Austria, Sound of Music Tour with Jamie, Marguerite & Jackie

 Austria, Sound of Music Tour 

The hills are alive with the sound of music! The mountain views and scenery were absolutely breathtaking, like something you would see on a postcard.

Today was the day we were all waiting for, walking in the steps of the VonTrap family, reliving their story. We all boarded our minibuses and made our way to the Austrian city of Salzburg to join the tour. We spent the first part of our day walking across ‘Lovers Bridge’ on the banks of the Salzach River. This led us to Mozartplatz square and the Mozart Statue which was erected for the 50^th anniversary of his death. It was now time to join the bus to start our tour and once on board the bus the excitement grew as we sang along to the well-known songs from the much-loved film. We stopped at different locations used when filming, the first being Scloss Leopoldskron which was one of the most important locations for the film. Here, the family drank lemonade with the Baroness on the terrace and Maria and the Baron danced on the balcony during the ball scene and where the children fell into the adjacent lake. We visited Wolfgangsee Lake which is featured at the start of the film, this was beautiful, and the water was emerald green with the most stunning views. 

We passed the Nonnberg Abbey (Marias Abbey) where she first sought refuge from the world and Schloss Frohnburg, the Von Trapp mansion before stopping to visit the ‘gazebo’ where Liesl and Ralph sang ’16 going on 17’. This once stood in the grounds of the Leopoldskron, but constant trespassing resulted in it being moved and reconstructed in the ornamental gardens of Scloss Hellbrun toward the south of Salzburg. Back on the tour bus, we sang along to yet more songs whilst Ben imparted more knowledge of the Von Trapps, however Jules was able to relay even more information, so Ben sat quietly in total awe of her and felt very privileged to be sat next to a descendant of the family! Our next destination was a stop off at the twin towered St. Michaels church where Maria and Georg were married. This is the oldest parish church in the city, it’s painted pink and features an elegant bell tower topped with a dome. Inside was magnificent, we wandered around here, and some sat quietly for a while and some lit candles for their loved ones. Our final stop to conclude this wonderful tour was at the Mirabell Gardens. We stood in front of the Pegasus fountain that the children leapt off of whilst singing ‘Do, Re, Mi’ and we tried to re-enact the scene on the musical steps.

Feeling adventurous we took  a cable car up to the summit of Fulseck mountain, 2033 meters above sea level. The views were spectacular as we climbed higher and higher. At the summit we had a panoramic view, it was awesome. 

We spent time relaxing on deckchairs admiring the scenery, watching paragliders run and jump off of the side of the mountain and glide into the sky above us and of course had lots of photo opportunities. 

Today we drove to the town of Zell am See on Lake Zell. We strolled along the lakeside promenade taking in the pure beauty of the stunning views all around us. Souvenir shopping was a must and magnets, key rings, postcards and Austrian memorabilia were all purchased to take home. It was such a hot day, we stopped and had ice creams overlooking the lake which was full of boats and people enjoying the water and hot sunshine. Our next treat was to board a boat and enjoy a 2-hour cruise along the lake. We sat on the sun deck and glided leisurely across the water enjoying views of Steinernes Meer to the North, The Hohe Tauern to the South as well as Zells local mountain Scmittenhohe and the town of Zell am See to the West. We passed so many lovely lakeside homes, paddle boarders and swimmers frolicking in the water. 

A wonderful afternoon was spent at the nearby leisure resort situated in the sunniest part of the Gastein Valley which features 3 pools, 2 water slides, a solarium and a big lawn for playing and relaxing. We had a wonderful afternoon and evening messing about in the water, whizzing down the water flumes and soaking up the sun. We couldn’t get enough of the slides and grew more confident each time and loved splashing about in the smaller pool and relaxing in the jacuzzi pool.