Salzburg - Alive with the Sound of Music…and heat

 🎶The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music🎶 Salzburg, the city that just about every American thinks of when they think of the Sound of Music. But it’s also a city of art and architecture, and music.

I left Munich behind on Monday morning. I boarded my train to country #16, only to find this train didn’t have any luggage space. So for the entire 2-hour train ride to Salzburg, I had to sit holding on to my luggage. It wasn’t super uncomfortable, but it wasn’t comfortable either. But no matter, I made it to Salzburg in one piece and found my way to my hotel. 

I’d booked this place on booking.com, but it’s actually 3 “apartments” that are rented out by a chain of stores. They have different departments of the store across several different locations around Salzburg. The lovely lady from the store shows me to the apartment. First down this long hallway, up to the 4th floor by elevator, down another hallway, around 2 corners, and up a set of stairs, then another short hallway, and here you are! The place is cute, but the sleeping area is up a VERY precarious and steep set of stairs. I thought for sure I was going to kill myself going up or down those stairs. Well, it turns out I didn’t have to worry about that. I went up to bed on my first night, and it was so HOT I couldn’t fathom sleeping up there. Luckily the bed was 2 single mattresses, so I hauled it down to the living room area and slept down there! Though hauling that mattress back up at the end of the stay was a production and a half!

Anyway, back to Salzburg! I spent the majority of my first day taking another Rick Steves self-guided walking tour. He has an audio app that has these tours with his narration that you can listen to and follow the path he sets out. I’m kind of a Rick Steves junkie. If Rick recommends something, I’m probably gonna do it.

Tuesday, I had not 1 but 2 things planned. I had booked a cooking class several months ago. That was supposed to be at 11:00. So with the cooking class starting at 11. I booked my Sound of Music Tour for 2:00. I got an email from the cooking school asking if I would be interested in switching to a 2:00 class because the morning class was large, but the afternoon class was small. So I called the Sound of Music Tour company, switched to the morning tour, and switched my cooking lesson to the afternoon.

I met the tour bus at the Panorama booth in Salzburg. This is touted as The Original Sound of Music Tour. They claim to have had Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, the real Maria von Trapp, and several of the movie von Trapp children among their past customers. The tour is 4 hours long. It doesn’t stop at any of the sites in the Salzburg town center because that is a car-free zone, and there’s nowhere for the bus to park. But the tour takes you to several locations around Salzburg that were used in the film. The von Trapp family home was actually 2 different houses (1 for the front and 1 for the back). The 16 going on 17 gazebo was originally on the grounds of the house used for the back of the house, but since it was private property, they didn’t allow people to come see it. Eventually, it was moved out to an estate on the edge of town. You can’t go inside and jump from bench to bench like Liesl because some woman was doing just that, fell, went through the glass, and almost died from blood loss. So now it’s closed, but you can see it from the outside. The longest part of the day was the trip out to the town of Mondsee. It’s where the church is that they used to film the wedding scene. On the way, we stopped at the Wolfgangsee, which was used for scenery shots during the opening credits. The town of Mondsee is super cute. Just a tiny little village that REALLY plays up the Sound of Music connection. They know which side their bread is buttered on. The last stop on the tour is the Mirabelle Gardens. Many shots from Do-Re-Mi were filmed in the gardens. Of course, there are always people in these locations recreating scenes from the movie.

My biggest surprise was that the people of Salzburg don’t really know about The Sound of Music. Or rather, they know of it but don’t really like it. Apparently, a few years before SOM was released, 2 German-language films were released telling the von Trapp story. So the Austrians hold those movies in much higher regard than the American musical. Maria von Trapp said that SOM got about 80% correct. The other 20% was purely made up. I bought a copy of the book she wrote when they came to America. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s her story in her own words.

I walked from the Mirabelle Gardens across the river to my cooking lesson. The class was held in a cave (quite literally) by Johann. Apparently, after I moved, the class filled up (I’m pretty popular, I guess), so there were 11 other people in the class, including a mother and daughter from Blaine! Small world. We learned how to make Apple Strudel and Salzburger Knockerl. While both were delicious, the Salzburger Knockerl was my favorite. It’s a type of soufflé with cranberry jam underneath. 

Since 2 major activities weren’t enough for the day, I decided to check out the Hohensalzburg Fortress. It sits on top of the hill overlooking the whole city and is close to Nonnberg Abbey, where Maria von Trapp was a postulant. It’s at the top of the hill, and you can walk up, but you can also take a funicular which will take you up in about a minute. I’m not a fan of walking uphill, so I took the funicular. The complex at the top of the hill is enormous. There are several areas to explore, including the Imperial Apartments, where they often host chamber music performances.

For my last day in Salzburg, I…left Salzburg. I booked a tour to the little lakeside town of Hallstatt. The town is beautiful, and I highly recommend going, but there were just SO MANY tourists. Apparently, it wasn’t even a busy day. Other than the lake, Hallstatt’s big draw is their salt mine. Allegedly the oldest working salt mine. To get up to the mine (I didn’t go in because of time constraints, you need to get to the top of the mountain. Again, you can walk, but for 3€ you can take a funicular. I love a good funicular.

At the end of my stay in Salzburg, I wished I’d had 1 more day to see some of the sights out of the city center, but I really enjoyed the city. I liked Munich better, but Salzburg was amazing. 

Oh, and getting that mattress back up those steep stairs took everything I had and then some. I even broke a nail! But I didn’t kill myself on the staircase, so I’m calling it a win.

Now I’m off to Vienna!