Many people choose to make a day trip to Salzburg from Munich since it is a smaller city. We decided to go and stay the weekend for exactly that reason- for a slower pace part of our trip.
As it turns out, there is actually a ton to do in Salzburg. One of the main things it is known for outside of Austria is the Sound of Music! It was surprising how few of the local Austrians have seen the movie. Many of them actually acted put off by the idea that their city was known for this Hollywood sensation.
We fully embraced that we were in the city where this glorious movie was filmed! We surprised my mom, who is a huge fan of this movie, by staying in the actual von Trapp family’s house which is called Hotel Villa Trapp. She was super excited as you can see in the video below.
This 22-room home has been turned into a bed and breakfast with pictures of the von Trapp family decorating the hallways and memorabilia around every corner.
We stayed in the Edelweiss Trapp Family Suite. The room was huge with beautiful views of the backyard.
The home is located a few miles outside the city perfectly situated next to the mountains and river. The property the home sits on is huge and offers plenty of privacy with enormous trees.
Just to clarify, this is the home the real von Trapp family lived in. This is not the home that was used during filming in the movie.
The family left the home in 1938 shortly after Hitler took over Austria. They left their home behind and took a train through the Austrian Alps, crossing the border into Italy and on through Switzerland, then France to London, and finally a boat to America. They arrived in New York on September 1938 and toured the country performing as “The Trapp Family Singers”.
In 1939, the Nazi’s took over the family estate. Heinrich Himmler, Head of the SS and one of the major slaughterers of the holocaust, used the property as his summer home. You can still see an underground barrack that was built by the Nazi’s in the backyard today.
We took a Sound of Music bus tour to see many of the sites that were used for the filming of the movie.
Our first stop was what the filmmakers used as the backyard of the home. Remember the scene where the kids are in the boat with Maria and the boat tips over after they become excited by seeing their dad on land?
Probably one of the most memorable scenes from the movie was at this gazebo. “I am 16 going on 17…”
We also got to drive through the mountains to the church that was used to film the Captain and Maria’s wedding.
The church is called St. Michael’s and is in the beautiful lake-side town of Mondsee. The town itself was full of colorful buildings and small cafes.
The final place we visited on our tour was the fountain and stairs where the children run around learning to sing. We had too much fun skipping on the fountains edge and jumping on the stairs singing. “Doe, a deer, a female deer. Ray, a drop of golden sun…”
We really loved the tour not only for the Sound of Music sites, but also for the beautiful scenery we got to see between the different locations. Driving through the mountains in Austria was an amazing experience in itself.
We decided to climb the hill in the middle of Salzburg to visit Hohensalzburg Fortress, which you can see from almost anywhere in the city. The fortress began construction in 1077. It was originally built under Archbishop Helfenstein who wanted to protect himself from Henry VI after he sided with Pope Gregory VII over the king.
The fortress was used for many different purposes throughout history. Today it is one of the largest medival castles in Europe. There are also some spectacular views from the top.
On the way up the hill we made a stop at Nonnberg Abbey, which you can see with the red roof.
This is the abbey where the real Maria von Trapp resided, and is also used in the movie.
Salzburg was a great place to just wander around. The river running straight through the middle of the city opened up the landscape and offered a great path into town.
There are some beautiful parks along the way.
As is true to much of Europe, there are many beautiful churches that are open to walk around and check out the artwork.
In the city there are old, winding streets lined with shops. We stumbled upon the birthplace of Mozart while walking down one of these streets.
And of course, there are many cafes and restaurants.
Austrian food is very similiar to German food. Most notably, you can find Schnitzel on just about every menu. We did learn that schnitzel is not served with noodles though as the song from Sound of Music would make you believe. We also got some Apple Strudel which is a common dessert here.
In case you forgot: “Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudel. Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.” You’re welcome for that wonderful song being stuck your head for the rest of the day 🙂
As we’ve learned about much of Europe, they love their bread! My mom couldn’t believe how big the prezel donuts were here. Chad and my dad were pretty excited about their hotdog wrapped in dough.
Chasing Summer 