I had only the dimmest awareness that Salzburg is famous for The Sound of Music, but it didn't take long for me to be set right. The whole population seems to have it's lips perpetually pursed at the thought that they would prefer to be famous as the birthplace of Mozart. It's hilarious reading the slightly snide material online on the subject. They are however quite pragmatic that it's a big money spinner. We discover that we have accidentally visited many of the locations without realising it.
On our first full day we wander into town and visit the Mozart Wohnhaus, which is mostly devoted to Wolfgang Mozart's father Leopold, perhaps trying to set the record straight.
Mozart Wohnhaus
Later we decide to drive in search of Sound of Music locations, and had a bit of a false start by trusting Google to direct us to the lake area where the opening scenes from the movie were shot. This resulted in quote a bit of driving around towns outside of Salzburg many of which reminded us of Pauanui, but not the Trapp family.
After that we head for the Hohensalzburg Fortress in the centre of town using satnav to guide us. This led to unfortunate hilarity by guiding us into some incredibly narrow streets only barely wide enough for the car and eventually into a dead end. Funniest part was when the satnav says “make a u-turn if possible” - it certainly wasn’t possible! Nothing for it but to inch backwards carefully for about 200 metres until we can turn back the way we came. Spike had her eyes closed she tells me! After that we were well overdue for some refreshments so we parked the car and found a gastro bar where we had a nice lunch. Suitably energized we headed up the hill to the fortress which is a bit of a climb, but well worth it for the views towards the mountains. The weather has been sunny all day and we get some good shots from the top.
In courtyard of Hohensalzburg Fortress
One of many amazing views from fortress walk
Next day we make an early start on the hunt for coffee; I find a place which looks like it might be good, so we walk about 40 minutes to find that it is in fact a great place serving specialty coffee similar to the good stuff in Vienna.
Coffee at our favourite place on the river
This proves to be close to the Mozartplatz which contains Mozart's birthplace and is a lovely area of narrow walking streets filled with boutiques and eateries and of course tourists. Because we’re early it’s not too frantic and we enjoy browsing the stores and the markets.
In and around the Mozartplatz
We then decide that it would be a good idea to climb up the Kapuzinerberg which is a lovely forest walk which starts near the river, so we cross the Mozartsteg - another Sound of Music location - and find the start of the path not far away. The climb is fairly steep and takes about 30 minutes or so. When we get to the top we find a lovely restaurant nestled behind a small building - the Franziskischössl - where we have a lovely relaxed lunch and several glasses of Prosecco.
On the Mozartsteg
Lunch at Franziskischössl
View from Kapuzinerberg - our Airbnb in the middle somewhere
A long day on our feet but we’re starting to get a bit fitter so we’re coping pretty well.
The next day we start off early for Innsbruck, starting with our new favourite coffee place for a quick caffeine hit.
By this time we have done better research and we decide to divert to the Salzkammergut where the Sound of Music opening sequence was shot. We stopped first at Fuschl for a bit but the lake was a bit ordinary and the weather was a bit overcast so we continued on to St Gilgen on Wolfgangsee which was much nicer. Stopped there for a late breakfast in a lovely little cafe near the lakeside.
Fuschlsee
St Gilgen
We then drive on towards Innsbruck but diverted via Berchtesgaden just over the German border (where we can see Hitler's Eagle's Nest on the hilltop) which is otherwise a lovely little town, we had a nice 30 walk up the hill behind the town.
Berchtesgaden
Looking up towards Eagles Nest
Then another couple of hours to Innsbruck and our hotel right in the centre. After checking in walked around the corner and found a good restaurant where we had a great meal - I tried Grölsht which is boiled beef and cabbage - a lot tastier than is sounds.