Halstatt, Austria

 

The Hills Are Alive

Our first day in Austria did not disappoint. Salzburg is a beautiful city and taking the Sound of Music bike tour was such a great way to experience the city and area around it!

I love that each of the bikes have a name.

The tour goes to several different spots that are featured in the movie, and shares so many details from behind the scenes. I watched this movie so many times growing up that it was just amazing to get to see the places I've seen so many times.

The Mirabell Palace and Gardens are beautiful. Part of the Do Re Mi song was filmed here.

Peanut was feeling a lot better--this was the first truly happy day with him on this trip.

Everyone was happy, even though Bean and Bug have both caught Peanut's cold. But they don't seem as ill and he was (or they just handle things a little better than he does.)

Beautiful day in a beautiful location--it really felt like magic that we got to be here.

The horse fountain was under construction, but we rode by.

Our bikes were equipped with photos from the movie at the various locations that we were going to see.

And this next one. . .

the Residence Square and fountain, where Maria splashed the water in the song "I Have Confidence in Me".

 Although they had to do some trickery because as you can see, the edge of the fountain is really tall!

We stopped at the Stiftsbäckerei St. Peter--a bakery that's been around since the 12th century.

Water has been channeled through this water wheel since 1160 AD.

Next stop: St. Peter's Cemetary and Catacombs, where the Von Trapps hid from the Nazis at the end of the movie.

It's a beautiful little cemetary.

And then we climbed the one hill. Most of the ride itself wasn't too hard and we took things slowly. 

The views were worth it.

And then we got to see the Nonnburg Abbey which was used for the outside shots with the nuns.

Seriously, when they handed Daddy-o a small speaker and had him ride in the middle of our group with "The Hills are Alive" playing as we biked through meadows, it was unreal. 

This was the best tour we've done on any trip.

Where the kids were hanging from the trees along the shore of the lake.

Still had a couple of more stops.

The outside shots of the house,

And just like Maria skipped down the path.

and the gazebo from the infamous 16 Going on 17 song.

What a fantastic city!

Salzburg escaped most of the bombings so there are a lot of really old buildings. Everywhere we turned, our guide was talking about the first or oldest x, y, or z in Europe. We saw the oldest continuously serving restaurant in Europe (since 803 CE), oldest bakery, and we rode the oldest funicular which still runs the same route up the castle hill since the 12th century.

We spent awhile exploring the castle.

It was cool seeing the exposed walls from a previous iteration. The castle changed a lot over the centuries, from a small building in the 2nd century 

to the massive complex that is now.

We had some fun with the exhibits.

(They even have a puppet set of the Sound of Music characters.)

And saw lots of fun doors!

I'm a fan of doors.

From small ones

to big.

The view from the tower was amazing.

We found a fun place for dinner at the bottom of the hill.

The food was too good to stop and take pictures, haha. We tried some little pancakes things for dessert,

and apple streudel.

And then walked a little more after dinner, even though we were all exhausted.

But we have completely fallen love with this city.