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  >  Destinations   >  Austria   >  Sound of Music Tour: Salzburg

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you would know I’m crazy about this town! I got off the train from Munich in Salzburg one sunny morning, and it was as if time had stood still. I was barely off the train when I felt the relaxed pace of a small-town feel settling on me. I was on the edge, as one usually is on their second day in a new continent, but Salzburg settled on me like snow on dry land. In a minute, all was calm. While you could check out A Day’s Guide to Salzburg, there’s more to this town that meets the eye of a first-time traveler. This, of course, I realized months later, when Salzburg remained so vividly etched in my memory for a long time to come.

I only had a day to make the most of Salzburg, and as luck would have it- a bus came rolling by, with the music humming, “Silver white winters that melt into springs.. these are a few of my favorite things” and I knew I was in the right place. Ain’t no other place that’s felt so magical in a long long time. If you have a lot of Salzburg to discover in a day (just like I did) this Day’s Guide to Salzburg will help you plan your day better.

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The tour I opted for was a hop-on hop-off bus with a Sound of Music theme, and it’s first stop was none other than the flower and fruit morning market just around the curb. Before you underestimate this tiny marketplace, let it be known that the smell of freshly baked bread and desserts, juicy sausages is quite enticing; if you aren’t already taken by it’s visual appeal- owing to the fresh-cut flowers and fresh fruit of all shapes and sizes. I’ll have to you know, I made it straight for the cart selling Frankfurters- and to this day it remains the best I’ve ever had.

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Our second stop (across the street, pretty much) was the Mirabell Palace and Gardens, an ode to Mozart and his contribution of epic proportions to the world of art. I didn’t realize the tiny hole-in-the-wall entrance was really a doorway into wonderland. Apprehensive at first, I was completely taken aback with the beauty of the place! Fountains, violin players and bushes cut to perfection among some of Mozart’s best work. Even if you don’t haunt the halls of the palace, just sit at the bench in the garden and enjoy all the positive vibes.

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Next Stop: The Leopoldskron Palace, home of the Von Trapp family! All this while, and it seems like nothing has changed since the film first came out in 1965. I haven’t visited any other town as splendid and completely unchanged as this one. As I stood there by the lake, gazing at the house, I watched a family (complete with three kids) cycle by one after another. I felt like I was standing in the middle of a movie set with the film rolling around me. That’s what life is like in Salzburg, the enchanting town where time has stood still for years.

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The tour also covers the church where the wedding scene takes place in the movie; along with the Nonnberg Convent, but at this point I had already stopped the old town and was off unearthing some more magic among it’s narrow cobbled streets and pleasant cafes with their bright potted plants. I stopped to pose on the bridge with the love locks, sit by an open cafe sipping wine, join the rest of Salzburg to enjoy the riverside and scout through the plenty souvenir shops to take some of Salzburg home. No other place could have possibly made that day any more ideal than it was.