Strolling through Salzburg

On Tuesday, our second full day in Austria, we headed out after breakfast to spend some time in Salzburg.  Jason and I visited Salzburg for a few days in 2002 and wanted to share the city with the children.  It is relatively small and the old part of the city, with most of the sites, is pretty compact and walkable in a day. 

After driving through curvey mountain roads, finding the park and ride and taking the bus into the city it was nearly time for lunch.  So we walked a few minutes in the direction of our first destination, the Hohen-Salzburg Fortress, and then found a quiet spot for our picnic. 

During our travels with the children, we make it our goal to have one picnic meal a day.  It is a huge time saver and also helps stretch our travel budget.  The children enjoy being able to run around and Jason and I enjoy not having to remind them to be quiet every two minutes! 

The children enjoyed entertaining themselves and the other people picnicing around us by playing horse with Drew.

On our way to the fortress, we walked through the Domplatz.

The last time Jason and I made the trek up the hill to the fortress we slowly hiked up the long, steep path.  However, this time with a 7, 5 and 2 year old tagging along we decided it would be worth the investment to pay to ride the finicular up to the top. 

When we arrived at the top, we explored the castle grounds and part of the museum that was included with our ticket on the finicular. 

Then we made our way to the rooftop lookout points to get an amazing view of both sides of Salzburg.  In the first photo you can see the Alps off in the distance.

In this photo, of the historic part of the city, I think Jenna and I counted what looked like over 15 churches! 

It was another gorgeous, sunny day in the heart of Europe!

We enjoyed as much as we could in the fortress and the high vantage point over the city and then headed down to grab an ice cream and walk through the historic streets.  Our first find, in the picture below, is the hotel Jason and I stayed at in 2002.  It still looks exactly the same, all the way down to the wrought iron sign with an elephant!

 We made a quick pass by the birth place of Mozart...

and then strolled down the Getreidegasse, which is the historic shopping street that looks much like it did over 250 years ago filled with eclectic wrought-iron signs and shops to find pretty much anything a shopper could want.

We let the children pick out a souvenir and then made our way to the other side of the city to take an elevator up to another scenic view that would allow us to see both the fortress and the old city.

I think one of the children's favorite parts of this trip was the penny smasher!

We made an attemp at a family photo, but if you look closely one of the Burgin 5 was down for the count.  Drew fell asleep while we were riding the elevator up and he was OUT! Jason and I took turns carrying him for over an hour so he could catch up on some much needed rest. 

We took one last glance at beautiful Salzburg and the Salzach River before we headed to the bus stop to catch our ride back to the car.

 During one of our 3 hour driving times on this trip, we allowed the children to watch The Sound of Music, which was set in Salzburg.  On our way to catch the bus, we strolled through the gardens that are the setting when the children sing with Maria. 

Here is the water founatin they run around. 

And here is the ivy covered tunnel they run through!

Finally, just before dinner, we arrived at the bus stop!  These kids were troopers through a lot of walking and picture taking.  Thankfully, the lot where we parked our car was right beside an IKEA.  We stopped in for a quick and inexpensive kid friendly meal then hopped back in the car for the one and a half hour drive back to Obertraun.

As we drove through the mountainous roads, these were the scenes out the car window.  Jason and I have developed a deep fondness for the Salzkammergut and pray that we will be able to return again to enjoy the beauty of this part of creation.