We arrived in the town of St Johann im Pongau (quite a name, right?) on Saturday afternoon. A town of about 10,000 and known for its nearby ski hill and outdoor activities, it felt like a booming metropolis.
Another RCI jackpot, our hotel was a sport hotel - with a swimming pool, tennis courts, weight and workout machines. Talk about going out with a bang! And bonus - it totally reminded me of summer camp, you know like the one in Dirty Dancing. Minus the awesome dancing but with an activities director included.
Our six days here went by fast and included:
- Hiking: We ventured to the nearby Alpendorf mountain area (a bit steeper hike than we originally planned) our first day in town and found that we could walk all the way back to St. Johann along a pretty river. The next day we saw the weather was going to be clear, so we bused over to Alpendorf and took the gondola to the top, deciding on a hike with what looked like good views. Boy were they good views. We huffed and puffed our way up to to the top of Sonntagskogal peak and from there we had a 360-degree view of mountains as far as the eye could see. Well worth the effort to get up there. We treated ourselves to a meat and cheese plate (the standard hiker's meal around these parts) at a small local cabin and headed on our way back to the gondola, passing a beautiful lake. We also headed to a town called Bischofshofen (yep another real name) and chased a waterfall there. This gem was at the top of 300+ stairs so we really worked for that view too.
- Sound of Music: We were on a mission to do all things Sound of Music while in Austria. We first took the train to the town of Werfen and found a small little path called the Sound of Music Trail. Yes it's just as fantastic as it sounds. It hikes you to the spot that Julie Andrews taught the kids do-re-me. There may or may not have been twirling and singing involved. While in Salzburg, we took Fraulein Maria's bicycle tour, which was a four hour, eight mile bike trip around Salzburg stopping at all the filming locations. We rode through the town of Salzburg past the church, the concert hall, and then headed out in the countryside (on very nice bike paths) to see the Captain's house and the gazebo. My mom was in her glory. And I had a ton of fun, too. Our guide was Claudio, a Sound of Music enthusiast who gave us all the fun facts about the filming, locations, and cast. He even brought a portable speaker with him so we blasted Sound of Music songs our whole ride back into the city. I fully embraced being the nerdy, target-on-my-back tourist during this tour. Well, because it's hard to hide when you're riding a large cruiser bike with little grace down cobblestone streets and you're with a guide singing "The Hills Are Alive" at the top of his lungs. So, might as well embrace it.
- Salzburg: When we weren't flocking around and singing like Maria, we visited the city's main shopping area, checked out the Salzburg cathedral - a lavishly decorated Baroque cathedral, people-watched near the opera house (it looked like these people were going to the Opera!), and tasted the local cuisine at a brewery. The city was a good size, and we felt like we were able to cover a lot of the major sights in one day (we didn't hit any museums).
Highlights:
- Sound of Music Tour - so fun to cycle around in the place where it all happened!
- Salzburg - such a cool city with a great energy and lots of people around.
- Alpendorf Hike - a great view of the mountains on a crystal clear day.
Lessons Learned:
- When someone offers you a cheese dumpling you take it! Had the best meal at the brewery in Salzburg and it involved these beauties.
- Sometimes when you are a nerdy tourist you just have to embrace the role.
- Locals don't know/don't care about the Sound of Music. What a travesty!
- The mountains here are beautiful and so green.
Thanks for following along...this journey is just about coming to an end!
The lake at Alpendorf.
The famous gazebo from Sound of Music.
The Salzburg Cathedral.