our second honeymoon stop was salzburg, where we engaged in extreme tourism by way of a sound of music tour, fancy wieners in hidden alleys, and mozart kugel! that fancy wiener part sounds dirtier than it is. we really just found this great hidden sausage stand that shakes a bunch of curry on your wiener and people stand in a cronut-sized line for them (so i guess it isn't actually that hidden).
but let us discuss the cuteness that is salzburg! salzburg is like whoville and disneyland with a large emphasis on cake and chocolate. i loved it so much. and what's even greater is that it's not even really trying that hard to be cute, it is o.g. cute because it's been like that for hundreds and hundreds of years. we went to a restaurant that was 1200 years old and a bakery that was 800 years old. can you even imagine 1200 years ago?! i can't, i just get flashbacks of failing my gregorian chant tests in first-year music history. for the record i did inquire about that bakery's sourdough starter (what is the german word for starter?) but alas their starter is not 800 years old.
our sound of music tour was everything we dreamed it would be! we frolicked down the path where maria sings "i have confidence" and ate cake in a cafe right next to the church where they got married. eggboy asked if the von trapps really walked across the alps to switzerland, and our tour guide informed us that, no, they just walked 600 meters to the train station. it all suddenly became clear but i'm pretty sure that eggboy would have loved an x-treme sound of music tour requiring a days-long hike through the alps.
we spent one afternoon in the little lakeside town of hallstatt, about an hour outside of salzburg. we felt like we were in a postcard the entire time. it's so pretty and it has the coolest history. it is home to the oldest salt mine in the world and up until recently, it was only accessible by boat. it kind of reminded me of being on catalina island. a schnitzel-scented catalina island, because of a waterfront schnitzel and sausage stand. not that i'm complaining or anything.
here are some places in salzburg that we loved!
schatz konditorei // this place is hidden in an alley and it might be the cutest bakery of all time. it's the definition of cozy and it sells the cutest colorful cakes. seriously, it is the bakery of my dreams.
café tomaselli // even though it's pretty young by salzburg standards (only 150 years old!), it's a total institution. i guess mozart drank almond milk there?? if you go, take a peak into the upstairs room, it is so beautiful, i can see why people are regulars.
cafe-konditorei fürst // ok, yes, we spent about three days in salzburg and this is the third bakery i'm listing, and we went to all of these places multiple times, so do you see why i only packed stretchy pants. but we had to go to this one, it's home to the original mozartkugel!
stiftsbackerei st. peter // this is the 800 year old bakery! it's the bread bakery for the st. peter monastery and it has the fluffiest brioche and the most fantastic smells.
st. peter stiftskeller // the oldest restaurant in the world. it's connected to the same monastery as the stiftsbackerei and we came here for valentine's day. i have to admit, we kept getting distracted trying to envision what it would have looked like 1200 years ago and placing bets on where mozart sat.
hotel goldener hirsch // this place was our cozy oasis in the middle of old town salzburg. it oozes with character and has the most amazing traditional decor. i'm so glad we stayed there.
restaurant s'herzl // this is one of the restaurants connected to the goldener hirsch, and i had one of my favorite meals of hour whole trip there. goulash with knödel! eggboy got the schnitzel so i tasted some of his, but i don't know, i think goulash was the surprise winner of my heart for this trip.
augustiner bräu // it's a massive beer hall inside a monastery. if i ever decide to become a monk, you'll know where to find me.
balkan grill // this is the alleyway sausage place i mentioned above. toasty buns, lots of curry, two sausages to a bun. it's so good, it makes me want to shake a bunch of curry onto everything.
bob's tours // this was the tour company we used for the sound of music tour and the hallstatt tour and they were great! we took both tours on a sunday which worked out really well since not a whole lot of businesses are open on sundays.
gmundner keramik // we didn't buy a whole lot of souvenirs, but we did buy some little dishes from this company, which has been in business since 1492. our hotel had these ceramics everywhere and i loved them so much, so we figured this would be a perfect place to get some little mementos.
-yeh!