Week 56: The Untersberg & Christmas Markets

We kicked off the weekend with a drive to Untersberg, a “massif” straddling the border between Berchtesgaden, Germany and Salzburg, Austria. A “massif” is a compact group of mountains.

The Untersberg became famous as the "distinctive, lopsided peak" featured at the beginning and end of The Sound of Music. We were excited to see the hill Julie Andrews sang The Hills Are Alive at the opening scene and where the family climbed the mountain on their escape to Switzerland at the end of the film. Then we learned the filming was done on the German side, not the Austrian side.

So we will have to go back.

*Mountains kept going as far as the eyes could see.*

Once the weather turns cold in Austria, most days are cloudy with a few clear blue sky days sprinkled in. This weekend we were lucky to have two blue days!

The cable car carried us up 1,320 meters, or a little over 4,300 feet, in only 9 minutes. Once we got to the top, we hiked a trail to the next peak. Patches of snow already blanketed the top of Untersberg, so there were a few slippery spots.

*Salzburg from the top of the Untersberg.*

*Charlie, Daisy, and I on the Untersberg.*

After our morning on top of the Untersberg, we drove 16 minutes to Hellbrunn Palace.

From the middle of November, until the end of the year, Austria is the place to be. The Christmas markets, the traditions, and the snow-covered mountain tops make for a magical experience in every state, city, and village.

Last year, Christmas markets were called off due to covid, which meant we were not able to experience a traditional Austrian holiday season. So, we have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time, because the Christmas markets were set to open…that is until Austria announced a country wide lockdown going into effect on Monday. The rule originally was “as long as you are vaccinated, you could still go out to Christmas markets.” However, as of tomorrow, November 22, everyone has to endure another lockdown for at least 10 days. Even though we followed the rules, we still get cannot enjoy the markets, which is a bummer. Let’s hope it is not extended, because we have more friends coming to visit in 34 days.

Thankfully, the lockdown does not start until Monday, so we had this weekend to market hop.

Our first Christmas market was the Hellbrunn Palace

*The main entrance lined with stalls selling treats, hand crafted gifts, and ornaments.*

*The main courtyard in front of the palace.*

We have been to the Chicago Christmas market a handful of times over the years, but European markets have a much more magical vibe.

This photo makes it look like there were not many people, but there were in fact several people and dogs walking around, which made for some chatty doggos.

There was also a section in the market with a petting zoo featuring sheep, goats, donkeys, rabbits, chickens, geese, turkeys as well as woolly and mini pigs. We have seen Canadian geese before, but not sure we have ever seen this kind of goose in real life. In Austria, it is traditional to eat a Christmas goose…

The dogs were a little too excited to see these animals, so we decided to skip walking though this section.

For €2 we got to take home the special mug, so of course we did. To stay warm, we ordered hot cocoas, hot apple ciders, and enjoyed yummy chocolate covered bananas.

We also met up with two of my coworkers from one of my freelancing gigs.