Salzburg, where the hills are alive (but the men don’t yodel)

Submitted my second Strategic Management report at last, so I can now blog about Salzburg – Part Two!

With no tight deadlines to meet,

no errands to run,

no agenda to stick to,

no nothing,

driving the streets of laid-back Salzburg,

in the finest weather you could imagine in winter, 

with the windows rolled down,

and Sheryl Crow’s Soak Up The Sun blasting in the car,

was simply…

bliss.

The spacious park of Hellbrunn, Prince-archbishop Markus Sitticus’ country palace from the 17th century

If you’re wondering why the salt mines, the fortresses, the palaces and many important landmarks in Salzburg were built by/used to belong to the archbishops, that’s because they used to rule the city. The Archbishop of Salzburg bear the title “Primas Germaniae”, which means “First (Bishop) of the Germans” as Salzburg used to be part of Bavaria. 

The famous gazebo from The Sound of Music, where Liesl, the eldest daughter, crooned Sixteen Going On Seventeen -remember?

Salzburg is one of the filming locations of The Sound of Music, so this city is practically flooded with tourists who are huge, huge fans of the movie. Yet surprisingly, very few Austrians have watched the musical!

Re-living our childhood moments at the vast playground in the park - my favourite time of the day! Check out the cool effect that the shot has on Hiro’s coat when he jumped off the swing -it looks like it was torn off, eh?

I would love to spend the whole day at the playground,

just lying there in the sun,

surrounded by endless green hills and cheery voices of little children,

and the blooming flowers -the early sign of spring,

but it was our last day in Salzburg,

and there were still lots of places to see! 

So after more driving,

we reached another Sound of Music filming location: Schloß Leopoldskron

That’s the house of the Von Trapp family in the movie -surrounded by the bluest, clearest, prettiest lake I’ve ever seen in my life. My buddy’s brother (the one who works for Deutsche Bank in Singapore) is gonna hold his wedding reception there -ain’t he one lucky guy?

The street where the Von Trapp kids played

All that sightseeing made our stomachs growl, so we headed for traditional Austrian food for lunch!

My Zwiebelrostbraten mit Braterdäpfel und Gurkerl. All I know is that it’s beef and it’s delicious :)

We walked the calories away through the Salzach, a 225km-long river which flows through Austria and Germany.

The river’s name is derived from the German word Salz, meaning “salt”. Until the 19th century, shipping of salt down the river was an important part of the local economy. The shipping ended when railways replaced the old transport system.

At the other end of the river bank is Schloß Mirabell, designed in 1690 by Fischer von Erlach.

Alex and Vien at the palace’s entrance

The ornate, exquisitely landscaped flower beds of Mirabellgarten

And now for Austrians’ favourite past time: coffee!

This time we headed to Steinterrasse, a rooftop cafe in Hotel Stein which offers a marvelous aerial view of Salzburg and its surroundings.

The mountain at the background is in Germany! Salzburg is THAT near to Germany, hurhur.

Great coffee, lovely view, priceless company! Love this retro pic!

After coffee, we walked for quite a bit more in the old town.

Mozart’s Geburtshaus (birthplace) at Getreidegasse. The famous Classical composer was born in Salzburg in 1756 and died in Vienna in 1791.

We left Salzburg and drove back to Vienna at about dinner time that day. The thought of having to attend class the next day was just lethargy-inducing. I wish we could stay longer, but nonetheless, thank you buddy for having us :) 

Click here for more photos of pretty pretty Salzburg!