Austrian Lakes and Salzburg

A couple of days to catch up on here, since we left Munich.

We crossed into Austria and our first stop was Mondsee in the lakes district.  The main attraction here was the church where Julie Andrews was married in the Sound  of Music.  The movie would have you believe that they were married in Salzburg, but we now know better.

This is the altar that was so prominent in the wedding scenes.

We spent a couple of hours here, had lunch and were on our way again.  Our journey took us around a couple of the Austrian lakes.  I didn’t realise how many, or how big, these lakes are.  At the end of one Lake is the little town of Hallstatt.  This is often featured on calendars and the like, and is a beautiful place.   It was very crowded but the time there was well spent.  We walked the main (and only) street, I climbed to a church on top of the hill with a fabulous view over the town and the lake.

We arrived at our accommodation in Fuschl, which is next to another lake.  The hotel is small and family-run, but very comfortable and has an interesting dining room that is built over the water’s edge.

So today, we were off again with much of the day spent in Salzburg.  On the way, we call in at the village of Oberndorf to see the little chapel where Silent Night was first performed in 1818.  It is really very tiny - crowded by a dozen people.  There is a market, museum and souvenir shop, all to commemorate one song.

On to Salzburg, where we were met (after a fair walk) by a local guide who showed us the sights and took us into the old town.  The Sound of Music is its own industry here and, although ours was not billed as a S of M tour,  she did point out a couple of sites to us that were in the film.  

The main shopping strip in the old town has changed from historic times when the vendors would peddle their goods from tunnels in the wall. 

The other main industry in Salzburg is around Mozart, where he was born and spent his early years.  Our meeting point was in front of the house where he was born.  At the end of the organised tour, we met up at St Peters Keller, dating from the 1500s and Salzburg’s oldest restaurant.  Although the days was not all that cold, the mug of mulled wine and biscuits were very welcome.  So good, that Carole and I went back for another one later in the day.  We had a good look around the Christmas market and then caught the funicular railway to the Fortress that looks over the city.

Weary legs took us back to the coach and our hotel.  Tomorrow we set off for Innsbruck for a time, and then into Switzerland.