The Hills are Alive (etc.)

Written by Her
Salzburg, Austria - 17th to 21st December 2016 

Salzburg through the eyes of Maria

As soon as we landed in Salzburg we realised that there was no escaping the legacy of Rodgers & Hammerstein's 1965 classic 'The Sound of Music'. Shops sell Von Trapp souvenirs, Café walls are adorned with images of Julie Andrews, and of course, our hotel's WiFi password was none other than ‘the sound of music’.

Luckily for us, the movie is one of the main reasons we decided to visit Salzburg. RTE's regular Christmas scheduling of the musical means it has become mandatory viewing in our house at Christmas. So we thought, what better way to get in the Christmas spirit after the wedding than visiting the locations where the movie was filmed...ALL of them. For tourists visiting Salzburg for a weekend I would recommend taking the Panorama Sound of Music tour for just €40pp. In 4 hours a guide takes groups to all the key locations while singing do-re-me and wearing lederhosen. Since we had 4 days (and himself was allergic to singing) we decided to do it our way i.e. for free! 

Mirabell Palace & Gardens

Mirabell Palace ("Mirabell" meaning admirable & beautiful) was built in 1606. It's gardens are divided into an orangery, now a palm house, a dwarf garden, with 28 funny looking dwarves, a rose garden & the Pegasus fountain. The gardens are designed in a geometric pattern and are lined with sculptures of Greek Gods. The Palace and Gardens the most popular tourist attractions in Salzburg and unsurprisingly considered the most beautiful baroque gardens in Europe. The most awe inspiring element, however, is the view of Hohensalzburg Castle - the fortress that dominates the skyline.

Mirabell palace & gardens were used as a backdrop for the movie when Maria & the children use the steps as scales when singing 'Do-RE-Me'.They dance around the fountain, pat the dwarf statues on the head and skip through the orangery. We recreated some of the scenes above :)

Hellbrun Palace

Located about 15mins outside the city, beautiful Schloss Hellbrunn is the site of the largest Christmas market in Salzburg. Hellbrunn is its own little village, when you arrive there is a choice of visiting Hellbrunn alley, Hellbrunn Zoo, a smaller petting zoo with goats & rabbits, the trick fountains or just wandering around the market stalls while listening to Christmas carols. We decided on visiting all the above (except the zoo) while drinking our body weight in mulled wine, not a bad afternoon!

At the end of a long walkway, the glass pavillion that was used in filming the Sound of Music can be found. Moved from Leopold Palace because of 'constant trespassing' by all those crazy fans, the pavillion is now hidden out of the way, behind a large wall overlooking a snowy field in Hellbrunn. The pavilion was used in some of the most memorable scenes in the movie, like when Lisel & Rolf sing '16 going on 17' and (spoiler alert) when Capt. Von Trapp proposes to Maria. In Hollywood, a replica pavillion was built to film the interior dance scenes. I guess Rolf and Lisel needed a little more room for all that twirling!

The Palace at Hellbrunn was designed to be an escape from reality, a pleasure palace. It's no wonder then that the trick fountains were one of the main attractions, and sources of amusement. Nothing is quite as it seems at the trick fountains, water spouts from the seats of the chairs, from the ground where you walk and from the centre of the table i.e. from the most unexpected places. The design of the fountains means that visitors are bound to get wet and have fun.

​Hellbrunn alley, a 5km long straight alley connects hellbrunn palace with the residenz in the centre of Salzburg. The alley is the best preserved of its kind in Europe & was used as the driveway to the Von Trapp home in the movie. Children were swinging from the chestnut trees! ​

The Horse Fountain

Renovated in 1732, the horse fountain was built to provide water & a bath to the court horses. The fountain or Pferdeschwemme is built into the side of Monchsberg mountain & is adorned with frescos & stone statues of the horses that would have graced its waters. In the movie, the foundtain provides the backdrop to a scene where Lisel meets Rolf 

The Rock Riding School (Felsenreitschule)

Probably the most unusual & instantly recognizable location in the movie is the rock riding school or summer riding school. We went on a guided tour (the only way to gain entry) of the festival halls. Carved into the cliff in 1693, the outdoor arena was used as a riding school. ​

In 1926, Max Reinhardt (remember uncle max) decided to use it as the stage for the Salzburg music festival. The audience sat in the 96 arches across 3 stories & the musicians played in the mud. The space, since completely renovated, now supports a retractable roof (only since 2011) and it opens twice a year for the Easter & Summer music festivals & seats 2000 people. In the sound of music, the rock riding school was used as the location for filming the performance of the Von Trapp family singers who sing Edelweiss before fleeing the Nazis. ​​

Nonnberg Abbey

With its distinctive red domed roof, Nonnberg abbey is home of a closed order of Benedictine nuns and a UNESCO world heritage cite. Built in 714, The abbey exterior was used in filming but again the interior was a set in Hollywood. 'How do you solve a problem like Maria'. ​

Hohensalzburg Castle

The fortress sits on top of the hill festungsburg (alt 506m) and can be seen from all of Salzburg. Built in 1077, It is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe spanning 820ft. Seeing it looming over the city for a couple of days we couldn't but take a trip up on the funicular. Built in 1892, the funicular transports tourists from the base of the hill to the fortress in less than 60 seconds & gives an amazing view to boot(not that I was looking). ​

Once at the top, it was noticeably colder & we got our first taste of snowfall but it was absolutely worth it as we could see the whole of Salzburg at one side & a vast view towards the alps at the other. We wandered around the castle grounds, through Christmas stalls, puppet museums & torture rooms until we came to the restaurant with the best view & we paused for some schnitzel & bratwurst! The fortress is seen in the background of many scenes in the sound of music. ​

St. Peter's Cemetary

he oldest cemetery & located at the foot of the festungberg, St. Peter's clearly inspired the design of the Hollywood set for the Nazi flight scene in the sound of music, we all remember Rolf blowing that whistle right!  A quaint & very unique cemetery, some tombs are located behind black iron gates, while others are adorned with golden crosses & artistic sculptures. The oldest tombstone dates to 1288 & the catacombs are carved into the cliff face. It is also the burial site of Mozarts older sister Nannerl.  ​​​

Leopold Palace (Schloss Leopoldskron)

A private residence/conference centre, we visited Leopold palace on the hop-on, hop-off tour bus. The Palace is built on a manmade lake, which was almost frozen & surrounded by snow when we arrived. The lake & the facade of the palace served as the back of the Von Trapp home in the movie. It was here that Maria & the children fell from their boat into the lake & here that Baroness Schroeder played ball with the children. ​

Residenz Square

The largest square in Salzburg, residenz square was filled with Christmas market stalls on our visit. Right in the centre is the most impressive fountain in the city, partially covered because of the market, this was the square where Maria hopped off the bus & plashed water from the fountain singing "I have confidence".  We ate, drank & celebrated with the locals & visitors getting merry at 11am on alcoholic punch, gluhwein & shots! ​

Nazi rallies were also filmed in residenz square & apparently Salzburg city officials objected initially to flags with swastikas adorning the buildings, even just for the purpose of filming. That was until the producer threatened to include newsreel footage of the city welcoming Hitler in the 1940s

Surrounding the square is Salzburgs Dom quarter & St. Peter's Basilica. Carol singers serenaded our path through the Church doors into a dark aisle with 'no photo' signs everywhere. The pews lining the long aisle were filled with visitors, most staring at the decoratively painted ceiling. Inside the Dom quarter we took a brief tour of the residenz (I say brief because they told us to hurry as they were closing but when we finished in 20mins they were disappointed we went too quickly...some people are never happy)

The Sacher Hotel

Famed for their chocolate sacher cake, the hotel was the residence of Julie Andrews for the 11 weeks of filming in Salzburg. We popped in for a look around and got pricey afternoon tea! Delicious apple strudel, sacher cake & homemade biscuits with apple spritzer. The dining room was filled with wealthy older Austrian couples.... we felt right at home!!

The Bristol Hotel

Across the road from Mozarts residence and around the corner from the sacher hotel, the Bristol is where Christopher Plummer stayed while filming. I'm sure there's a story there?

The Sound of Music was a huge success, not with critics but with the public. It was loved across the world, everywhere except Germany & Austria where it was a total flop. To this day, many Austrians have not seen the film!  Following the steps of the sound of music meant that we got to know the city back to front. It is a small, walk-able old town, with a simple layout. It is 2hr 10min flight from Dublin. The airport is a short 10 min taxi ride from the city centre & Salzburg station can have you in Munich within an hour, Vienna within 2 hours or across to Budapest in just 5 hours! Highly recommended for ease of access & relaxation but be willing to part with your cash. Hotels & food are not cheap. For sights, invest in a Salzburg card - €40 for a strict 72 hr period but it gets you in free to ALL the key sights & public transport - a steal.

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