This time, I will tell a story of my experience visiting Salzburg, a small town in Austria – at the border of Germany, who is able to capture my heart instantly. This story is still part of my journey of visiting Eastern Europe, after the last time I told you my experience in Vienna, the capital of Austria. Salzburg is well-known as the place where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a classic musical legend was born. You can feel the atmosphere of classical music everywhere at this city, as this was also the location where The Sounds of Music movie, which was also legendary, was made.

Salzburg is located around 3 to 4 hours road-trip from Vienna. I joined a tour service from Viator which offers many kinds of different tours to Salzburg from Vienna, depending on what you would want to experience there. We gathered in front of Vienna State Opera building in the morning and went on a very great and comfortable bus. Like most of the tour service in Europe, the tour guide offered a bilingual service, in English and Spanish. This experience made me want to learn Spanish, like literally! I can tell you, the view in the whole journey from Vienna to Salzburg was incredible! We stopped by a very good rest area as well for a couple of minutes. The rest area is very beautiful, located in the middle of country village in the town. The restaurant offered various kind of local delicacies. It reminded me of Marche restaurant chains in Jakarta! Lol.

St. Gilgen & Lake Wolfgang

After almost fell asleep in the bus, our tour guide woke me up by informing that we were going to pass by a very beautiful village by a famous lake, which is St. Gilgen Village and Lake Wolfgang in Salzkammergut district. I opened my eyes with excitement, while our guide explained that this place appeared at the early scenes of The Sounds of Music movie. We stopped by for toilet breaks and photo sessions for a while at that location. I could say, this is my most favorite location after being in Europe for several days. The small village, located just right by a calm and serene lake with snowy mountain as the background. It was just sooo beautiful! The ambiance is very calming and I felt like I could find my peace there.

Mirabell Gardens

After around 30 minutes continuing our trip from St. Gilgen, we arrived at Salzburg. Our bus stopped on a street, named Paris, for all of us to remember it easily. Our tour guide said that we would go down the bus, go around the city, and meet there again in the afternoon to go back to Vienna. The first place we visited in Salzburg was Mirabell Gardens, which is also known as the most beautiful baroque garden in Europe. The gardens were filled with various baroque style statues and decorations, while the flowers bloomed beautifully on their seasons. There is also Mirabell Palace within the garden area, but we didn’t go inside the palace. This place was also one of the most popular location of The Sounds of Music movie.

Love Locks at Makartsteg Bridge

Going further from Mirabell Gardens, we saw a iconic bridge standing across Salzach River. It was like every city in Europe has their own iconic river, literally! The bridge was very iconic as it was filled with love locks, like some other bridges in the famous cities in the world. Of course, it comes with a legendary myth that the couple who put the locks with their names on it there will never be separated. It was called as Makarsteg Bridge, and it connects us from Mirabell Gardens to the Old Town area of Salzburg. You can also enjoy a beautiful view of the river, including all of the historical places and palaces which was located far far away from where we stood at that time, yet we were still able to saw them from the bridge.

Salzburg Old Town (Salzburger Altstadt)

Across the river, we entered the Salzburg Old Town, or called as Salzburger Altstadt by the locals. It was basically an area filled with shopping place and some historical buildings in the town, like Mozart’s Birth Place, palaces, and cathedrals. There are a lot of branded shopping stores as well for those who could never go anywhere without shopping, some souvenirs stores, chocolate stores, coffee shops, and restaurants. I do really love the ambiance of this city! It was just sooo special, especially since it was near the Christmas season at that time. I wish I could go back there again someday!

Mozart’s Birthplace (Mozarts Geburtshaus)

Also located at the Old Town, Mozart’s Birthplace (Mozarts Geburtshaus) also becomes one of the most popular place to visit in Salzburg. As you can see from its name, it was the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at No. 9, Getreidegasse in Salzburg who was born there on 27 January 1756. The eye-catching yellow building is now becoming a museum, which introduces us to the early life of Mozart. Apart of this birthplace, Salzburg is all about Mozart! You can feel and see his presence everywhere you go, from a souvenir store to a cafe.

Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom)

Salzburg Cathedral is a baroque cathedral built in the 17th century, dedicated to Saint Rupert and Saint Vergilius. It has beautiful architecture in a huge area and still contains the baptismal font in which (again) Mozart was baptized.

That was pretty much the place which I visited during my one-day trip in Salzburg. The tour guide accompanied us on the first two-hours, and I continued exploring the city by myself. Of course, including sitting in a coffee shop with my Kindle. It was a magical city. Salzburg has definitely won my heart and became my most favorite city by far!