Week 17: Valentines Day in Salzburg

Salzburg

This week we finally got to leave our town and drive to Salzburg. Salzburg is the 4th largest city in Austria and 45 minutes from our house in Gmunden. Most of us think of Paris when we think of the most romantic city in Europe. But after reading this post and watching this week’s video, I hope Salzburg will be top of mind for the other most romantic city in Europe. When you stroll the streets of Salzburg and listen to the sounds, you will hear church bells, shop doors opening, windows closing, street musicians, birds chirping, dogs barking, rushing water, and people speaking many different languages. 

Our first stop: Mirabellgarten.

The Mirabellgarten is adjacent to the Mirabell Palace. While some may know the garten from The Sound of Music movie where the children sang “Do Re Mi”, it is also known as the most romantic wedding location in all of Europe. Today, the offices of the Salzburg mayor and the city administration are located in Mirabell Palace. Since it’s winter, the fountains were not running and no flowers were blooming. As we entered the garten through a big iron gate, we noticed benches surrounding the perimeter of the garden. At every bench, we noticed couples sitting in the sun as they people watched. Although quite chilly, it was a joyous feeling to finally be able to go outside of the house and into the sun.

Here is a photo of what Mirabellgarten looks like in the summer when the fountains are on and the flowers are blooming.

Next stop: Makartsteg

It is a pedestrian bridge over the Salzach River covered with locks left behind by sweethearts from all over the world to symbolize their love. Since we were visiting on Valentine’s day weekend, we made a point to check it out. We did not add a lock to the bridge, but we added a little heart to a tree in the main courtyard of the Salzburg Cathedral later on in our walk.

Just steps after crossing the bridge, we arrived at Getreidegasse street.

This is the street where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. It is a big yellow house in the middle of all the hustle and bustle with a five-story Austrian flag running down the side of it. “Mozarts Geburtshaus” is written under the third floor windows where the family lived. “Geburtshaus” means “Birth house.” In 1880, the family home was turned into a museum and then renovated again in 1994. We have not been able to go inside the museum yet, but we hope to go back again soon to check it out.

St. Peter’s Cemetery

As the oldest cemetery in Salzburg dating back to 1627 it is one of Salzburg’s most popular tourist attractions.It inspired another scene from The Sound of Music when the Von Trapp family was hiding from the Nazi’s. This scene was not filmed in the cemetery, but later rebuilt at a studio in America.

The Aussichtspunkt

We continued our walk around the the city and made it back to the spot we came to three years ago to recreate a picture. The Aussichtspunkt is a lookout point on the way up to the Fortress Hohensalzburg. Fortress Hohensalzburg was built to protect the people from hostile attacks. After researching about the fortress, the city has never been attacked or captured. From the lookout point where we recreated our picture, you can see a wall surrounding the city up in the hills. We have not been inside the fortress, but we will someday.

The path to the fortress also takes you to a cool view of the alps where Austria shares a border with Germany. My camera lens was able to zoom in and confirm the mountain we were looking at was the Eagles nest!

The first, Fürst

It was time to head back home, but before we went back to the car we stopped at the original cafe selling the signature Mozartkugel called Cafe-Konditorei Fürst. Fürst is the last name of the man who invented this Austrian chocolate treat. Mozartkugel is marzipan and pistachio surrounded by nougat and dark chocolate ball.

Happy Valentine’s Day & Happy Geburtstag, Dad!

While we were not able to be home to celebrate my Dad’s birthday, I found this website that allows you to send postcards to each other. Pick a design or customize it with your own photos and it ships worldwide within 3-6 days! No need to even leave your house to mail it, the app takes care of it all. If you want to send a postcard to someone, or to your favorite Austrians, use this code to get $3.00 credit towards your first purchase.

My postcard app code: https://www.mypostcard.com/en/invite/SARAH85S2