Few sights in Europe are so dramatic as your first glimpse of the fortress castle of Salzburg, looming high above the city with the blue-green foothills of the Alps as a backdrop. Known as the Hohensalzburg, the massive compound — built from the 11th century onward as an endless series of additions to an archbishop’s estate — is only the most visible sign that this historic mountain town, one of Europe’s oldest, has its stories to tell.

The stories go well beyond the birthing of a brilliant composer, though that’s certainly one which Salzburg will not soon tire of recounting. When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart entered the world here in January of 1756, St. Rupert’s nearby Convent of St. Erentrudis was already a thousand years old; but the young genius quickly outstripped it in fame. Though Mozart spent most of his later life in Vienna, his famous early compositions were made in Salzburg, and both his birthplace and a townhouse where his family resided are among the town’s most popular attractions. (As is, fairly enough, St. Erentrudis.)