July 13th - Salzburg

On Saturday (July 12), we said arrivederci to Roma and took the train to Salzburg, Austria. We stopped for an hour in fair Verona (just enough time to walk to a nearby deli and grab some sandwiches), and even more briefly in Innsbruck, with enough time to run to a grocery store in the station to grab some candy. Our total travel time was about 11 hours, with about 9 ½ on the trains, but train travel is so relaxing, it didn’t feel long at all. And with no jet lag, beautiful scenery, the ability to walk around if needed, no security, and the ease of arriving at the station just 10 minutes before departure—it makes train travel awesome.

At around 7:00 PM, we said Willkommen to Austria. Our hotel was a mere 10-minute walk from the train station. It’s a Marriott brand hotel (Tribute Portfolio). It is very nice and comfortable, and our rooms are quite good-sized for Europe!

On Sunday, July 13, we walked to downtown Salzburg, 10 minutes from our hotel, for our first event—the Fraulein Maria Bike Tour! I had read that this tour was awesome, but I was afraid it would be touristy and kitschy—and it was, but it was SUPER AWESOME. We ALL loved this experience!

Our meeting point was right across from Mirabell Gardens. First, we all got to choose a bike (the bikes were named after characters from The Sound of Music). I got Brigitta, in honor of Katelyn—the bike was a tad too big for her. Katelyn got Gretl, Grant got Rolf, and Geoffrey got Herr Zeller. Each bike was like a beach cruiser—very comfortable, with a large basket on the front and a nice loud ding-dong bell.

Quick side note: Although The Sound of Music is a beloved musical in many places in the world, including the USA, UK, and Spain, in Austria, it is not very well known—and in many cases, actively disliked by Austrians. When the movie first came out, Austrians thought it was too American, too sappy, and a caricatured version of Austria that wasn’t accurate. In addition, the topic of WWII was still fresh. Austrians had adopted a narrative that they were the first victims of Hitler and the German regime, but… that narrative wasn’t exactly accurate. Many Austrians accepted the Anschluss (the annexation of Austria by Germany) with enthusiasm—greeting the Nazis with the Nazi salute and cheering as they came through the streets.

The Sound of Music depicted the Anschluss more from the Von Trapps’ perspective—with fear and trepidation. While this was the narrative Austria eventually in the 1990s, the movie felt a bit like their “lie” was published for the world to see, and this made them uncomfortable as well. For all of these reasons, attitudes toward The Sound of Music were indifferent or dismissive, or “not to Austrians’ tastes,” when it first came out.

Later (70s–00s-ish), most Austrians simply never saw the movie or heard of it. However, flocks of international tourists came to Salzburg to see the town where their beloved movie was filmed. Most Salzburgers were confused or indifferent, not knowing what the big deal was. Only a few travel specialists took the time to learn about it, and reluctantly, tours began to develop.

Now, Salzburg is starting to embrace the heritage of The Sound of Music. They have a marionette show, several bus tour options, and are even opening a Sound of Music museum in 2026.

Ok, not so short a side note… but back to our day!

So, the Fraulein Maria Bike Tour. This company was actually started by an Austrian who got swept up in the love of the movie after working with tourists at a hostel. He created the route we took, and the tour was born.

Our bike tour went in groups of about 14 people, plus an enthusiastic, knowledgeable tour guide. (The tours are by default in English.) Our tour guide was Fermin, from Spain. He was living in Salzburg while his girlfriend was doing research at a local university.

Our tour was great, and did what we hoped it would do—gave us a great overview of downtown Salzburg, with lots of both Salzburg history and Sound of Music locations and stories. Our tour was 3 ½ hours long. The weather was beautiful—not too warm, overcast and then clear skies, and dry—which we are learning isn’t a guarantee in Salzburg!

We got to ride bikes around downtown and see Mirabell Gardens (where Do-Re-Mi was filmed), the bridge the kids skip across, the horse fountain and arches (I Have Confidence, where the real Maria makes a cameo in the background), Residenzplatz (horse statue from I Have Confidence, as well as the Anschluss scene), Felsenreitschule (the concert hall with the stone stage where the Salzburg Music Festival still takes place today—starting next week...), St. Peter’s Cemetery, among other places…

Side note: If you recall from the movie, when they show this scene, the plaza has swastikas hanging from major buildings, and Nazis march sternly through silent, empty streets, giving a feeling of dread and foreboding.

When Robert Wise wanted to film the Anschluss scene in Residenzplatz, the city of Salzburg was a bit… resistant to the idea of covering their main square with swastikas and marching fake Nazis through when Austrians were working hard to move past the atrocities of WWII. Salzburg actually said no—they could not film the scene.

The director did some research and found archival footage of the actual Anschluss, and the real footage was much different than what the director wanted to film. The Residenzplatz was filled with cheering Austrians, excitedly saluting the Nazis as they marched through the streets in a jubilant parade. The director took this footage to the city of Salzburg and said, “No problem. If we can’t film our scene, we’ can just use this actual archival footage instead.”

Salzburg quickly changed their mind and let them film the scene the way they wanted to.

NOTE: Enthusiasm by Austrians was wide-spread, but NOT universal!

Next, we went up the hill to Nonnberg Abbey, the abbey where the real Maria was actually a postulant. It’s one of the oldest abbeys in Europe, still active today with around 14–18 nuns at any given time. I think I cried here for the second time today.

Finally, we left the main part of the town and rode out into the surrounding countryside. We rode across the lake from Leopoldskron Palace, which was the filming location for the back of the Von Trapp home. This lake was where the kids fell out of the boat, and the patio featured many scenes as well. The gazebo from Sixteen Going on Seventeen used to be here, but it was moved, as this is private property. It was relocated to a public park so people could visit it without trespassing. We visited that park and the gazebo as well. We also visited Frohnburg Palace, which was used as the front of the Von Trapp home. (They did not use the real Von Trapp home for the movie for a few reasons—it doesn’t look as grand from the outside, and it was private property. Interesting (yucky) fact, after the real Von Trapps left, the Nazi leader Himmler took over the home and lived there.)

This ride in the countryside was breathtaking—wide meadows, sparkling lakes, tree-lined lanes, beautiful Austrian homes, all surrounded by the breathtaking mountains that frame this beautiful city.

As you can tell, we loved this tour. It was wonderful to ride bikes through the city, and we loved seeing all the amazing sights. Our total tour included 10 miles of biking, several opportunities to stop and take photos, and a duration of 3 ½ hours.

After our tour, we walked through Mirabell Gardens, and then had an Austrian lunch near the statue of Mozart (Oh yeah, Mozart was born in Salzburg, too. lol).

Then we rewalked through the downtown sights and back up to the abbey and the fortress, as a gentle rain moved through the city.

We discovered that you can still hear the nuns sing Vespers every afternoon, and we were so close to the abbey that we decided to go and listen. They sing up in a choir loft, so you can’t see them, and it was a gentle, quiet sound, but we stayed for the whole beautiful 30 minutes—check out the video on our Google Photo page and listen closely to hear them.

I truly think this is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been in.