10 days in Salzburg: music and nature

Hello, hello! Today we will continue on with Austria, a country which shines by itself and features a lot in this blog. Today I am bringing you what is for me the prettiest city in the whole country (at least out of those that I have visited): Salzburg. I was lucky enough to spend 10 days in this city during summer 2017, since my friend Lydia invited me to her house as I had not been able to get to know Salzburg properly, as well as also having the great opportunity to see it in a non-touristic way. A lot of people will tell you that 2 days is enough to see the city, but I will negate that seeing as I did different things basically every day that I was there. Despite being the fourth biggest city in Austria (it is relatively small) there are so many things to see and do. This is why here I will tell you all of the attractions that you should visit and also the non-touristy activities that you can do. Let's go!

1. In the first place, visit the Mirabell Palace. It may be one of the most popular attractions in the city. It has very colourful gardens, full of flowers, which you can pass through until you get bored. There are some sculptures decorating the gardens and some fountains which spurt out water. At the bottom, the incredible panoramic view of Salzburg. A lot of people come to the palace not for tourism reasons, but to simply spend the afternoon there, laying down under a tree reading a book, relaxed. I went round the labyrinths of the gardens with my bike, since it was the form of transport that we used to get around. The ticket to enter is free! And of course, just as an interesting fact, here they filmed one of the scenes of the famous film The Sound of Music, right in the entrance where you find the black patio door.

In fact, all over the city of Salzburg there are certain places where they filmed this film. So, if you are fans of The Sound of Music, you can do a tour around the original places where they filmed it. It is really popular and while going through the city you can see, on bikes, lots of groups of tourists who are fans of the Trapp family, the protagonists of the film. I was lucky enough to be with my Austrian friend who explained everything to me right down to the T and we could see everywhere at our own pace on different days.

Visiting the fort of the city. The entry costs 11 euros but my friend had been working there this summer, so the guard did us a favour and let us go in for free. Specifically, it is called the fort of Hohensalzbug. You can do a tour with an audio-guide where they explain you the whole history of the fort, which of course, is the best conserved one in the whole of Europe. What most caught my attention about the tour was the detail in which it explained the different objects which were found in the torture room. We went up by foot and it was quite exhausting because it was really warm, but if you don't want to walk, you could take the cable car. Without a doubt, the best thing about this place is the views that if offers. A complete panoramic of the city of Salzburg. From up top you can see all of the things that you have previously visited.

4. Salzburg is a city with a lot of music. It is not just famous for the Sound of Music but for the fact that Amadeus Mozart was born there. In fact, a typical desert from this city and also eaten in the rest of Austria are the strong>Mozartkugeln. My friend bought me a packet so that I could try them and they were to die for. As it is the birth city of music and composers, the house where he was born is now a museum and it stands out amongst the other buildings since it is a bright egg-yolk yellow colour. This is located in one of the most popular streets in the whole city: Getreidegasse.

5. Walking through Getreidegasse. This is the shopping street. If this street is so curious and strange at the same time it is because it is full of little shops and each one of those has a special sign which stands out on the wall with the name of the shop. They are beautiful and they had planned right down to the last details, and as all of them hang from the front, it creates a very original combination. This street is always full of people so we went first thing in the morning to be able to see it without tourists there. The shops in the street are luxury boutiques, expensive jewellery shops, perfumeries and of course, a souvenir shop, where the main features are the magnets with Amadeus' face on. All of these features make the street exclusive and unique. The alleys on this street give way to other alleys from the historic quarter.

6. Go through the historic quarter. It is perfect for walking since it is pedestrianised. All the buildings, churches and cathedrals have a similar architecture, Barroque style. This is what makes the city centre have a certain harmony. The architects of a lot of these buildings were Italian and this is why Salzburg is known as the "Rome of the North". Also, most of the buildings have an off-white colour which contrasts with the green colours of the domes of the religious building, like the one on the cathedral.

7. Visit the cathedral. I went on a Sunday morning since there was a concert going on meanwhile they celebrated a mass, and we thought it would be a good idea to enjoy a music performance in such a melodic city. The inside of the cathedral is impressive, a lot better than the outside. It is also white inside, its surprising height joint with the frescos which were painted on the ceiling, on the highest part where the dome was.

8. Go around the river Salzach area. It is one of the prettiest areas. I went through here practically every day with the bike, since there was a bike lane passing through practically the whole city. A lot of people get around this way because it is super convenient. Well, this area is pretty for all of its bridges and also for its coloured houses. There are lots of bridges which you can cross to get to the historic quarter of the city, and one of them is full of padlocks, symbols of love. During the night, it is even more pretty since you can see the whole city lit up from here.

9. A bit more in the suburbs is the Hellbrunn palace. The best thing to do is to visit it on a sunny day to enjoy the Water Shows it has. The water forms part of the architecture of the palace, so through jets and fountains it creates an amazing water show. The best part of these shows is the part where, suddenly, a shoot of water comes out of a random statue, which surprises you and you end up soaked from head to toe. The gardens are also very pretty and they are very well cared for (like is the case in the whole city, really) and it is a great place to go running and disconnect from the world, since it is in the outskirts of the city and it is surrounded by nature. In the artificial lakes of the palace there were enormous fish, up to a metre and a bit long. After going around all of the gardens, we went up to the highest part of the palace and we arrived at a viewpoint from which you could see the whole complex: nature, woods and Salzburg in the background.

10. And talking about nature, something that you should do no matter what is to go up to Untersberg. They say that it has almost 2,000 metres altitude. You go up in a cable car, like if you were going skiing, and for people who have fear of heights like I do, this is a critical moment. The best thing to do is to sit in the middle of the cable-car between everyone so that you can't see the views or what is under your feet. The ascent was agonizing. Now I could tell you that we were inside the cable car for like 20 minutes, but maybe it was only three. Once we were up, the views were amazing.

It was the first time that I had been on such a big and tall mountain. There are lots of paths to do some hiking routes, but we only did one. Right at the top there is a restaurant and cafe where you can refuel if you did a large hike. It is a place to relax where there are banks which you can sit on, eat something and look at a mind-blowing view: with the Alps in front of you. I don't know if you are allowed to go in winter, but with snow it might be even more incredible. Here are some photos. For me, this is something that you definitely have to do, especially if you are visiting with time to spare. Sometimes we focus a lot on the urban areas and forget about nature.

Austria is partly known for its mountains and scenery, especially in the Tirol area, so you should not miss out on this opportunity. In fact, on another day we hiked along a mountain in the Anif area, a small part of Salzburg. We went uphill through the fields where there were animals, streams, small waterfalls and we ate forest fruits. The views weren't as impressive as those from Untersberg, but it was there were you really felt the true essence of Austria.

11. And here comes my star recommendation: Waldbad Anif. The good thing about visiting the city with a local is that they show you places that are not in the guides, nor on the most popular websites on the Internet. It is a small lake of frozen water that I love. Even though it was really hard for me to get into the waters, since it cut of my circulation and I couldn't breathe for the first few seconds; I liked this place so much that we actually went there three times. There is a wooden-slabbed walkway where you can put your towel and enjoy the sun.

There is a zip-line which crosses the whole lake and you can hang on to it and when you get to the end you can touch the lake with your toes, if you make it. The truth is that there is an obstacle course between t he trees which you can do, securing yourself with a harness. It has everything! There is also a restaurant and cafe to have a drink, and even ice-creams. The best thing about this place is that there are not any tourists, all the people there are locals and go there to spend a day. The entry costs 4 euros.

12. Another day, we also went by bike to a river area where you can have a dip. There are nudist areas which are indicated with the letters FKK. I didn't like it as much as Waldbad Anif so we didn't go there again, but you should try it.

13. When I was in Salzburg, I also visited an open-air museum, Freilichtmuseum for the first time in my life. It isn't in the city centre but in the outskirts. It is a super big museum, I don't know how many hectares, where they show the different homes where the habitants of Salzburg lived in the past. Thus, you can see how the buildings evolved over the years. They also show you the customs and habits of the citizens. In the middle of the forest, you go through and come across different houses, and the best thing about all of this is that you can go inside them. A lot of them have every kind of detail: cooking utensils, study objects, decorated balconies with pots full of flowers (very characteristic of houses in Austria). You can even see what the rooms were like from over two centuries ago, as well as the farms! Something fun and interesting is that there is the option of taking a small train which goes around the whole museum. We took it after seeing all of the little houses and we did the last lap in this transport, before finally heading back home. This museum is perfect for teaching the history of Salzburg to small children in an interactive way. Also, children and adults can be in contact with nature, which is always a plus. In fact, we did a quite long walk which went past a river, very pretty. It all adds up. If you go with time, you can go around everything in around 3 or 4 hours, especially if you want to eat here. To get to the museum, we had to take a bus from the city centre, which was cheap if I remember rightly.

14. If you like food tourism, you should try the Schnitzel. My friend's family cooked one one day so that I could try it. From the name, I didn't know what it was and you can imagine my surprise when I saw the classic pan-fried veal, or milanesa in Spanish, on my plate. In Austria, it is a very famous dish and in certain restaurants, being such a famous dish it costs more to eat. For me, its not a dish that I love, and even more so if I compare it with Spanish food, but it's good. You can also try an Apple Strudel, which is a typical dish in the whole of Austria. It is like an apple tart and if you have it with a bowl of vanilla ice-cream, it is like the best day of your life. The contrast between the heat of the tart and the cold of the ice-cream is incredible, an explosion of flavour. The touch of cinnamon is really the icing on the cake. Something that really surprised me is that in Salzburg (I don't know if it is just here or if it is Austria in general), it is normal to eat a sweet dish one day of the week. So what counts as a dessert in Spain, they have a big version of it as a main meal. Another famous dessert is the Black Forest cherry tart, which I also tried while I was there. It is good, it is a normal cake with a sweet touch with the cherry and cream. Finally, it seems like this paragraph has been dedicated to desserts, is the Sacher tart. A typical dish in Vienna, it originates from the city of Salzburg so it is also very famous. They serve it in different cafes but the most touristy, famous and thus most expensive one is the Sacher cafe. It is a chocolate tart and they often serve it with whipped cream on the side. In Vienna, it is also everywhere. It is as well known as the Apple Strudel.

15. From Salzburg, you can also go to other incredible places like the famous village Hallstatt, the famous Golling waterfalls or the Fuschlsee lake, which I have talked about previously here

And that is everything I wanted to tell you! I think that you have enough information and activities to spend a fairly long time in this city, which is for me the prettiest one in Austria. I want to visit it again but during a different season, maybe Autumn. Now that I live in Bratislava and I am quite near-by, it is the time to make the most of that. You already know that I am a big fan of going back to visit places which I have already been to. Bye and I will see you soon.

Photo gallery