Tour Day 10: Salzburg

Mirabell Gardens We got up to see Mirabell Gardens in the morning before breakfast, knowing it would be crowded later in the day. Boy was it worth the early rising! Gorgeous, and we had it mostly to ourselves! This had a very different look just an hour and a half later when we returned with the group!	Mirabell Gardens The famous "Do Re Mi" steps in Mirabell Gardens for those Sound of Music fanatics!
Mirabell Gardnes I found that we loved the highly manicured gardens we found in many places in Europe - art with flowers!	Mirabell Gardens
Mirabell Gardens	Mirabell Gardens
Video shoot at Mirabell Gardens We saw what looked like a family doing a Sound of Music style video shoot in the gardens and had great fun watching.	Mirabell Gardens

Morning stroll in the gardens

At home, we are night owls that you have to drag out of bed in the morning, but when on vacation I'm so excited to see the famous sites and take photos before they get too busy that we are often up at sunrise. You might as well take advantage of your body being confused about the time change anyway, right? So off we went at first light to view Mirabell Gardens - and boy was it worth it! This is definitely one of our favorite gardens in the world now. Nothing tops the beautiful manicured flower beds, old crumbly walls, intricate wrought iron gates and classic statues all overlooked by the Salzburg Fortress and surrounded by mountains. Wow! We even got to watch a Sound of Music style video shoot complete with a gaggle of kids in costumes. Totally worth losing a few minutes of sleep! This was a totally different scene just a bit later when we returned with our walking tour. If you want to see Europe's busiest places in a more serene manner, plan to be there early! After walking through the gardens, we returned for breakfast and to meet up with our group for our morning walking tour.

Local guide for Salzburg We met up near Mirabell Gardens to have a 3 hour guided tour of Salzburg. We loved the walking tours, as the guides pointed out so many things we would have missed on our own!	Salzburg Loved the beautiful architecture of this city.
Salzburg This city is gorgeous from any angle!	Mozart's birth home
Salzburg We loved the wrought iron signs that are mandated in the historical lanes in Salzburg - even McDonalds has one!	Window display I didn't know Austria was into high fashion, but we saw a lot of window displays like this one in the shops.
Walking tour snack stop What else would you do when taking a break from a walking tour than to share a pretzel shaped donut?	Salzburg fortress The location of the fortress on the top of the mountain in town allowed you to view it from many different angles.
Petersfriedhof We took a quick walk through this beautiful cemetery where Mozart's sister was laid to rest.

Walking tour

Our extensive walking tour took us through Mirabell Gardens, past Mozart's birth home, through Old Town, past several notable churches and to the cemetery where Mozart's sister was buried. It was a great overview of the city and gave us a good jumping off point for exploring on our own later. We walked past a little street market in one area and had to stop for a bit of a pastry break! One of my favorite parts of the two Rick Steves' tours we have been on is the curious and intelligent tour members that are attracted to his method of travel - I always learned a lot from the educated questions our tour members asked the guide. Everyone brought their own backgrounds and would ask questions about architecture, archaeology, transportation, etc. that we may not have otherwise learned about. Hans always tried to point out things that would be of interest to individuals based on what he knew about them.

Mountains on our mind

After our walking tour we went up to the Salzburg Fortress with another couple from our group for some great mountain views. Salzburg is just stunning from there! You can take a funicular to the top, which makes it quick and easy. The views were the best part of the Fortress! It was too early for lunch, so we sat and had some drinks and just tried to soak in the amazing views while listening to nearby church bells. It was perfect!

Free afternoon and evening

We had an afternoon to explore, so we decided to start off with some delicious pizza. Not exactly Austrian, but it hit the spot! After lunch we walked through a street market along the river while looking for a place to rent a bike. It wasn't easy, but we finally found a place and took off into the countryside for some mountain views. We got stuck in the rain on the way back, but luckily we were able to outrun most of it, only getting slightly damp! On our way back to our hotel we visited St. Peter's and the Salzburg cathedral - each beautiful in their own way.

Salzburg We found a street market on the path along the river and decided to take a stroll. We enjoyed looking at all the local crafts and were rewarded with this great view of the city at the end.	Lunch break We were feeling like having something a little different for lunch, so we decided on pizza. I thought since this was the closest we have ever been to Italy, it counts as more authentic than the pizza we can get at home. It was delicious!
Searching for mountain views We decided to rent bikes and ride outside the town in search of some more mountain views, and we found them! It was neat to do something so "normal" while in another country.	Salzburg mountains Right after we snapped this shot it started pouring, and we were 90 minutes from our bike rental place! So we started peddling as fast as we could and laughed about getting soaked with the cool rain. Luckily we outran it and enjoyed a nice ride back.
Salzburg Cathedral When we stopped in to see the inside of this church, it was packed to capacity and overflowing onto the sidewalk from an Ascension day service going on inside. We enjoyed watching everyone worship, although we couldn't understand what was being said.	Salzburg
St. Peter's Abbey We took a quick peek inside this church while walking by and were rewarded with a choral rehearsal. There is music everywhere here! We took a little break and just listened to the beautiful singing echoing off the high ceiling.

We quickly changed into dry clothes and met part of our group for our pre-arranged Mozart dinner performance at the oldest official restaurant in Europe. Hans arranged this for people who were interested, and boy were we glad we went! Not only did we enjoy a nice dinner with some of our tour mates while listening to lovely opera singers perform some of Mozart's songs, but we also got to do it in the oldest restaurant in Europe! The St. Peter Stiftskeller is in a great old building with beautifully painted ceilings and walls. What a busy, fun-filled day!

Day 11: Hallstatt

Tour Day 10: Salzburg

Mirabell Gardens

We got up to see Mirabell Gardens in the morning before breakfast, knowing it would be crowded later in the day. Boy was it worth the early rising! Gorgeous, and we had it mostly to ourselves! This had a very different look just an hour and a half later when we returned with the group!

Mirabell Gardens

The famous "Do Re Mi" steps in Mirabell Gardens for those Sound of Music fanatics!

Mirabell Gardnes

I found that we loved the highly manicured gardens we found in many places in Europe - art with flowers!

Mirabell Gardens

Mirabell Gardens

Mirabell Gardens

Video shoot at Mirabell Gardens

We saw what looked like a family doing a Sound of Music style video shoot in the gardens and had great fun watching.

Mirabell Gardens

Local guide for Salzburg

We met up near Mirabell Gardens to have a 3 hour guided tour of Salzburg. We loved the walking tours, as the guides pointed out so many things we would have missed on our own!

Salzburg

Loved the beautiful architecture of this city.

Salzburg

This city is gorgeous from any angle!

Mozart's birth home

Salzburg

We loved the wrought iron signs that are mandated in the historical lanes in Salzburg - even McDonalds has one!

Window display

I didn't know Austria was into high fashion, but we saw a lot of window displays like this one in the shops.

Walking tour snack stop

What else would you do when taking a break from a walking tour than to share a pretzel shaped donut?

Salzburg fortress

The location of the fortress on the top of the mountain in town allowed you to view it from many different angles.

Petersfriedhof

We took a quick walk through this beautiful cemetery where Mozart's sister was laid to rest.

Salzburg

We found a street market on the path along the river and decided to take a stroll. We enjoyed looking at all the local crafts and were rewarded with this great view of the city at the end.

Lunch break

We were feeling like having something a little different for lunch, so we decided on pizza. I thought since this was the closest we have ever been to Italy, it counts as more authentic than the pizza we can get at home. It was delicious!

Searching for mountain views

We decided to rent bikes and ride outside the town in search of some more mountain views, and we found them! It was neat to do something so "normal" while in another country.

Salzburg mountains

Right after we snapped this shot it started pouring, and we were 90 minutes from our bike rental place! So we started peddling as fast as we could and laughed about getting soaked with the cool rain. Luckily we outran it and enjoyed a nice ride back.

Salzburg Cathedral

When we stopped in to see the inside of this church, it was packed to capacity and overflowing onto the sidewalk from an Ascension day service going on inside. We enjoyed watching everyone worship, although we couldn't understand what was being said.

Salzburg

St. Peter's Abbey

We took a quick peek inside this church while walking by and were rewarded with a choral rehearsal. There is music everywhere here! We took a little break and just listened to the beautiful singing echoing off the high ceiling.