Mozart's Alpine Cradle by Daphne Beames

We awoke on the Mönchsberg high above the historic centre of Alt Salzburg.

One does not often wake in a castle commanding so spectacular a view of a classically beautiful city - and where a delightfully named castle-café, ‘Maria Theresia’, has been elegantly set for a delicious buffet breakfast. Beneath towering, ivy-wrapped walls - a harp plays on a leafy terrace styled “Apollo” and a life-size, bronze Archer, bow-poised, stands disarmingly in a rose garden.

Portraits of Maria Theresa and Francis of Lorraine adorn the stately drawing rooms and there is even a quaint elevator that opens with a big, brass key.

This aristocratic hideaway - Schloss Mönchstein - was built by a prince way back in 1358. It has been called the most ‘charming city hotel in the world’ and not one of the discerning guests listed in the handsome visitors’ book, would fail to concur. From Catherine, consort of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and Elisabeth, Empress of Austria – to present day sybarites, the cognoscenti have flocked to this gracious ‘urban sanctuary’.

We may have slept on a seemingly remote hilltop but we were also just moments away from the music of ‘Mozart Land’.

‘Panorama Weg’ runs past the gates of the Schloss and a few metres along this elevated road is an observation deck from where all Salzburg lies open at one’s feet. Stop for a compulsory photo opportunity, focusing on the twin-towered Cathedral and the slender, Rococo steeple of the Abbey Church of St. Peter – still chosen today as a preferred venue for Hapsburg marriages.

Adjacent to the viewing platform we made a serendipitous find: the ‘Mönchsberg Lift’. First built in 1890, this masterly feat of German engineering whisks passengers down through the mountain to the Baroque buildings of the old town in just thirty seconds. It is an amazing ride and one is literally catapulted into the Altstadt.

The Getreidegasse winds through the centre: a glittering, old-world street over-flowing with finely-wrought, swinging, vendors’ signs and ornamental, beribboned shop fronts. It is a jewelled way enhanced by the sparkling Swarovski gems on offer in every store and, in case you have forgotten that you are in the 21st-century, a Mercedes Benz ‘boutique’ sports a rich array of must-have, state-of-the-art memorabilia.

If you look very carefully you may even discover a branch of MacDonald’s tucked away - complete with golden swing-sign surrounded by a garland of wrought-iron ivy leaves, and masquerading as an 18th-century tap-room.

Strains of Mozart float on the air, as if piped from the stones by a magic flute! Half way along the street - where the throngs of tourists converge - stands a pretty, yellow house overlooking a small, chocolate-box square, and bearing the golden legend ‘Mozarts Geburtshaus’; here at No. 9 - now a museum - the master was born and spent his childhood.

A few steps further and a weathered Amadeus, himself, looks down on the city from his pedestal high above Mozartplatz: a colourful square where one can listen to the lilt of violins, absorb the atmosphere and enjoy coffee and Sacher-Torte at Café Glockenspiel or near-by Café Tomaselli.

Before returning to the hotel for dinner at the renowned ‘Paris-Lodron Restaurant’, there might just be time to cherry pick a few sights. Explore Salzburg Cathedral with its famous 10,000 pipe organ, the Mirabell Gardens and the 12th-century Residenzplatz with its impressive 17th-century Baroque Fountain.

Our next stop was the Ferien Club on the Grundlsee: an emerald-green, log-cabin resort, forty minutes away in the heart of the lake district. Here three enticing, interlinked, fjord-like lakes hold secrets which may even include as yet undiscovered Nazi treasure, possibly stored in their depths for safe-keeping during World War II. Today, this is an idyllic spot where Muscovy ducks swim contentedly beneath breathtakingly sheer rock formations.

Right on the doorstep is the pretty village of Bad Aussee where a stone plinth announces importantly that one has now arrived in the very centre of Austria. A helpful city councillor, minding his antique shop for the morning, gave us his insights into two very special places, both within easy driving distance: Bad Ischl and Hallstatt – the latter he recommended sombrely for its ‘display of ancient, disinterred bones’!

For all the macabre stories about the store of bones, Hallstatt is a charming, first millennium village nestling against the shores of the Hallstatter See in the Saltzkammergut - where little seems to have changed in a thousand years!

The archaeological wealth of this UNESCO World Heritage Site - one of the first known places of human habitation - dates back over seven thousand years and the name ‘Hall’ probably derives from the old Celtic word for salt – mined in the area for centuries.

Cars must be left at the entrance - the slender, photogenic steeple of the neo-Gothic Protestant church rises in the distance and a short walk along the waters’-edge leads to what has all the appearance of a small, wooden toy-town. Even the occasional, painted train, chugging along on the right bank - looks more like a model by Hornby. So restricted is the narrow strip of land allocated selfishly to Hallstatt by the precipitous mountains that, uniquely, its tiny rail station must needs lie on the opposite side of the lake and can only be accessed by ferry.

Clinging to the steep rock, set on piles and arranged in descending terraces – the slatted houses lining the cobbled lanes and alleys are beautified by floral window-boxes that call to mind biblical ‘hanging gardens’. In a corner of the quaint, triangular market place – stands the 450 year-old Gasthof Simony still plying its hospitable trade and offering dreamy views over the lake, together with the fluffiest featherbeds in Austria!

High on a granite outcrop, the magnificent Catholic Pfarrkirche dominates the picturesque scene. Its ornate gold and crimson interior is rich enough to tempt the tourist to linger but all eyes instinctively turn towards the stone Beinhaus in the cemetery.

As space is at a premium in Hallstatt, bodies in the graveyard have, for centuries, been dug up after about ten years - the bones cleaned and the skulls identified by painting. Male skulls are decorated with ivy and oak leaves while female skulls are given floral motifs; name, date and symbols denoting cause of death are often added. At present, more than 1200 skulls are eerily on display above rows of bones in the small ossuary.

Hallstatt also offers tours to the intriguing Dachstein deep mountain ice caves. These may be reached by cable car - from May to mid-October.

Upper Austria has its very own fairy-tale.

Once upon a time an exquisite 16-year-old princess, Elisabeth (Sisi) of Bavaria - one of the most noted beauties in Europe - married her Hapsburg cousin, the 23-year-old Emperor, Franz Joseph. Their marriage was celebrated in the Cathedral at Bad Ischl in 1854 and the Kaiservilla, a golden-yellow summer palace, was given to the new teen-queen of Hungary and Empress of Austria - as a wedding present. The Emperor described this country mansion as “heaven on earth” and today it is still the residence of the direct descendants of their youngest daughter, Marie-Valerie.

Surrounded by forests and lakes, the tranquil, flower-filled haven of Bad Ischl with its wide, grey-stone boulevards; its 19th-century ambience and its cobbled, tree-clad walks is a delightful spa-resort. Decorated, horse-drawn carriages still transport tourists; men still wear lederhosen and classical music still wafts on the air.

The crushed-brick, gabled edifice of the 13th-century Cathedral of St. Nicholas keeps watch over the shady streets and the old Café Ramsauer - named for the Empress’s doctor and once patronised by Strauss, Lehár, Brahms and Bruckner. A plaque on the front wall of the church attests that the master, Anton Bruckner, once held the elevated position of chief organist here - while the impressive, gilded interior boasts a fine organ, an ornately painted ceiling and rose-veined, marble pillars.

The two main attractions are the house of Franz Lehár (24 of his 30 operettas were composed in the town) and the Kaiservilla. This grand, imperial residence is set in a park complete with its own river; a magical mountain (the Juinzen Hill) and Elisabeth’s glamorous, marble tea-house – now a national Photographic Museum. (The Kaiservilla is open to the public daily and special celebrations are still held each year on August 18: Kaisergeburtstag).

Before you leave Bad Ischl - savour one more mouth-watering moment: visit Zauner’s Patisserie (once suppliers to the royal court). Just inside the inviting, esplanade entrance and ringed with violets, hangs Winterhalter’s stunning painting of Sisi – the establishment’s most famous former patroness. This wonderful cake shop - a symphony in glass, soft shades of pink and gilded mirrors - belongs to another century and the pasteries on offer (stollen, chocolate wafers, almond-filled croissants and ring cake) belong in heaven! Zauner’s proud boast is that selected items can be delivered anywhere in the world. Try them. It is true.

Only in Austria can the minuet dance hand in hand with the Age of Microsoft! Seven hundred years of elegance, chivalry and order have left an indelible imprint of Imperial heritage locked within the sound of music and brush-stoked over the Alpine countryside. Whether you choose to ski on snow-covered slopes, cruise down the Danube or just to drink in the luxury of her castle hotels – the aura of Austria is as exciting as it is indefinable.