Salzburg Day 3: Germany... with a Side of Pork

When we went on the Sound of Music tour, we asked the guide which other tours they offered had the best views of the mountains and lakes.  To our surprise, she raved about the tour to Eagle's Nest... in Germany!  We didn't realize it, but Salzburg is only about a 30-minute ride to the German border.  We had seen the Eagle's Nest tour on the company's website, but were a bit hesitant since it was a dwelling once gifted to Hitler.  Yikes!  But apparently, it was gifted for a reason: the building is perched on a mountain that provides one of the best views in the country.  So rather than being destroyed due to its history, it has been preserved to allow people to appreciate the beauty of the countryside.  And all profits from tours (after taking care of upkeep expenses) go to charities that will benefit the community.  

Knowing all of that eased our minds about the idea of going to such a place.  After 2 extremely steep bus rides up the mountain, we arrived.  An elevator takes you the rest of the way up through the middle of the mountain, and upon going outside you are greeted by a breathtaking view.  

 

 

No picture or video can do this view justice.  It really needs to be experienced.  The sound and smell of the air, the feeling of being surrounded by natural beauty... it was unreal.  We kept saying, "This looks fake.  This can't be real."  It was worth every hairpin turn up the mountain.  And we completely understand why the country wanted to be able to share it with the world.

On the way back, we stopped in a small town for an authentic German meal:

pork knuckle

 

 ox goulash

 

The food was great, but nothing compares to the nature that surrounded it.  Definitely the best grand finale for our Austrian adventure!  

AUF WIEDERSEHEN!

Salzburg Day 2: The Sound of Music and Monk Beer

The hills are aliiiiiiive... with The Sound of Music!

Oh yes, you knew it had to be done.  When in Salzburg, why not take a Sound of Music Tour to see some of the historic sights of the film?!  

  

 

Mel was blissfully singing along to the soundtrack for the whole bus ride, while DJ enjoyed hearing some of the historical facts of the areas we passed - especially when the tour led us through the lake region to the town where they filmed the wedding scene.  

 

After the tour, we went on a mission to find Augustiner Braustubl, a 1,000 seat beer garden within a monk-run brewery.  They pride themselves on following the Purity Law of 1516 and brewing their beer with only 4 ingredients:  malts, water, hops, and yeast.  No preservatives.  

Finding this place felt like a bit of detective work because there are no huge signs pointing it out.  But we came upon a wooden door where it should be and saw 2 people come out so we figured we could venture over the threshold.  Upon entering, we were greeted by a large and eerily quite hallway leading to stairs. 
 

We almost turned back, but then we caught a whiff of food and a faint sound of voices.  The further we walked, the stronger the smells and sounds grew.  We couldn't believe that such a nondescript doorway led to a HUGE indoor eating area...

 

next to an even HUGER outdoor eating area!

The system is pretty cool.  You get food at any of the stalls along the hallway and then head to the outdoor area for your monk beer.  You pay at the archway for the size mug you want, 

 

rinse it out, 

 

and go to get your pour. 

DJ was ecstatic to find that one of the stalls sold pork knuckle (which he tasted for the first time in Germany years ago), 

 

so we shared a plate of that while marveling over the coolness of the whole place. 
Definitely a brew to remember!

Salzburg Day 1: St. Peter's, Hiking, and The Oldest Restaurant in Europe!

A 2-hour train ride through the Austrian countryside brought us from Vienna to Salzburg.  We arrived with plenty of energy, so we threw our bags down and headed right back out to take a look around.  Salzburg is relatively small, so pretty much everything is in walking distance.  Such a treat!  The city is divided by a small river, so we had to cross a bridge to get to the older part of town.

Our first stop was St. Peter's Abbey, home to the oldest library in Austria.  Unfortunately, we discovered that the library is not open to the public (which they do not mention on any website we saw when researching).  But it was still cool to see the entire property and get a sense of the calm one experiences when surrounded by such history.

Afterward, we got adventurous and decided to hike up the hill to the Hohensalzburg Fortress where they say you can get the best views of the whole city.  

 

There was admittedly a bit of bellyaching from Mel - literally and figuratively.  We hadn't really had lunch, it was hot, and the hill was steep (photo above is only one of many ramps up).  Not the best combo.  But once we got to the top, there was no denying that it was worth every blistery step.  The view is remarkable, and we would do it again without question.  

 

Fortunately, during the hike we knew we had a great dinner to look forward to.  We made reservations at St. Peter Stiftskeller - located right next to the Abbey and declared the oldest restaurant in Europe (founded in 803 A.D.)!  

We had the treat of sitting in the cave area of the restaurant, which made it even easier to appreciate the thought of all the patrons who had dined there in the past 1210 years.  

And the food?  Delectable. 

veal with mushrooms

lamb with polenta

 Salzburg = quickly becoming one of our favorite cities.

Vienna Day 2: The Danube, Libraries, and Schnitzel

As luck would have it, a very direct route to the next library on our list (at Melk Abbey) is a boat ride down the Danube River.  It didn't take much for us to decide to book that half-day tour!  A bus picked us up in downtown Vienna and drove us out to the suburbs (with gorgeous farms and vineyards) to meet the boat.  

 

After that, it was a leisurely ride on the water with a perfect view of all the bucolic towns along the shore.  

When we arrived in the town of Melk, a bus took us to the top of a hill to the Melk Abbey:  beautiful views, stunning architecture, and a breathtaking library with some of the oldest manuscripts in the world.  Sadly we were not allowed to take pictures inside the library, but you can imagine how gorgeous it must be based on the rest of the Abbey!

After our tour, we stopped in a small local town for lunch and got to enjoy our first wiener schnitzel (a classic Austrian meal of breaded deep fried veal).  We thought maybe there was some secret ingredient in the schnitzel that has made it so iconic.  But it turns out it pretty much tastes like any breaded fried meat.  Granted we only had the one sample, but it looked nearly the same in every other restaurant we visited so we didn't feel the need to try it again.  Very tasty though!  Certainly worth having once, especially in its place of origin.

And fortunately, the tour got us back just in the nick of time to get to the historical section of the Austrian National Library before it closed.  In a word:  awesome.

 

No doubt about it:

We love Austria!