Julie and John’s Excellent Adventure – Part 4 – S is for Salzburg, Salt, Sound of Music and Style

Mozart dinner concert

Salzburg - stylish like a mini Vienna, but in the Alps and home to only around 150,000 people - but it uses everything it has - namely the Sound of Music and Mozart

We arrive to this gorgeous little place mid afternoon and decide to spend the first night at a Mozart concert and dinner - its fantastic, held in a beautifully decorated baroque hall, we are treated to 3 courses and 3 samples of Mozart's operas - complete with live music and entertaining opera singers in period costume before strolling home across the crystal clear river and through the narrow, cobbled streets

Bavarian mountains

Next day we are up early and picked up for our tour of the Salt Mines - Salzburg meaning "salt castle". We head into nearby Germany, into the stunning Bavarian mountains ablaze with all the autumn colours, past Hitler's Eagles Nest and upon arrival we are handed miner's overalls to change into. A train ride, a raft ride on an underground salt lake and all sorts of information on how it is mined don't compare to the best bit - mum, dad and I holding on tight and whizzing down 2 different steep wooden slides!

Sound of Music tour - Von Trapp's house

Mirabell Palace gardens

The afternoon brings the Sound of Music tour..........we get to see the different filming locations of the Von Trapp house, the gazebo, the scenes of Do Re Me and the wedding church in nearby Mondsee.




I wished I had bought either my Ipod or a travel size schnapps when the sing a long started on the bus but Mum enjoyed it!

Beer and chicken at Augustiner

Salzburg fortress

Today we went into St Peter's Church (where they hid from the Nazi's in the movie) and then up to the Salzburg Fortress - with stunning views over the city and surrounds and a few interesting museums on Salzburg's history. Then to the Augustiner Brewery - pure beer brewed by Monks - no preservatives = no hangover so I had 2 and we ate some delicious roast chicken. When you go in, you grab a ceramic stein, pay for your beer and they fill it right out of the keg. When you want a refill, you can rinse it out at a fountain and then get some more! You can also bring your own food into the hall, so its full of locals just meeting up and hanging out - love it :-)