I knew that the movie “The Sound of Music” has evolved into a costumed sing-along favorite, but I had know idea of its importance to the city of Salzburg (silly me) before we arrived in the city. First thing off the train and in the tourist information office are signs: “The Original Sound of Music Tour…Visit the Sound of Music Sites….Sound of Music, Live Show….Sound of Music Puppet Show….The Sound of Music Sing-Along Tour…” (I made one of those up, can you guess which one?) Hmmmm? There were still lots of women in dirndls and lots of men in lederhosen, but no one dressed as Marie or the Von-Trapp children in their green brocade curtains. Seems like a shame, in retrospect.
The tourist information folks booked us into a reasonable, old-fashioned hotel across the street from the big-name places. The old furniture, lace curtains and general “European” atmosphere more than compensated for the lack of modern bathroom facilities and lack of wireless internet. We were ten minutes walk from the old town on the river, so it was a perfect location.
We spent our three days in Salzburg exploring the streets, the fortress on the hill and enjoying the warm weather. On our second day we took a bus tour to another salt mine (it’s kind of a theme, now). The tour went via the “Uber Salzburg” which is along the route to the place where Hitler had his “Eagles Nest” at the top of the mountain.
What we did not know was that the Nazis actually had a whole second command post set up near Berchtesgaden - Uber Salzburg. All the leaders had houses here and there was a huge barracks, etc. This was the place Hitler came to in the 1920s and 1930s when he was writing his book, and it was the place where he built his popular image as “a simple man of the people”. Over time the Nazis bought out, or moved out, everyone else who lived nearby and simply took over the village. There is a very good museum here, you will hear more about it later.
Back to the salt mines….this tour included a ride down a long wooden slide that the miners used to get quickly from one level to another, two rides on underground trains and a lot of explanation of the development of salt mining technology and of how good salt is for human kind in general. It was fun. There were no carvings or spectacular underground rooms such as the ones we saw in the mine near Krakow.
The trip to the country on the tour bus gave us an appetite to get out of the city on our own, so for the 250 km journey from Salzburg to Vienna we rented a car for three days. I was hoping for something exotic like a Peugeot or a BMW, but the plain old Ford Focus station wagon served us well. Nelson kept saying “I knew I should have bought a GPS” and I kept saying “I am a perfectly good navigator”. For the first two and three-quarters of the trip that was true.
On the first day we drove back to Uber Salzburg and took the trip up to the “Eagles Nest”. We had to take a bus up the one-lane road to the base of an elevator, which takes people the up the last few hundred meters to the top of the mountain. I thought it was built as a place to live, but it was designed to be a place to bring foreign dignitaries and other important folks to impress them. It is impressive, and the easiest way imaginable to get to the top of the Austrian Alps. Not being a mountain climber, I appreciated that part a lot! The Nazi history of the place is downplayed here and the emphasis is on enjoying the experience at the top of the world. After we had hiked around a bit we had lunch in the tea house and then went back to the museum, which is very well done and includes a visit to the underground bunkers built into the hill.
Our day continued with a drive through the ski hill country to Lake Halsted. It is a medieval town huddled on the side of the mountain at the edge of the lake and it’s beautiful! We splashed out the money to stay in one of the houses in the old town, and were rewarded with a night in a very romantic room with a four poster bed and a view of the full moon over the lake.
The next day we went for a tour of the local (wait for it) salt mine! This one is the billed as the oldest salt mine in the world and the tour began with a funicular ride straight up the side of the mountain, then a hike through a valley to the entrance to the mine. The focus was on the ancient history of salt mining and the presence of ancient peoples in and around the mine. There were two slides, and on one of them a computer clocked how fast we came down. I made 39 km an hour, which we thought was pretty quick, but the guide did close to 70!
We continued on through the Alps and zig-zagged our way across the landscape. Our other adventure was a tour of a famous iron ore mine (just for a change of pace from the salt thing). The attraction here was that we got to ride in one of the HUGE dump trucks. If you have been through the Crow’s Nest Pass and seen the giant truck there, you know what I mean. The underground tour gave us a fun look at mining as it was before the open pit methods were employed, and the ride in “Hauly” took us through the open pit works.
Attempting to return the car to the Hertz rental place in Vienna got us completely lost in the city. Nelson kept saying “I knew I should have bought a GPS” and I kept saying “Slow down, I can’t read the signs.” We finally resorted to a travelers trick I’ve read about in blogs and books. We stopped outside a taxi stand, I jumped into the cab and showed the driver the address we needed to find. Nelson followed the cab and we all got safely to the Hertz place. Then we used the cab to get to our hostel in the other part of town. Stress free, and the driver seemed to enjoy being the hero of the day to the lost Canadians.
Nelson bought a GPS on sale at an electronics store near the hostel. I still think I am a perfectly good navigator!
The tourist information folks booked us into a reasonable, old-fashioned hotel across the street from the big-name places. The old furniture, lace curtains and general “European” atmosphere more than compensated for the lack of modern bathroom facilities and lack of wireless internet. We were ten minutes walk from the old town on the river, so it was a perfect location.
We spent our three days in Salzburg exploring the streets, the fortress on the hill and enjoying the warm weather. On our second day we took a bus tour to another salt mine (it’s kind of a theme, now). The tour went via the “Uber Salzburg” which is along the route to the place where Hitler had his “Eagles Nest” at the top of the mountain.
What we did not know was that the Nazis actually had a whole second command post set up near Berchtesgaden - Uber Salzburg. All the leaders had houses here and there was a huge barracks, etc. This was the place Hitler came to in the 1920s and 1930s when he was writing his book, and it was the place where he built his popular image as “a simple man of the people”. Over time the Nazis bought out, or moved out, everyone else who lived nearby and simply took over the village. There is a very good museum here, you will hear more about it later.
Back to the salt mines….this tour included a ride down a long wooden slide that the miners used to get quickly from one level to another, two rides on underground trains and a lot of explanation of the development of salt mining technology and of how good salt is for human kind in general. It was fun. There were no carvings or spectacular underground rooms such as the ones we saw in the mine near Krakow.
The trip to the country on the tour bus gave us an appetite to get out of the city on our own, so for the 250 km journey from Salzburg to Vienna we rented a car for three days. I was hoping for something exotic like a Peugeot or a BMW, but the plain old Ford Focus station wagon served us well. Nelson kept saying “I knew I should have bought a GPS” and I kept saying “I am a perfectly good navigator”. For the first two and three-quarters of the trip that was true.
On the first day we drove back to Uber Salzburg and took the trip up to the “Eagles Nest”. We had to take a bus up the one-lane road to the base of an elevator, which takes people the up the last few hundred meters to the top of the mountain. I thought it was built as a place to live, but it was designed to be a place to bring foreign dignitaries and other important folks to impress them. It is impressive, and the easiest way imaginable to get to the top of the Austrian Alps. Not being a mountain climber, I appreciated that part a lot! The Nazi history of the place is downplayed here and the emphasis is on enjoying the experience at the top of the world. After we had hiked around a bit we had lunch in the tea house and then went back to the museum, which is very well done and includes a visit to the underground bunkers built into the hill.
Our day continued with a drive through the ski hill country to Lake Halsted. It is a medieval town huddled on the side of the mountain at the edge of the lake and it’s beautiful! We splashed out the money to stay in one of the houses in the old town, and were rewarded with a night in a very romantic room with a four poster bed and a view of the full moon over the lake.
The next day we went for a tour of the local (wait for it) salt mine! This one is the billed as the oldest salt mine in the world and the tour began with a funicular ride straight up the side of the mountain, then a hike through a valley to the entrance to the mine. The focus was on the ancient history of salt mining and the presence of ancient peoples in and around the mine. There were two slides, and on one of them a computer clocked how fast we came down. I made 39 km an hour, which we thought was pretty quick, but the guide did close to 70!
We continued on through the Alps and zig-zagged our way across the landscape. Our other adventure was a tour of a famous iron ore mine (just for a change of pace from the salt thing). The attraction here was that we got to ride in one of the HUGE dump trucks. If you have been through the Crow’s Nest Pass and seen the giant truck there, you know what I mean. The underground tour gave us a fun look at mining as it was before the open pit methods were employed, and the ride in “Hauly” took us through the open pit works.
Attempting to return the car to the Hertz rental place in Vienna got us completely lost in the city. Nelson kept saying “I knew I should have bought a GPS” and I kept saying “Slow down, I can’t read the signs.” We finally resorted to a travelers trick I’ve read about in blogs and books. We stopped outside a taxi stand, I jumped into the cab and showed the driver the address we needed to find. Nelson followed the cab and we all got safely to the Hertz place. Then we used the cab to get to our hostel in the other part of town. Stress free, and the driver seemed to enjoy being the hero of the day to the lost Canadians.
Nelson bought a GPS on sale at an electronics store near the hostel. I still think I am a perfectly good navigator!
No comments:
Post a Comment