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Published: December 13th 2011
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Gruneau
Three dogs and a cat, a fireplace, home-cooked meals, locals that have their set seat at the bar every night and my own room. Welcome to the ‘Tree House’, a hostel with a difference! A hidden gem in the Austrian hills, Gruneau is one of the small stops that people often skip by when they are doing a whirlwind tour of Europe. For those that do take the time away from pounding the pavement of the teeming tourist towns, a treasure of crisp fresh air, crystal clear water and doing absolutely nothing awaits!
I started my restoration by walking through the forest to a waterfall and dunked by drink bottle under the cool running water – fresh from the source!
I wasn’t used to sitting still and simply enjoying nature, so on day 2 in Gruneau I rode 21km with some fellow travellers to see the picture perfect Almsee Lake surrounded by beautiful green mountains. The sun was shining and the water was clear as glass, but sadly a bit too cool to dive in for a dip. A hostel-home cooked BBQ was the perfect meal for us hungry adventurers.
Fairy tales came alive when I
Hansel & Gretel
(fairy tale forest) ventured into the woods on my last day in the tree tops and found a children’s fairy tale land. I met a frog kissing Princess, Snow White and her trusty dwarfs and sweet little Hansel and Gretel.
Gruneau grabs people in such a way that they usually end up spending longer than planned, or come back for another shot of city-detox. I would have loved to stay and actually relax in the great outdoors for a few more days, but the hills were alive singing my name in
Salzburg!
If you haven’t heard of the movie ‘
The Sound of Music’, where have you been since 1965?
I fell in love with this movie as a kid, singing along to ‘do-re-mi’ and ‘Edelweiss’. I even played Liesal (the oldest of the Von Trapp children), in a school musical. Here it was time to re-live the sounds and sites from the movie and also learn about one of the world’s greatest musical masters, Mozart.
Let’s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start!). As soon as I arrive in a new city, I usually drop my bags at the hostel and start exploring right away,
every minute counts! Salzburg, meaning the 'Salt Castle' is Austria's fourth largest city and I had 2 1/2 days to see it! In the few hours of daylight I had left, I stumbled across some markets (mainly selling touristy treasures) and also saw St Peters Abbey, Salzburg Museum, the Salzburg Dom (cathedral) and Franciscan Church.
On route to Salzburg, the Busabout guide informed us of a small, round, tasty brown ball that adorned almost every tourist shop window that was a ‘must eat’ while in Salzburg. How could I
not try the famous
Mozart ball! There wasn’t just one; there was the original (hard to find and wrapped in blue), and the ever popular copycat version (wrapped in red). My mission was to try both and be the judge of the best. And the winner.. the red one! Oh and I attempted to find Mozart’s birthplace, which I am sure I walked past a few times, but I just couldn’t spot the exact window. At least I got a small taste of Mozart, it was just missing a musical touch.
I also went inside St Peters Abbey, a cemetery that dates back to 700AD where Mozarts sister buried.
The interesting thing about this cemetery is that you don’t buy a plot, your family rents it. So if the rent isn’t paid, the body is dug up and thrown out the gate!
Further along the food trail, I joined a German traveller for a traditional Austrian meal; a
kasnock’n’. English translation: Gnocchi topped with melted cheese and fried onions. I wouldn’t say it was a nutritious meal, take a look at my photo to see why.
The favourable weather the next day (22 degrees) and predicted cold weather (5 degrees) for later in the week, meant it was time to explore the city’s surrounding hills, history and castles before the cold snap hit.
Salzburg is surrounded by rolling green hills and what better way to explore than to climb above and beyond to get a birds eye view. After studying my trusty map I chose a challenging walk to work off my cheesy feast from the night before. The sun was shining and I even worked up a sweat as I climbed the steep 636 metre high hiking path hill of ‘
Kapuzinerberg’. I reached the top when I found myself at ‘
Franziski-schloss’ - a castle turned
into a restaurant overlooking the mountains beyond Mozart mania.
I continued to walk along paths unknown to find more castle remains and beautiful city, river and mountain views. Sometimes the best experiences in life are free, and this was a walk to remember! I saved the best site til last and with the small amount of energy I had left in me, I puffed up a very steep ramp to reach
The Hohensalzburg Castle - one of Europe’s largest medieval castles. There is certainly no a shortage of castles in Europe, and each has its own story, battle and treasure hidden beyond its stone walls. Before my travels, castles only existed in fairy tales.. but who says dreams don’t come true!
With only half a day left, I didn’t have enough time to join the classic Sound of Music tour, so I created my own express tour and saw;
Mirabelle Gardens (where Maria and the kids sang ‘Do Re Mi’), an ancient horse bath now fountain (where Maria and the kids dance around while singing 'My Favorite Things'😉,
Residenz Square & Fountain (where the family performs 'I Have Confidence in Me’), the famous pavilions (where the romantic 'I
am 16 going on 17' scene was filmed) and lastly, the
Festival Halls (Salzburger Festspielhaus - where the family sing ‘So long farewell’ at the Salzburg festival).
So I managed to cover all the famous sites in half the time of the tour, it was free and no-one had to put up with my singing!
About time for me to say 'so long and farewell', until the next blog..
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