Salzburg: Mozart, The Sound of Music, and Red Bull
When I think “tourist destination”, the place that pops up into my mind now is Salzburg. The landscape is beautiful, the architecture is timeless and the streets here are exactly what you would expect from a European city
We found out that Salzburg was originally founded because of the salt that is mined in the nearby mountainsides. In fact the name of the town comes from Latin “salis burgi” which means salt castle. And indeed, there’s a beautiful large castle on top of the hill, the Hohensalzburg Fortress, that you can see from most places in town. It’s gigantic. The salt from the mines got the city-state very, very rich, and helped to fund the building of the fortress in 1077 AD.
Mozart
Another thing you notice about Salzburg is that the most famous person to have been born here is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He is everywhere and there are several museums dedicated to him. Not only that but every other museum and cathedral tour makes sure to point out their connection to the city’s beloved son.
For some reason, his chocolates are advertised in every store and there’s a cardboard cutout of Mozart with this particular chocolate brand on nearly every street. We didn’t try the chocolates, but it’s still a bit strange that a musical genius is used to sell chocolate of all things.
Sound of Music
Of course, a tour of Salzburg wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the most famous movie made here, the Sound of Music. Tours that highlight all the scenes from the movie are very popular, but surprisingly, the movie is not well known among Austrians. The tour guide explained that there was a German movie about the Von Trapp family made a few years before Sound of Music that was a big hit in Germany and as a result, many German speaking people don’t even know about Sound of Music.
Of course, English-speaking tourists visit the sites from the movie, and many such sites have been restricted as a result. But when you come here, it’s obvious why the film did so well. The views are beautiful and the movie took full advantage.
Food and Drink
Salzburg is also the home of the drink Redbull. You can tell because you can find that drink everywhere and it’s significantly cheaper than in the US (1.50 EUR, vs 4.00 USD). They also have Red Bull clothing stores where they sell jerseys of the teams and extreme sports they sponsor. You can even get this purse for only 170 Euros. It’s made of Red Bull can ring pulls.
The food here is really good. The quality of beef in particular is excellent and the kids really enjoyed the french fries. Bosnic sausages are also a popular local street food, which is basically two skinnier sausages put into a normal sized bun. The line for these things was long, but totally worth it. There’s a lot of cheap, yummy food. We even managed to find great Thai food here. When you order from Thai restaurants in Austria, they ask if you want “European spicy”, or “Thai spicy”. Being Korean and Texan, we ordered the “Thai spicy” which ended up being just right. One tradition that we started in Austin that we are still doing here is that we buy cold cuts, cheese, bread and pickles and make a charcuterie for a night time snack. I am happy to say that is continuing here, and that the quality is higher and the prices are lower.
Salzburg is close to Italy and as such, there’s a lot of good gelato. Lois even gets to have some as they have dairy-free versions. Unfortunately, the gelato and all the pretty flowers in the city, mean that there are lots of wasps around. Who knew there is a “wasp season”?
Other Surprises
The views from the surroundings are absolutely incredible. Unfortunately, Salzburg is rainy a good part of the year. According to some locals, it’s around 120 days a year and we unfortunately had a few days of rain.
We also got our kids started on some lessons as we travel this year. And the morning routine started here in Salzburg. Academically, we’ve focused on the fundamentals: math, reading and writing. We also didn’t want them to lose their piano skills, so we’re doing zoom calls with their piano teacher in Austin. How are they playing the piano? We’re actually traveling with this $80 portable keyboard.
We really enjoyed Salzburg and we are now on our way to our next adventure… Innsbruck in the Austrian Alps.
