Salzburg💕 — Patti Part Two

Just going to say it right off the bat - we all fell in love with Salzburg. My expectations were high because I had heard so many great things about it, and I was actually there 35 years ago, but only for about 24 hours and it was on a whirlwind tour of 6 countries in 16 days and it seemed we spent most of the time in a bus - because I’m pretty sure we did. I remembered it was picturesque and that’s really an understatement. Being there at Christmas with all the beautiful decorations and those super fun Christmas markets might have made it even more like a storybook, but for those and a bunch of other reasons it’s an amazing, fun and super relaxing place. It also feels pretty small especially compared to Paris and Vienna. You can really walk anywhere in about 20 minutes.

We used our unlimited Vienna transportation passes to get to our train station where we boarded our train to Salzburg. We had purchased our train tickets in advance and through our research found that there are two available options to get to Salzburg. The state run train system called the OBB or a newer privately owned train called The Westbahn. The Westbahn is much more limited as far as where it goes, but provides excellent service to Salzburg at one third of the cost. And really new train cars so that’s what we used. It worked out great. A super comfortable ride and pretty alpine scenery for the two and a half hour ride.

Cheryl relaxing and enjoying the scenery.

We arrived in Salzburg and thanks to our friend Rick Steves rode the bus from the train station to our hotel for 2 euro each - perfect! The town of Salzburg is divided by the Salzach (salt) River, with the Old Town on the left side and the New Town on the right. Hundreds of years ago Salzburg was funded by salt, as the mines are quite close. And salt was worth a lot of money - one of the reasons why Salzburg was so powerful. Our hotel was in the New Town, which made me laugh because our hotel was built in the 1300’s! To get to the Old Town you just walk across any number of bridges that connect the two.

We found our hotel easily and it was perfect. Hotel Stadtkrug was right on the central street through New Town and run by a sweet couple that like most of the people in Salzburg - were very friendly and nice. The hotel was so quaint but totally updated with technology, bathrooms, comfy beds, etc. The best of all worlds!

Many of the buildings are built right into the mountains that circle Salzburg and right behind the reception desk of our hotel there was a huge rock! No going out the back door here.

As usual we’re hungry, so we headed out to find lunch. We weren’t the only ones that thought Salzburg would be great to visit at Christmas time, so one thing we discovered quickly were lots of other people trying to do the same thing. So we settled for putting our names in at a restaurant that looked great and walked around for about 30 minutes until our table was ready. No problem as it was so fun to see more of the darling town.

Check out the huge rock this building is built into - it’s everywhere!

A store that sells lederhosen - yep - they really wear them. And those cool alpine hats. This store was not a tourist souvenir shop - it’s the real deal.

The huge Hohensalzburg Fortress looming over town.

Time for lunch! Ludwig which had excellent burgers and salads. Lots of great beer too!

Burgers for Cheryl and Meredith and salads for Ava and I. Pretty sure we had fries too. The salad was one of the best I’ve ever had - and I’ve eaten a lot of salad in my life. Homemade dressing too. Saving room for the dessert that I’m pretty sure I’ll be having soon😊

There was talk of returning for round two the next day - it was so good!

We headed across the bridge to see Old Town. And more Christmas markets! And mulled wine!

No ceramic mugs though. But still delicious!

The narrow cobblestone streets could not be more picturesque. And tucked in courtyards and alleys were Christmas markets with so many beautiful things to buy.

Time for dessert! My friend Mary Kay had just been to Salzburg and recommended Furst for coffee and pastries so we tracked it down. It was late afternoon and they said they had been unexpectedly busy so didn’t have a lot left, but the apple strudel looked good so we gave it a try along with a delicious jelly donut. No regrets and such a cute place!

The girls had been off shopping so came and met us and we all headed back to our side of the river. We stopped at the hotel to relax a little and then went in search of dinner. There was a super cute place really close to our hotel call Zum Fidelen Affen which means The Funky Monkey, and while they were really busy they said if we would give them about 20 minutes they would squeeze us in - done! No one was super hungry since we had a late lunch and late dessert, but they had great soups and salads and wine so that’s what we ordered. And some really great pretzels!

Such a cute warm cozy place. And lots of monkeys around!

Day 2 - and actually our last day in Salzburg started with breakfast at the hotel. Like a lot of European hotels breakfast is included and often delicious. Our hotel had an awesome assortment of food. A full buffet and they would make you eggs or omelets to order. They had a coffee machine that I would love to have in my home. Except it would kill me because I would be pressing the cappuccino button 20 times a day and never sleep.

Top right is my much loved potica! A walnut yeast bread that my grandmother made and it’s fantastic!

Off to the Sound of Music tour! Yes!! Totally doing it! Everyone loves the Sound of Music - admit you love it! It was released in 1965 but it’s timeless. It was set in Salzburg and is about a real family. Everyone I know that has been to Salzburg says it’s great and even Rick Steves said to do it, so how could we not? There are a couple of different companies that offer it but we went with the biggest which is Panorama Tours. Book in advance because it sells out. They do a tour in the morning and a tour in the afternoon and there were three big busses going at our morning time slot. I was excited about it but I thought it was going to be kind of schmaltzy (excessively sentimental). We all said it exceeded our expectations. For one, it gets you around Salzburg and into the gorgeous surrounding alpine mountains and lakes - so two tours in one. The tour guide was very professional and gave us a lot of the history of the country, the true story of the Von Trappe family (which is quite different from the movie version) and we got to see many of the places featured in the movie. Something that I think is interesting is that the locals don’t understand why Americans, Australians and New Zealanders are so enamored with the movie. Outside of the tours there is one shop in town where you can purchase Sound of Music items. The locals are much more into Mozart who was born there and lived there for the first 25 years of his life. The vast majority of the souvenirs are Mozart related, and you can visit his birthplace and residence - neither which we did. We did walk by both.

Top picture is the back of the house used in the movie - really just the back yard which faces the water. Remember when the kids and Maria all fell out of the boat? That one! Me with the gazebo (which was built for the movie and doesn’t sit in the b… — Top picture is the back of the house used in the movie - really just the back yard which faces the water. Remember when the kids and Maria all fell out of the boat? That one! Me with the gazebo (which was built for the movie and doesn’t sit in the backyard of that house) . Bottom left is the real abbey - building with the red bulb on top. Nothing was actually filmed inside since the nuns aren’t open to visitors - but they allowed the front gate to be in the movie in a couple of scenes.

On our way to Mondsee which is the town up in the mountains where the church Maria and the Captain got married in (not for real though) we got to drive past some beautiful villages and lakes. We stopped and got off the bus to take pictures and I think it’s one of my favorites from the entire trip.

We had some time in the adorable town of Mondsee to visit the beautiful church where the movie wedding took place and visit the shops and restaurants.

All the towns are so clean and manicured. Everyone remembers Maria walking down this big aisle!

Our last stop of the tour was at the Mirabell Gardens which are beautiful gardens where the whole scene with all the kids and Maria in their curtain play clothes sang Do-Re-Me.

Top left - the steps they jumped up at the end, Top right - the fountain they ran around, Bottom right - the statues they mimicked, Bottom left - the arbor they ran through. It’s all there!

The tour takes about 4 and a half hours but it was worth it! I can’t wait to see the movie again! We stopped for a quick lunch at Cafe Bazar which was in a pretty spot overlooking the river.

Not a huge menu but the real deal as far as Austrian cuisine. I went with the cheese toast (grilled cheese) and various sausages for the others. Why not?!

Did I mention Salzburg has great shopping? We decided we needed to do a little more so headed over to Old Town. There are sites and museums to see in Salzburg, but frankly we were a little burned out on them, so passed on everything except attempting to get up to the big Hohensalzburg Fortress. Some of my ideas are good but not all of them, and this was one that didn’t work out so well. I had read that you could take an elevator up to the top of the Monchsberg Mountain and walk over to the fortress seeing beautiful views and homes along the way. Most people just take the funicular from the bottom to the top and then down again after exploring the fortress. That sounded too easy to me. So it took us about 45 minutes to find the elevator on the other end of town and take it to the top.

Pretty view of Salzburg, the river and the fortress from the top of the elevator platform.

The walk to the Fortress was pretty but quite a bit longer than we had expected and it was starting to get dark. By the time we got to the fortress the entrance to get in was closed, and the only way to get in was to walk down and take the funicular to the top. What?

So that’s what we did. We walked down and took the funicular up - walked around the fortress and then took the funicular down again. It didn’t have to be that hard! Sorry ladies! They were good sports about it and we did get to see some pretty scenery.

From the fortress. Hey we were just in Paris! And Ava is heading next to Berlin!

We need dessert! On to Cafe Tomaselli which was where Mozart used to dine, although it wasn’t called Cafe Tomiselli then.

Having our Mozart moment - packed but still fun. Desserts and wine!

It was a Saturday night and we had no dinner reservation- our luck had run out. If I come back one thing I will be sure and do is make dinner reservations. Lots of great restaurants but they are small. We tried a number of places in our area and finally found an Italian place we could get into, and the food was actually quite good.

Sadly we had to say goodbye to Salzburg in the morning, and goodbye to Ava - who was heading to Berlin to meet a friend for New Year’s Eve which is also her birthday! Happy belated Ava! Lucky lady!

Cheryl, Meredith and I reversed our steps and took the Westbahn train back to Vienna. We said goodbye at the train station in Vienna because they were taking the CAT train back to the airport to fly back to Paris for the night, while I was staying in Vienna for one more day. We had such a great time together!

Back in Vienna - starting to feel like home to me. I hopped the metro to get to my hotel, which was in a great location right by the Hofburg Palace. I had just gotten it off Booking.com so was hoping for the best. It was a pension hotel which is kind of a cross between a hotel, guest house, bed and breakfast etc. Less amenities than a hotel but I figured since I was only there one night I didn’t need much more than a clean room with a comfortable bed. The Hotel Pension Museum was perfect. Reasonable, great location, clean, quiet and a nice breakfast included.

So what to do with my last hours in Vienna. Dessert of course! My favorite pastry place in Vienna is Demel, and while I had walked through with the ladies when we were there a few days ago, we didn’t stop to eat. I needed to fix that ASAP!

Tea and the famous Sachertorte! A dense chocolate cake layered with apricot jam.

Next up the Albertina Museum which is located in one of the Hapsburg residences. I had visited this museum on a previous visit, but when I saw they had a special exhibit on Monet I had to try and fit it in.

It was really cold and windy and since I didn’t know about the exhibit prior to being in Vienna I hadn’t bought a ticket in advance. So I had to wait in line for at least 40 minutes to get in but it was so worth it. The building is beautiful and the Monet exhibit was the best I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen quite a few Impressionist exhibits that were great, but this was all Monet and I saw pieces I’ve never seen. Plus they did a great job of designing the exhibit using a timeline of his career so I learned much more about his life, his family and his career. I felt so lucky to have the opportunity and also learned about a museum in Paris that is just Monet that I have on my Paris list for next time. A good reason to go back.

On my way back to the pension I walked through my last Christmas market. Even though my friend Cheryl is not here to drink mulled wine with, I will have one and toast to her.

I discovered that they switch the mugs to New Year’s mugs and the pig and mushroom are considered to be their good luck charms - much like the shamrock in Ireland. I looked it up and it’s something about if you have a pig you have everything you need, and the mushroom is lucky because certain kinds of them are rare - so there you go! I kept my mug and brought it home with me. I figure we can all use a little extra luck and hoping it brings me a year as great as the one I experienced in 2018!

The next morning I headed home. Vienna to Dublin to Chicago and home. Thanks for “coming along” and sharing my adventures! While my Gap Year is technically over my travels aren’t. Check back again or use the Subscribe link on the home page to be notified when there is a new post to read.

“The life you have led doesn't need to be the only life you have.” Anna Quindlen