Day 9 – Salzberg and Bad Ischl (The Sound of Music country)

We liked Munich and it would have been good to stay there a bit longer and be captivated by its charms. Susi, our friend had left a list of suggestions and we only managed about third of them. In particular, we would have loved to hire a bike and take the many cycleways to explore the place.

Our breakfast at the NYX Hotel has to be the best I have had in a hotel. The range of food available was great. We had a large breakfast to sustain us for the rest of the day.

Then it was back on the autobahn to get to Salzberg. There were lovely views of the mountains as we approached the city. There was still snow clinging to the mountains which made for a wonderful backdrop to our journey. There was the obligatory driving at snail’s pace at times, due to road works, with one tail back being about five kilometres or more. It was worse on the other side of the autobahn. So much for no speed limits!

Salzberg was lovely. I had no idea what to expect which great when you go to a new city. It is set amongst hills with the old city literally carved out of the side of hill with a castle sitting atop it and the houses, shops, university, churches and museums sitting at its base. It was a lovely place in which to wander.

Bev indulged in a piece of Streusel and of course I had to follow suit. We were able to sit on a balcony upstairs looking at the river and people. It was very warm (27 degrees).

There were tours around the city in a horse and buggy which appealed to Bev, so that is what we did. It lasted half an hour and the driver was fairly grumpy which didn’t make the experience the greatest. One of the interesting things was that a man on a bike followed us and scooped up the horse dung so that it did not pollute the streets. In times past, it must have made walking across streets a bit hazardous.

After a funicular ride to castle or “Schloss” on the hill above, we headed into the Austrian Alps to our accommodation for the next couple of nights. Bad Ischl, is another spa town and was where had booked our accommodation. It is nestled by a river or two and surrounded by mountains. Our Airbnb was a lovely alpine house just as you see in “The Sound of Music”.

We finished off the day with an interesting meal at a local restaurant recommended by our AirBnB host.