Let’s Start at the Very Beginning……Salzburg
A tribute to the Sound of Music
The hills are alive with the sound of music With songs they have sung for a thousand years The hills fill my heart with the sound of music My heart wants to sing every song it hears
My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds That rise from the lake to the trees My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies From a church on a breeze To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls over Stones on its way To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray
I go to the hills when my heart is lonely I know I will hear what I’ve heard before My heart will be blessed with the sound of music And I’ll sing once more
If you were a child of the late 70s and 80s AND went to a Catholic school, you were bound to be introduced to the iconic movie, the Sound of Music (SOM), or its songs.
As a child, I must have watched that movie in the double digits and knew the lyrics to all the songs. Although there is more to the city of Salzburg than being the set for the movie in 1964, the city attracts 1.3 million tourists just to take the SOM tour.
Operated by a few tour companies, you can book a 4-hour tour that takes you to many of the locations where the movie was filmed. I booked my tour through Panorama Tour Company and dragged my two teenage kids who had watched bits of the movie here and there. Sorry kiddos, it’s mommy’s time to play!
How to get to Salzburg
You can fly into Salzburg with a connection to any major European city. We were already in Vienna and took a train from Wien Hbf to Salzburg Hbf.
The express train runs 2 hr 22min and the regular runs 2 hr 53min. Train tickets can be booked in advance or on the day of travel through the OBB website. They have contactless tickets that can be delivered to your mobile device.
The train station in Salzburg is centrally located, a short walk to most hotels. It’s a lovely city by the Salt River.
Note: The pictures to follow will only make sense if you have watched the movie or will do so after this brief overview.
It was a rainy day, but the hills were alive
The tour started at 9:30 am. The bus with 67-person occupancy was full on the day of our tour. We were in luck as the three of us and two others from the US were taken on the tour in a minivan — a private tour of sorts.
The rain did not interrupt our plans to see the sights and complete the tour.
Playing the songs during the whole tour provided the perfect mood. It just brought out the child in me to sing along. My kids, however, wished they brought their noise-canceling earphones!
Here are my top picks:
#1. View of the lake
At the beginning of the movie when Maria is on a meadow singing the opening song, “The hills are alive with the Sound of Music”, there is an aerial view of the lake shot from a helicopter. The picture doesn’t do justice to how pretty this place was in real life.
#2 and #3. Pegasus Fountain and Steps in Mirabelle Garden
My all-time favorite song is Do-re-mi. Remember, Maria and the kids out on a day trip prancing and singing around town? At some point, they end up at many spots in the Mirabelle Gardens. They march along the edge of the Pegasus fountain and end up at the steps to sing the part: So, do, la, fa, mi, do, re…..
#4. The Gazebo
Yes, I too cringe at the lyrics of the song, I am sixteen, going on seventeen, when I listen to it now. But as a little girl, all I could think of was jumping from one bench to the next guided by my own version of Ralph.
I wish I could rewrite the song, but Saturday Night Live skits have done enough justice to the parody versions, if you care to check them out on YouTube.
The gazebo was moved from its original location, but it now sits on the grounds of Hellbrunn Palace.
#5. The Lake by Leopoldskron Palace
When Maria returns on the boat with the kids from their day trip climbing and hanging from trees, the boat topples just when they reach the house. These are the gates of the Leopoldskron Palace where they enter the house. The palace was not really the house in the movie. Just the grounds were used for filming.
If you haven’t realized by now, I am a SOM Nerd! Yes, I admit it. Visiting Salzburg and going on the SOM tour were on my bucket list for the longest time. There were so many places we saw that I didn’t include in my review like the church in Mondsee where Maria gets married.
Thanks to my daughter who wanted to visit her friend in Bratislava, we made it to this side of the globe. Thanks to both my kids for going along with the plan and being team players. When you hear your kids whistling to some of the tunes after, you know they silently enjoyed it as well.
Salzburg is Mozart’s birthplace. You can visit the house and attend one of the concerts in the evening. If I had more time I would have loved to do a day trip to visit the salt mines and tour Hallstatt. Another time!
Disclaimer: I do understand as an adult that the movie was set during a very dark time for Austria before the second World War. My write-up is only about the fictional account as shown in the Hollywood movie. I wanted to keep it travel lite!
If you’ve been to Salzburg, a fan of SOM, or would like to go, I would love to hear your comments.
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