“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” -Marcel Proust

Austria! Oh my lanta. It was such a joy getting to travel back to Austria. Riding a train through its landscape is worth every penny. We traveled to Austria after leaving Venice by train. It was a beautiful day getting to experience the northern part of Italy we traveled through & into Austria as we made our way to Salzburg. We met some very interesting people on our different trains & made it to Salzburg exhausted from the day of travel but more RICH because of it. My eyeballs were so grateful for the entire day.

Once we arrived in Salzburg, we heave-hoed our backpacks & walked the 2 miles to our AirBnB, that was LITERALLY, sitting right below the fortress walls overlooking the old town. It was the BEST location thus far for what we were wanting with exploring by foot. Cobblestone streets & all. Once we settled into our room, we went & explored a bit. We found a tavern that didn’t look like much from the outside but you could hear voices traveling up from within its walls & it had  wiener schnitzel on the menu so we dove in. It went on & on! Practically every table was full & all of the servers wore traditional leather lederhosen. We ate one of the best meals of our trip there complete with schnitzel & beer. It was ALL delicious. From there, we crashed out for the night after planning our next few days of exploring the old city.

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” -Confucius

The next day we started off our very full day with breakfast at an outdoor cafe & headed off on a hike to the fortress, which really looks like a castle, but hey. Fortress it is. It is called Hohensalzburg Fortress & it’s STUNNING. We paid to get in & got our headsets with a walking tour & explored. It was great! We spent several hours walking around learning all about the fortress & the history of Salzburg. If you are ever headed to Austria, Salzburg is a must in my opinion as well as touring the fortress. Do it. After getting our fill of the castle (& desperately needing food), we headed back down into the old town where there was a race going on. We sat in the cheering section as each (very) long distance runner (either a 50 mile distance for some or 80 mile distance for others) made their way across the finish line & cheered along with everyone there. We had bratwursts & beer & massive chocolate covered pretzels. DELISH. It was a delightful experience. From there we opted out of naps so as to continue our exploration. We downloaded a Rick Steves podcast (another must if you are traveling Europe, they are wonderful!), & went on our walking tour of the old town. We got to see some of the places that the “Sound of Music” had been filmed as well as some of the true locations where the Von Trapp family had been during their time in Salzburg. We learned about Mozart (He was born there & lived in Salzburg until he was 17 & moved to Vienna) & his experience in the city, saw incredible churches & listened to live music. It rained & we just covered up & kept on walking!  We had dinner at the same restaurant from the night before & had ice cream after. It was a LONG day, but so full! We even heard a choir practice in an old stone building & it echoed gently down the streets right after hearing the church bells toll. Eliana thought it was angels singing. For the rest of the trip every time she heard church bells, she asked if the angels were going to sing!  It was a beautiful day in SO many ways.

The next day we headed back out to the train station where we boarded a train headed for a teeny tiny little village tucked on a hillside next to a lake called Hallstatt. (A dream come true for me!) It was so PERFECT, it seemed fake. You know what I mean? It was raining & foggy & oh so glorious. We got off at a train stop & headed down to a rickety ferry with two crusty old sailors who ferried us to the other side of the lake. (Hallstatt is accessed by train & then boat. Come on.) It was raining lightly when we arrived but within 30 minutes it was pouring! We ate some gyros from a great little food truck next to the ferry landing & then did a loop around the town. We popped into woodcarving shops, the church & watched the swans on the lake. AND took lots of pictures. LOTS. I could live there. If you have ever been to Disneyland & ridden on “It’s a Small World”, you can get a taste of this place. It was like a fairytale come to life. Even with the torrential rain, it was MAGICAL. We spent a few hours getting soaked & enjoyed some hot coffee before boarding our ferry to head back to Salzburg for the evening. Another must for Austria (in my opinion) is to take the 2 1/2 hour trip for the day to visit this quaint town. It was iconic Austria for me. That evening, once we returned to Salzburg & changed into dry clothes, we ate at an italian restaurant right outside of our AirBnB & then did another few loops throughout the old town. It was amazing at dusk, when all the tourists (minus us) had disappeared & the streets were empty.

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

That concluded our time in that region of Austria. The next morning we took a taxi (it was raining again & walking two miles in the rain with two littles & all our stuff didn’t sound too appealing), which was quick & a great decision back to the train station. We sat & had espresso & croissants & jumped on our high speed train to Vienna. Once there, we headed out to the main part of the city with another Rick Steves podcast. We spent several hours being “Viennese”, including sitting at a famous side street cafe having coffee. We saw loads of ornate fountains, toured the Hapsburg palace, prayed in St. Stephen’s cathedral, & visited a WWII memorial. It was a WHOLE lot of history in a short period of time. I was impressed by Vienna, for sure! After traipsing around & getting a shotgun tour we hopped back on a train headed for the forests outside of the city & were picked up by our 79 year old AirBnB host who took us to her house encased with flowers & vines & all things green & good. It was the best experience as far as staying in someone’s home has gone with our AirBnB-ing, especially in the sense of cultural immersion. Gerda was INCREDIBLE. We broke bread together, celebrated her 9th grandchild’s birth with some of her friends while singing along to Noah playing folk songs on the guitar, had homemade strudel, visited a heurige (a wine tavern open only when the new wine is harvested & closed for the rest of the year) & tasted the new wine, walked through meadows & spent time outdoors in the sunshine of the garden after all the rain we had gotten. It was a much needed time of rest before the last portion of our journey. It was EXACTLY what I was hoping for! Thank you Gerda for an unforgettable experience sharing your home & sitting under your wisdom.

The next morning Gerda & one of her lovely friends drove us back to train station so we wouldn’t have to take a bus. It was so gracious of them! We hopped back onto the train & headed back towards Vienna, for the airport. From there we were headed out on a flight back to Great Britain to round out the final days of our trip. I will blog about that portion of our summer trip soon!

“Certainly, travel is more than seeing the sites; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” -Mary Ritter Beard

Overall, Austria was a highlight for me. We had so many different experiences, met INCREDIBLE people, consumed yummy food & drink, sang folk songs with some delightful austrian grandmas, rode the train across the country, stood on top of a castle, learned a great deal about the immense & impressive austrian history & really experienced the culture. It was an ENRICHING week in a beautiful land. What more could we have asked for?

Like I keep saying, if you want to GO, just DO IT! Explore! Adventure! Journey! It will enrich your life & infuse you with more cultural understanding & depth. Plus you’ll get to eat really interesting food. Win. Win.

I hope you are enjoying walking down memory lane with me! AND I hope it inspires you to grab ahold of some of your own dreams & go after them.

“Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.” -Frank Borman

Cheers,

Katie.