standards, is at least approachable. GO: G Try s’Herzl’s simple bratwurst and parsley po potatoes, €10.50, or one of its daily menus, eg