A few of our favourite things in Austria

While we didn’t ‘Climb Every Mountain’ our 10 days in Austria gave us a good taste for Viennese food, culture and beautiful countryside.

Our first stop was Vienna, the capital of Austria and a beautiful city on the Danube River.

A walking tour took us through some interesting parts of the city, including Mozart’s former residence, the bustling local markets and the School of Arts building where a young and hopeful painter Adolph Hitler was rejected (a rejection for which he blamed the Jews rather than a lack of talent).

We also went through parts of the Royal Palace which once housed the Habsburg royal family, as well as the State Opera house which once hosted the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, Strass and more.

We finished at the St Stephen’s Basilica in the Old Town area, one of Austria’s most recognisable landmarks.

Filling up on Austrian beer, strudel and traditional Sachertorte cake, we found the Austrian capital quite beautiful and charming.

A cultural experience “must do” in Vienna is to see an opera or classical music performance. Avoiding the tourist trap ticket sellers in the street, we lined up outside the State Opera for last minute standing room tickets (costing between 3 & 4€ each) and scored a spot to see Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni.’

Although the Opera was in Italian, little screens with sub titles kept us in the loop.

A trip out to the Schönbrunn Palacs and a walk through Music Park topped off our time in Vienna before making our way to Salzburg.

Bordering Germany and surrounded by the Austrian and Bavarian Alps, Jess was thrilled to be “Do-Ray-Me-ing” her way around the town where The Sound of Music – the third highest grossing film of all time – was filmed in 1963.

Our first full day had us embarking on a Sound of Music tour by Panorama Tours (the company used to bus cast and crew all over the countryside during filming).

Our hilarious guide had the whole bus singing and yodelling along to the film soundtrack as we visited many famous filming sites, including the back of the Von Trapp house where the children and Maria fell into the lake…

The gazebo from “I am 16 going on 17″…

The laneways for “I have confidence”…

St Michael’s Church in Mondsee where Maria and Captain Von Trapp married…

The many lakes used in the opening scenes…

And who can forget the beautiful Mirabell Gardens for the catchy “Do Ray Me”…

Later that afternoon we made our way out to Berchtesgaden to visit Eagles Nest – also known as Hitler’s Mountain Retreat.

The road up, the tunnels and golden elevator to the top was considered an engineering feat for its time and what was once the place where strategic decisions were made during WWII, it is now home to a cafe and restaurant.

The next two days we bought a Salzburg Card (worthwhile if you’re planning to see a few things) and enjoyed the Old Town of Salzburg and surrounding areas, including a ride up the gondola to the top of Untersberg Mountain…