(Part 2) The Hills Are Alive in Salzburg: "The Sound of Music" Tour and Salzburg's Salty Past

- December 25, 2018, Tuesday, Christmas.

- How do you solve a problem like Maria?  spending Christmas in Europe? Traveling to Europe during major Catholic holidays like Easter or Christmas can sometimes be a problem mainly because everything is closed!! There are, however, a few pros, cons, and tips on how to travel to European countries the holiday season.

- Traveling to Salzburg from the 24th to the 26th of December was a big risk since I wanted to do everything. Normally, I would suggest going to bigger cities during the holidays so it would be easier to find something open or something to do. Little European towns, cities, and villages that are more traditionally Catholic or religious tend to shut down during Christmas or Easter. Finding something to do like visiting open public areas like plazas or churches may not be a problem, and can also be a "pro" instead of a "con" since there is little to no competition in taking the perfect photobomber-less Instagram photo. This was my case during my trip to Santorini and Pisa (click here to see my trip to Santorini during Easter, and here to see my trip to Pisa during Christmas). The biggest "con" however will be finding food to eat, although there are surely a few restaurants open especially near the tourist sites. For Christmas eve and Christmas day, if you're the type who needs a fancy dinner, make sure you do your research before the trip and book a reservation so you can be sure to have your fancy holiday lunch/dinner.

- Anticipating the shut down of the whole of Salzburg on Christmas day, I had two options - either book a day trip to make sure that I'd have something to do, or go to the public open spaces where I can take photos as the locals quietly celebrated Christmas in their own homes. I contacted Salzburg Panorama Tours (click here) way before flying to Europe regarding their day trips and thankfully, not only did they respond quickly, but they also told me that most of their tours were available whole year round (however, they may sometimes need to cancel tours due to weather conditions.)

- I decided to take a combination tour of their bestseller - "The Sound of Music" tour - and the Salt Mine Tour; I bought tickets from their website. Panorama Tours popularized "The Sound of Music" tour, which is a guided tour to some of the spots where "The Sound of Music" tour. I took this tour because some of the spots were incredibly far from the downtown, and at least this guided tour would take me and the other tourists to those far-flung places. The Salt Mine tour, on the other hand, is a guided tour to one of the salt mines of Salzburg, and it is because of these salt mines that Salzburg got its name ("Salzburg" means "salt fortress.") One tour that I would have wanted to take but did not have time for would be their Hallstatt tour; Hallstatt is a picturesque lake town outside Salzburg that - based on the photos - reminds me of Arendale in Disney's Frozen.

- On Christmas morning, instead of opening gifts under the Christmas tree, I headed to the Panorama Tours meeting point and visitor center across Mirabell Palace to enjoy one of the best Christmas "presents" I've had in a long time - starting the day with "The Sound of Music" tour. Our bus kept playing Sound of Music songs even as our tour guide gave us some information on the places that we were supposed to visit that morning. Whenever our tour guide did not talk, the people in the bus would erupt and sing to their hearts content. Clearly, all of us were crazy fans of "The Sound of Music."

You'll see this across Mirabell Gardens.

THEEE HILSSSSS ARE ALIVEEEE.

- Though it needs no introduction, "The Sound of Music" was a musical film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer that showed worldwide in 1965. It tells about a widowed Captain Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) and his 7 children who were in need of a governess. They hired Maria (Julie Andrews) from the Nonnberg Abbey to teach the children. The children quickly warm up to Maria and later learn how to sing from her as the Von Trapp household was not allowed to have music after Captain von Trapp's wife passed away. The Captain and Maria eventually fall in love and get married just as the Austro-Hungarian Empire was about to be absorbed into the German Empire at the dawn of the Third Reich (hello Hitler.) As the Captain did not want to be part of the Third Reich and the Captain was being pressured to serve as the naval officer of the Third Reich, the family planned their escape from Austria. The movie ends with the family escaping Austria to Switzerland by going through the Bavarian Alps. Of course, not everything in the film was true to the real story of the Von Trapp family, but we do know that the film has an approval from the real Von Trapp family - the real Maria von Trapp herself had a cameo in the film!! (This was near the beginning of the movie, during the time Julie Andres was singing "I Have Confidence" and there was a small group of ladies passing by Julie's back as she was entering Residenzplatz. The real Maria von Trapp was one of those ladies; look for the lady with the headscarf.)

- Our first stop for the morning was the Hellbrunn Palace at the far south of Salzburg, a 16th-century day residence known for its trick fountains. Trick fountains are fountains that are either hidden or disguised, and suddenly shoot water at unsuspecting passers by. Unfortunately, the palace and its trick fountains are closed during the winter with statues also covered in wooden boxes and panels, which is why, as mentioned in Part 1 (here), I think Salzburg is better seen during the hotter times of the year (i.e. not winter.) However, our main goal - and probably the most important thing for me - is to see the gazebo at the palace gardens that was used in "The Sound of Music." This gazebo was originally located in a different location but later brought to the Hellbrunn Palace gardens. The facade of the gazebo was used in the movie, but another bigger replica of the gazebo was constructed in Hollywood. The interior of this larger gazebo was used to film the song "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" where the eldest Von Trapp daughter Liesl (Charmian Carr) danced with her supposed love interest, the originally-good-messenger-turned-Hitler-supporter Rolfe (Daniel Truhitte).

One of the times that I am happy about having a photobomber. Apparently I am the Rolfe to the flying lady at the back's Liesl. Also, I got my shirt and coat, both traditional Alpine clothing, from the second-hand shop called Humana in Berlin.

- A short drive later, we arrived at the Leopoldskron Palace, or rather, the banks of the lake outside the Leopoldskron Palace. This 18th-century palace was turned into a conference venue in the 1970s, and in 2014, it was repurposed as a hotel. In "The Sound of Music," the lakeside facade and the backyard were used as the Von Trapp mansion, although the real Von Trapp family never lived in this palace.

Hohensalzburg Fort from afar.

Leopoldskron Palace.

Thank you for cooperating, ducks.

- On the way to our next stop, our guide also gave us more information on the differences between the Von Trapps in the film and in real life. Generally speaking, the idea of the story was close to the experiences of the real Von Trapp family. However, unlike the movie, the real Captain von Trapp was more fun and musical one and the real Maria was the strict one. There were seven children in both reality and in the film, but the names and genders were not similar. The family did not live in large mansions in the heart of Salzburg, but a smaller but equally majestic house in the district of Aigen far from the old town. Finally, the biggest difference would be how the Von Trapp family escaped Austria. The real Von Trapps escaped Austria in the nick of time by hopping on a train to Italy from the train station a few meters from their house in Aigen; the borders were closed by the Nazis the day after the Von Trapps escaped. In the movie, however, the family was supposed to escape to Switzerland by climbing up the Bavarian Alps. This is, however, geographically inaccurate. First, Switzerland does not border Austria, and second, if they really did climb the Bavarian Alps, they would have found themselves in Germany - right at Hitler's layer!! (So much for an escape, right?) But OK, let's suspend our disbelief for a moment and appreciate the film's poetic "Climb Every Mountain" ending.

Passed by the Nonnberg Abbey (the red onion one.)

We also passed by the headquarters of Red Bull. Apparently it is owned by an old single Salzburger tycoon.

To the mountains we go. Climb....Every....Mountain??

- We had a short stopover at a cliff overlooking St. Gilgen, an old lake town worthy of a postcard. Aerial shots of this town were used for the opening of "The Sound of Music." Also, it was snowing - the proper feathery kind - during our brief stopover. At least it wasn't the dreadful rain-and-snow combination that soaked me the day before.

St. Gilgen.

- Later, we headed farther away to the quiet town of Mondsee, known for the Mondsee Abbey or the Church of St. Michael. The church was built as early as the mid-700s AD. Interestingly, this church went back and forth between Germany and Austria, in the sense that Mondsee was sometimes part of Germany and sometimes part of Austria depending on the expansion and contraction of Bavaria throughout the centuries.In "The Sound of Music," this was the church where Captain Von Trapp and Maria get married, although the real Captain and Maria got married at the Nonnberg Abbey.

Church of St. Michael.

"How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?"

Church organ at the back.

Altar.

The streets of Mondsee.

Traditional Alpine architecture.

The Church of St. Michael from afar.

- Our final stop for the morning was back in homebase - the Mirabell Palace Gardens, where, as mentioned in Part 1 (here), they filmed the song "Do Re Mi." The tour ended after the minute-long visit at the Mirabell Palace Gardens, and I had around an hour to find a place to eat a decent lunch before my afternoon tour. While the area around the Mirabell Palace normally has a lot of cafes, restaurants, and food stalls, most of them were closed because of the holidays. Thankfully, there was one vegetarian restaurant at the next street that was open, so I ate as fast as I could before finding my tour bus for the afternoon.

- That afternoon, I went to the Hallein Salt Mine or Salzbergwerk Dürrnberg, still with Panorama Tours. This salt mine has been used since time immemorial, and it was what made Salzburg rich. Salt, after all, was called "white gold" as it was a highly important commodity back in the day. As salt was Salzburg's primary commodity, they called the state Salzburg, or "salt fort." Also, it was its own country for the longest time before being absorbed by Austria in the early 1800s.

That's one of the more modern electric trolleys used.

Yes, I had to wear the white coverall.

- The salt mine was a network of caves, and visitors had the opportunity to see some of the safer caves. To further give us visitors that immersive experience, we were made to wear the same black-and-white work clothes that salt miners had to wear, ride on the trolleys to go inside the main cave, and of course, ride on the wooden slides that the workers used to quickly go to the lower levels.

Into the caves!!

The salt mine was not just a place to work, but there were some altars for praying too.

Wooden slide!! That's not me by the way, and there is an official camera that takes photos of you as you go down the slide. Think of amusement parks and their horror houses or roller coasters where they take photos of you screaming at the top of your lungs. 

Our salt mine guide telling us how salt miners would test the salt in the mountain by tasting the bring made from the salt.

Not my finger, but I did taste the bring too. Unsurprisingly, it was salty. (It is a salt mine after all.)

- The Hallein Salt Mine acts mainly as a museum nowadays as salt mining stopped in the 1980s. Apart from ecological reasons, it was also too costly to mine salt from the mountains as there were easier and more cost efficient ways to produce salt. The salt mines however - not just the Hallein Salt Mine - give tourists a different introspection to Salzburg's main industry and its history.

We rode on a boat across the underwater lake. To make it more interesting, they installed a lights-and-sounds presentation as we sailed for around 3 minutes.

A wax replica of a body they found trapped in the salt mine.

Tunnel after tunnel after tunnel.

Yay!!

  - I thought the tour would have ended right after our interactive and immersive visit to the Hallein Salt Mine. I guess I did not read the itinerary carefully, but I was in it for a big surprise when we were told that we would still have one last stop before ending the tour, and this stop was - in Germany!! Salzburg, after all, was so close to Bavarian Germany and in the early 1800s was part of Bavaria before becoming part of Austria. The caves of the Hallein Salt Mine go under both Salzburg and Bavaria that labor treaties had to be made so they can share the salt mine. Moreover, Berchtesgaden was also a favorite holiday spot by many big names like Sigmund Freud and Adolf Hitler.

If you see a block dot on top of the peak closer to the right, that is the Nazi's mountain-top meeting house called the "Eagle's Nest." Hitler hated it because he had a fear of heights.

A pleasant surprise.

Wooden peacock.

Berchtesgaden's old town. 

- The old town of Berchtesgaden was so small that it was nearly impossible to get lost. Strategically-placed arrows were also everywhere. Since we were only given around an hour to explore, I had to budget my time between exploring and having an early dinner since I wasn't sure it there was anything open back in Salzburg. There was a lone traditional German restaurant open for Christmas, and I ordered schnitzel with spaetzle to go (or at least in the song "My Favorite Things," "schnitzel with noodles") to keep up with "The Sound of Music" theme of the day.

Part of the old castle.

Former Royal Castle of Berchtesgaden Castle.

These were just painted!! They're not 3D at all!!

Schnitzel with spaetzle. Spaetzle is a kind of stubby pasta, so technically "schnitzel with noodles" is kind of correct.

- I arrived in Salzburg around 6pm, and went back to my hostel to enjoy my take-away schnitzel with spaetzle. Even though my day was packed with surprises and full of "The Sound of Music" I still had one more day to explore Salzburg and another iconic Sound-of-Music location!!

- Please don't forget to read about my other adventures in Germany, Austria, and Slovakia here:

GERMANY:

Berlin and Potsdam: Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here

Munich and Schwangau:  Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here

AUSTRIA:

Salzburg: Part 1 here, Part 3 here

Vienna: Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here

SLOVAKIA:

Bratislava: Click here