BWW Blog: The Hills Are Alive - My Journey Through Salzburg

The Sound of Music has been a part of my life for many years. When I was younger, I played "Edelweiss" as a piano duet with my grandmother. For many years, different songs from the musical were part of my choir recitals, and eventually, I became a fan of the movie as a whole. This past January, I had the opportunity to travel to Austria and see some of the places where the cast and crew had filmed the iconic movie. My first day in Salzburg gave me a chance to unwind and explore the city, preparing for the busy day ahead. Of course, before my big Sound of Music day, I watched the movie at the hostel (which fortunately played every night at eight).

At six in the morning, I got up and ventured out to the Nonnberg Convent, where the nuns sing in the morning and spend their days in prayer. After some language barrier difficulties about how to get into the Abbey itself, I managed to get into the building a take a seat in one of the pews to hear the nuns sing. It was truly an incredible experience to hear them singing from the choir room above, sitting in the darkness and watching the sunrise. After visiting the convent I walked across the bridge that Maria and the children crossed to go have a picnic in the mountains. Then I grabbed a latte from a small coffee stand and then made my way into the city center.

After getting a coffee and visiting Nonnberg Convent, I went back to the center of town so I could go on the Panorama Sound of Music Tour. The tour was going to be four hours of exploring Salzburg in a van with fellow Sound of Music fans while listening to the soundtrack and learning more about the movie being filmed throughout the city. The tour guide had been living in Salzburg for his whole life and he was very informative about not only the city but the Sound of Music.

First, we visited one of the most iconic buildings in the movie, Schloss Leopoldskron, where the exterior shots of the Von Trapp home were filmed. There in front of us was the beautiful white building with the famous hippocampus gates in front of the lake. While we were not able to go inside of the building, we were able to take pictures of it from across the gorgeous body of water that Maria and the children fell into before Maria gets in an argument with the Captain. Before heading to our next destination we drove by the front of the building, snapping pictures from the van windows.

After taking a quick stop to see the Nonnberg Convent from the bottle of the hill, we drove out to Hellbrunn Palace, whose park is home to one of the famous gazebos from the movie, where Liesl and Rolf sing "Sixteen Going On Seventeen". There were actually multiple gazebos used for the scene, with some being used as the exterior and others as the interior. This particular gazebo had been used for some of the exterior shots and was restored and moved to Hellbrunn after being gifted to the city of Salzburg. While we couldn't go inside the gazebo, the tour guide was happy to take photos of us posing at the glass door.

For our next stop, we took a quick break on a hillside to look down on the villages of St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang where many of the mountain scenes were filmed. The tour guide told us stories about how they filmed the iconic opening scene with Maria spinning around in the mountains, with a cameraman hanging on to the edge of a hovering helicopter. We were unable to go to the top of the mountains as it would take too long for a four-hour tour, but there were some great photo opportunities from where we had stopped.

One of the main highlights of the Sound of Music tour was a stop in the town of Mondsee, where the tour guide gave us an hour to explore the area and grab something to eat. First, I went to Mondsee Abbey, where the wedding of Maria and the Captain was filmed. While the interior of the church has been changed since the movie was released, there was still plenty to see in the gorgeous building. After Mondsee Abbey and a small walk around the town, I decided to have a snack at Cafe Konditorei Braun. Of course, I had to go with the classic apple strudel while in Austria! Along with the yummy treat, I also got a hot drink known as Gluhwein, spiced/mulled wine.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, including the tour. We ended at the Mirabell Garden, where the children and Maria sang and danced to "Do-Re-Mi". Even though most of the garden was closed because of the winter season, there was still a chance to walk around and to get pictures of the iconic Pegasus Fountain. After the tour ended, I walked from the gardens to the Sound of Music World, one of the popular museums in Salzburg. There were many cool facts comparing the movie to the actual Von Trapp story, along with interviews from the actual Von Trapp children. The museum was quite small which was nice as I was able to explore all of it in a relatively short amount of time.

Ultimately, visiting Salzburg was an incredible experience, especially because of the wonderful Panorama Sound of Music Tour that I was able to take. I've taken quite a few tours based on movie locations, and this one was one of the best that I had been on in quite a few years. If you ever have a chance to visit the city and take the tour, I would definitely recommend it!