Continuing with the Sound of Music theme, here are a few places we enjoyed exploring in Salzburg.

Hohensalzburg Castle

The Hohensalzburg Castle is a medieval fortress that was first constructed in 1077. It started out as a small fortress on top of a hill that continued to expand and became completed as it is today, in the year 1500. It’s known as one of Europe’s largest structures that was undefeated. It was fun to walk through and see some pieces of history used in those time periods as well as the surrounding views.

Hellbrunn Palace & Trick Fountains

The Hellbrunn Palace was the summer home to Salzburg’s prince-archbishop. It’s filled with his favorite things like images of animals he likely hunted, an artistic music room, a ball room with rotating seating, fantasy creates including a stuffed “unicorn” (which Hallie loved!), and landscaped with beautiful gardens, including the famous trick fountains. The kids got a kick out of being sprayed with water without warning.

With the Hellbrunn Palace located next to the Salzburg Zoo, the kids were determined to walk through especially when after they learned there’s an artic wolf to see.

Untersberg Mountain

We took a cable car to the top of the Untersberg Mountain, giving us a view of the entire valley and surrounding areas. Untersberg is just across the border into Germany but it’s also the mountain directly in front of our house. The view was spectacular! We hiked a little way on top but the part our kids enjoyed most were the mounds of snow – enough to throw snowballs at each other.

Mirabell Gardens

Phil and I went on a date to a concert at the Mirabell chapel. Because we arrived early we had time to walk around the gardens and realized it was same location where parts of The Sound of Music was filmed. Fun fact: our host’s father has a small part in the movie and our host mentioned that most people in Austria aren’t familiar with the movie. Either they’ve heard of it but have not seen it or don’t care. We had a lot of fun taking selfies in front of all the iconic locations from the film, with “do re mi fa so la ti do” going through our minds.

Phil and I took a bike ride out to see the homes that were also used in the film.

We also happen to come across Mozart’s home, while waiting at a bus stop.

Eisriesenwelt

Discovered in 1879, the Eisriensenwelt ice cave is situated in the Hochkogel mountain of Austrian Alps, at 1.656m in elevation and 42km in length, it’s known as the largest ice cave in the world. The tour took us 70min, walking through a frigid 31F temperature. Hallie struggled so much that she was brought to tears of relief by the time we exited the cave. It didn’t help that her shoes were a little wet before we entered the cave. The ice formations were fascinating, especially the wall of layered ice. We were given lanterns to help light the way, then our tour guide would light fuses to brighten each ice formation as he gave further details on how it was formed.

Kehlsteinhaus aka “Eagles Nest”

This is a structure built on top the mountain of Kehlstein near the southeast border of Germany, as a 50th birthday present for Adalf Hitler. It was used exclusively by members of the Nazi party for government and social meetings but is now used as a restaurant with gift shop and a reminder of German history. The views from the top are spectacular and while a large golden elevator is available to ease the climb, we opted for the more scenic trail going back down.