Salzburg | Blissfulbritt

Tag: Salzburg

Salzburg, Austria – Pt.2

Posted at 5:00 AM by Brittany, on April 23, 2019

Before I went to Salzburg, I knew that the city was famous for some of the Sound of Music filming locations. I did some Google searching to find out my options to visit these locations, and settled on a three hour bike tour. I’m not normally one to take a formal tour, but when there are bikes included I can be convinced. The tour turned out to be one of the best decisions I had made all month.

Most people take a bus tour, but I knew I wanted to ride a bike around Salzburg so this was the perfect activity for me. My group had eleven people consisting of mostly other Americans, some British folks, and a cute Australian guy. The tour took us to multiple filming locations, and through some of the outskirts of Salzburg. Getting out of the city center was so much fun, and the weather was absolute perfection.

Maria’s Abbey

The lake terrace scenes at the von Trapp’s family home were all shot at the baroque Leopoldskron Palace dating back to 1736.

The actual “16 going on 17” gazebo.

View of Untersberg Mountain – referenced in movie.

While riding through the outskirts of the city, we had a stereo playing songs from the movie. The wind was slightly blowing, the sun was out, and I couldn’t slap the smile off my face if I’d tried.

One of my favorite filming locations, which I visited multiple times while in Salzburg, was the Mirabell Palace and Gardens. The gardens at the palace are said to be among some of the most beautiful gardens in the world. I visited the gardens the previous day, as well as later that evening for a concert.

My only regret of this tour, was not being able to visit Werfen, aka the picnic meadow where they sang “Do Re Mi.“ This town is about a 40 minute train ride outside of Salzburg, so I plan to return to walk the “Sound of Music Trail” INTO the Austrian alps. Overall this was such a fun way to see the city and to see some of the filming locations. I wish I had watched the movie the night before (my hostel shows the film every night at 8p) but I’m an old lady and need my sleep.

After the bike tour I lost my morals and grabbed a Salzburg Pretzel, which was basically a pastry in the shape of a pretzel covered in chocolate. The pretzel was the size of my face…twice. It was intense. I chomped on my sins as I walked towards Mozarts Geburtshaus, aka Mozarts birthplace. It only made sense to stand in the room where Mozart was born, before listening to his music at a concert in Mirabell Palace later that evening.

As regular readers know, I’ve made it a priority to see a classical concert in each new country I visit while living in Europe, and Salzburg was no exception.

“In this room Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756.”

I stood in the birth room for a full five minutes soaking in the music playing through the speakers. It was a surreal moment to stand in this room. Regardless of whether you’re a fan of his music or not, Mozart was a huge influence on classical music. His talents will live on forever. Sorry, I think the sugar rush from the pretzel was seeping through my fingers as I typed that.

After I visited Mozarts birthplace, I made sure to walk past the house the Mozart family moved to next. I didn’t feel the need to go inside, and I started to feel the effects of the pretzel and the Mozartkugel I had eaten and needed a small break from wandering. I headed back to my hostel for a bit to shower and change, and then it was time to visit the Mirabell Palace and Gardens again, but this time to go inside. I had booked a ticket for a Mozart concert and I got a front row seat.

The palace was built in 1606, and is used today for concerts and weddings. The room where the concert was held is full of gold and marble, I can see why people want to get married there. The palace staircase felt like a scene from Titanic, and every detail was immaculate. The musicians were amazing, and they all looked so young.

I’m constantly in awe of those who can play a musical instrument. I played the clarinet for a few years when I was in school, but couldn’t play a song if my life depended on it today (except for hot cross buns, forever for the HCB.) I’d always wanted to learn piano, but never made the time for it. I’m a sucker for piano, and my future husband will not only be able to build me a house in a flannel with a beard, he will also play the piano.

I left the next morning around 10am. I would have stayed a bit longer, but the weather turned crummy and I felt I’d seen all I needed for this trip. Plus the longer I stay places the longer I’m off track with my eating and start to feel like I’ve been hit by a train. I had a great last minute trip to Salzburg, and am happy I live so close to such amazing cities full of history.

Q: Are you a Sound of Music fan?

| 28 Comments Tagged Austria, Bike, Brittanys Life Abroad, Mozart, Salzburg, Sound of Music, Travel, Travel Abroad

Salzburg, Austria – Pt. 1

Posted at 5:00 AM by Brittany, on April 17, 2019

Last week I was lucky enough to snag another three day weekend. If it hasn’t become obvious to those of you who regularly read my blog, I have a bit of an addiction to traveling. Sometimes I need to take it down a notch and remember to appreciate the trip I just went on before trying to jump into another one. Living in Europe makes that difficult! I decided to go to Salzburg for a couple days because it’s only about a 3.5hr train ride away.

I actually ended up deciding the day of that I wanted to go, and booked my train and hostel in a matter of minutes. I had looked up options a few days prior, but didn’t pull the trigger until an hour before I was to catch the train. Sometimes last minute decisions are the best. I arrived in Salzburg around 3pm, which gave me enough daylight to get acclimated to the city for a few hours.

I dedicated my first afternoon to wandering the city, and the Hohensalzburg Fortress. The Fortress was built in 1077 and is the largest fully preserved castle in Central Europe. To access the fortress you can walk up a relatively large hill, or you can ride up in a Funicular. I’m always down for a walk, and I’m too cheap to pay for the easy way, so I walked up the hill and earned my view. The museum was closed when I visited, which I was more than ok with, so I only had to pay 4 euro to walk around the grounds.

The fortress was huge, and I spent about an hour walking around and appreciating the views. I can’t help but wonder what it was like living in castles like this when they were actively used by European royalty. I also wonder what the view was like back then. The view now is amazing, and provides an arial shot of the Salzburg Cathedral. The view walking up to the fortress was great too, and each twist and turn provided a different angle of the city.

Salzburg Cathedral dome and towers in the middle/right.

After I pretended I was Salzburg royalty I walked around the city for a while before it got dark. Near the hill up to the fortress is a gate that leads into St. Peters Abbey and Cemetery. Never have I ever seen a more beautiful cemetery in my life. It was small, but the effort the families put into each burial spot was amazing. This cemetery was the inspiration for one of the scenes in the Sound of Music, when the Trapp family fled through the cemetery to hide before fleeing to Switzerland.

More on the Sound of Music filming locations later.

Notice the dwelling in the wall of the cliff? Upper left.

Salzburg Cathedral dome in the back.

The dwellings in the cliff wall apparently served as both hermitages and burial sites. I didn’t discover the dwelling was accessible until after I left. There are stairs leading up to the dwelling, and the entrance is found at the foot of Mozarts sisters grave. Yea, the Mozart. Honestly I’m super bummed I didn’t know about the stairs leading up, looks like I’ll have to return!

From the cemetery I found my way to the Dom zu Salzburg, aka the Salzburg Cathedral. The large onion dome and two smaller towers in front of it are seen in a few of the above photos. The cathedral was destroyed and rebuilt multiple times by fires, but you’d never know by walking through the isles. It was beautiful inside, as are all European cathedrals. There is a lot of history inside the cathedral, but the one that resonated most with me was that Mozart was baptized in this cathedral.

Photo of a photo I was given for making a donation.

The rest of my first day in Salzburg was spent preparing for the following morning. Day one was a mere four hours in the city, but it was already off to a great start. I stayed at the YoHo Int. Youth Hostel, and it was very close to both the train station and the city center. I stayed in a four female dorm, and my first night there were three Koreans in the room with me. Thankfully they were very quiet, as I needed a good nights sleep for day two!

….to be continued!

Q: Can you make last minute decisions for an adventure, or do you need everything planned prior?