Sopron Walk-about

Let's take a quick walk around Sopron Belváros (downtown) starting at the church. It's the top three floors of this rented building. The third window level up is the chapel, the level above with the bay windows is the activity level with the relief society, priesthood and primary. There is no elevator, just a grand staircase leading straight up. The old folks (senior missionaries?) are huffing and puffing by the time they get to church. You can see the windows on the roof level where the young missionaries live. The church suggests putting in an elevator but the owner isn't sure that the building needs one.


This is a fruit and vegetable stand across the street.


How do you like these flowers on "Castle Boulevard" that rings the historic city center?


Doors like this lead to inner passageways with all sorts of surprises...


like this view of the Fire Watch Tower that is the symbol of the town.


Here's another view of the tower from the street.


If you look the other way down the street you can see the tower of the "Goat Church" in the middle of town. I have no idea why the main church has that name. They are repairing the main square so we couldn't get much closer for a better picture. Nearby are also reconstructed ruins from Sopron's Roman past.


There are lots of fountains ...


and lots of little hole-in-the-wall banks--more than you'd expect for a town of 50,000. This is the one I go to on Mondays to make the church bank deposit.


But this is the cheap dentistry capital of Europe and in a cash only society you have to get money to pay for the dentist. There are over 300 dental clinics in town. As you walk around the downtown, you see several in every building (that and beauty clinics, massage parlors and restaurants to keep you busy while you wait for your appointment)--and if you look down the streets, you can see the dental tour busses parked from Austria and surrounding countries. Click on the picture advertising this dentist and tell me if you'd trust him. Note that most of the ad is in German.