After a busy few days in Vienna, we hopped on the train for the next segment of our Austria trip to Salzburg, the fourth largest city in Austria and best known to many travellers as the birthplace of Mozart and setting for Sound of Music (get the title of this blog post?). The two hour journey from Vienna to Salzburg was fairly easy. We booked tickets on the regional OBB train in the family zone carriage, which offered a bit of extra space for strollers and a small play area for children.
On arrival at Salzburg Hbf station, we just walked to our hotel which was about 20 minutes away in the Altstadt (old town). We stayed at a small boutique hotel called Gentle Hide Designhotel in their junior suite.
We spent our first afternoon in Salzburg walking around Mirabell Gardens. The adjacent Mirabell Palace was built in 1606 at the behest of Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau, later purchased by the City of Salzburg in 1866 and since World War II has been used as the mayor’s office and departments of the municipal administration. In popular culture, the gardens are best known as a backdrop for several Sound of Music scenes.
The following day, Teddy and I spent the morning at the Spielzeugmuseum (Toy Museum). For a 5 euro admission fee, this place was actually a lot of fun even for me! The museum features interactive exhibits on the history of toys and world of play, including three floors of exhibits that function as play areas with lots of usable toys.
In the afternoon, we took a ride up the funicular to see Fortress Hohensalzburg. Construction of this fortress began in 1077 and continued to expand through the 17th century at the behest of the prince-archbishops of Salzburg, remaining as one of the largest medieval castles in Europe. Teddy promptly fell asleep in his stroller once we got to the top, so I went through the interior of the castle and up to the viewing point.
We had a lazy third and final day in Salzburg, just wandering around the Old Town and checking out a market along the Salzach River.
And we returned to Meissl & Schadn to try a few more Austrian culinary classics: apple strudel and tafelspitz.
I think three days was adequate to see the highlights of Salzburg and I’m glad we fit it into our trip. Our next stop in Austria would be the mountain village of Lermoos.
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