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| One of the many stunning views on our ride |
Our entire bus and train journey from Venice to Salzburg was
about six hours and the majority of it was through absolutely gorgeous scenery.
At some point before we got to Austria we hit the massive snow-covered
mountains and it was spectacular. It was hard not to constantly stare out of
the window!
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| Villa Trapp |
We arrived in the city around 10:00 at night and decided to
splurge on a taxi to our hotel, Villa Trapp, yes as in Von Trapp.
For three
nights we lived in the mansion of the Von Trapp family (from The Sound of
Music, for those of you who aren’t familiar). Waking up the next morning we
were in for a wonderful surprise. Our room (a “basic room” that somehow came
equipped with its own private and large balcony) overlooked the stunning snow
covered peaks just to the left, and not far to the right was the city and we
could see the famous castle peaking through the just-beginning-to-bloom trees.
Perfection.
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| The view from our room |
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| Pretending to be part of the Von Trapp family |
We spent the next two days exploring the city, mostly by
foot, as we typically do. We walked into and back from the city a few times,
wandered along and across the river, through the old town, up the mountain for
a view of the city below and around the main streets and plazas. I ate one
memorable meal at The Heart of Joy Café, not far from the famous and beautiful
Mirabell Gardens. It was a vegetarian café that also had several gluten free
options, including a highly recommended chocolate mousse cake. Yum! Drew was
able to explore some more traditional culinary delights from some shops along our wanderings, such as pretzels, schnitzel, beer, and sausage, and he was very excited about that!
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| Fortress and the Alps in the background |
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| Hohensalzburg Castle |
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| Overlooking the suburbs and Alps |
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| The river and the old town |
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| It's a unicorn! At Mirabell Gardens |
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| Mirabell Gardens with Palace in the background |
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| Mirabell Gardens |
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| He kind of hated that I made him pose for this picture ;-) |
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| A dinner picnic on our balcony |
The city is beautiful and has an entirely different feel
than anywhere we’ve been so far. I’m not sure what it is, but I told Drew that
I felt the safest here over any of our other destinations. Not that I ever felt
unsafe, necessarily, but there’s something that just made me feel really
comfortable. It was also the first real days of spring in the city, we were
told, and being from Buffalo we can totally relate to the positive energy this time of year creates in a place. In addition, the people, in general, were extremely friendly; people in the stores and restaurants, random people we encountered or asked
questions to, and the drivers (who all stop for people in crosswalks and
don’t seem annoyed about it or like they’re going to run you over if you don’t
hurry up! Imagine that!) Plus, the scenery was stunning. I’m more of an ocean
person than a mountain person, but I still find all of nature wonderful so I
can’t complain, that’s for sure.
If you’re looking for a small but interesting, friendly, and
beautiful city to visit, Salzburg would be a wonderful option. Most people
spoke English as well, which made it a lot easier than I expected. And for any celiacs, gluten is a commonly understood term and you are able to find gluten
free things in the grocery stores, and it seems that many restaurants try to
accommodate gluten free diets if possible. Plus, after Italy most things seems
a bit cheaper!
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