4 Amazing Days in Salzburg and Vienna at Christmas

July 17, 2024

Leaving Germany behind, we arrived in Salzburg late on Friday evening. Our lodging for the next two nights would be at the Hotel Garni Frauenschuh.

After unloading the car, we settled in to watch downhill skiing. Downhill skiing is self-explanatory. We did not need to understand what the commentators were saying. Ironically, watching skiing on television prompted our kids to declare that they wanted to “try skiing again”. Sigh. The last time we tried that it did not end well. With nowhere to be in the morning, we went to bed late that night dreaming of a day when we could all ski together in peace.

The Church Bells

At 5:30 in the morning, we were abruptly awoken by church bells clanging loudly outside our window. This lasted about 3-5 minutes. Annoyed we fell back asleep. 5:45AM, same thing. Then 6AM, 6:15…by 6:30 in the morning Roy was starting to wonder if this was an air raid drill. “You know, at home we have an ocean between us, but here, we are right in the middle of everything”. While anything was plausible, I decided that church bells were not typically used to alert of an emergency. By 7AM, the bells had stopped. We were awake by this time, so got dressed and headed downstairs to breakfast buffet. (Which was impressive by the way.)

We had an 11:30AM reservation for a Salzburg Christmas Cookies and Apple Strudel Cooking Lesson where we would test out our culinary skills by making traditional Austrian apple strudel and Vanilla Kipferl cookies. (We had sampled a Vanilla Kipferl cookie in Berchtesgaden and loved it!) The weather was decent, so we decided to walk the 45-minutes to the cooking school. We quickly fell in love with Salzburg.

Apple Strudel and Christmas Cookies

The cooking school is set inside a rock wall, so the ambiance is pretty incredible. For the class, much of the preparation had been done ahead of time, so you aren’t really being educated on how to make the dough (for strudel or cookie) but you do learn how to shape it. The four of us were given our own table. Between having two kids and my bandaged hand, the instructor wasn’t super thrilled to have us there. (His face in one of these pictures pretty much summed up his feelings towards us :)).

Upon arrival, we were offered a “welcome drink”. This is an “extra” cost, so be warned. The cookies and the strudel that we assembled were amazing. The hot goulash soup that they provided for lunch was equally delicious, and they had a gluten free black bean soup for Roy so that was an added bonus. Expensive drink aside, it was a pretty cool experience.

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Next on the agenda was the Hohensalzburg Fortress (Salzburg Fortress). Sitting on the top of a mountain, this fortress is the focal point of the city. Hohensalzburg Fortress is also one of the largest medieval castles in all of Europe. I had pre-purchased tickets for us, which allowed us to skip to the front of the funicular line and make it to the Fortress quickly.

We explored the fortress all afternoon. Archbishop Gebhard built the Hohensalzburg Fortress in 1077 and its appearance was changed around the year 1500 to what it is now so it is pretty old. The original purpose of the fortress was to protect the principality and the archbishops from enemy attack. It has been successful in doing so as it has never once been taken by foreign troops in all those years.

Before heading back to the city center, we visited St. George’s Church and a small Christmas market inside the Fortress. There was also a museum that gave us a break from the cold. While inside, both Roy and Greg made friends with a little boy from the Czech Republic. This boy was trying out his English on our kids, which Roy was quick to realize. Greg on the other hand, continued to have a detailed, strategic conversation with this child unaware of the language barrier. The kid just stared at him and smiled.

Salzburg Christmas Market

By late afternoon, we followed the crowds back down the pathway into town and to the Salzburg “Christkindl Markt”. At the entrance there was a group of boys, about the same age as Roy and Greg, singing carols at the entrance to the market. The boys were impressed with them so tossed the group a couple of Euros. The market was very crowded in the evening so instead of shopping, we grabbed a Kinderpunsch and walked back to our hotel to rest before our evening concert at Mirabell Palace.

The Mirabell Palace

The baroque marble hall of Mirabell Palace is considered to be one of the most beautiful and historically significant concert halls in Salzburg (and the world). At one point in time, the Mozart family made music here for the archbishops of Salzburg. We felt that we couldn’t visit Salzburg without taking in a “Mozart Concert” and presenting the boys with some culture. I can’t say that they loved it (we only made it to intermission) but at least we tried.

Leaving the concert hall, we were afforded a beautiful view of the Hohensalzburg Fortress at night.

On Sunday morning we were once again awoken to the bells. We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel. Unfortunately Roy indulged in the scrambled egg casserole. (This would come back to haunt him later in the morning.) We loaded up the car to drive to Vienna via Hallstatt. On checkout I did ask the hotel clerk what the bells were for and she emphatically told me that “they are so that you know that it is time to GET UP!”.

Hallstatt, Austria

Hallstatt is tucked away in the jaw-dropping Alps of upper Austria, and is about as close to a fairytale town as one can get. There are snow-capped mountain peaks, little wooden chalets built into the alpine slopes, and a turquoise lake, filled with graceful swans. We parked at a parking deck just outside of town and walked to the village. In town we snapped several lovely pictures until, that is, Roy began to feel unwell.

Minutes later, Roy “got sick” on a snow bank located on a side street in this cute little town. With that behind us, we continued onward to Vienna.

Vienna, Austria

In Vienna we stayed at the Karl und Anton Boutique Apartments. This was a short walk from the subway station that would take us to Stephensplatz — the heart of Vienna. In our opinion, Vienna was not nearly as quaint and interesting as Salzburg. I felt that it actually reminded me more of Northern Virginia (at where we were staying in the suburbs).

I had booked a second concert for us, (not learning my lesson from the previous night) the Vienna Classical Concert, at 8:30PM at St. Peter’s Church. Before attending the concert we checked out the Stephansdom cathedral that dominates the landscape of central Vienna.

We didn’t make it through this concert either. Without a formal intermission, we made it as long as we could, and then had to make a break for it. A kid can only listen to classical music for so long.

Upper Belvedere Art Gallery

After a good nights sleep (no bells) we woke up and followed Grandma’s recommendation to visit the Upper Belvedere Art Gallery and see Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece, “The Kiss”. Apparently he paints with real gold, which was meant to interest Mr. Moneybags – Greg. It did not. Our family was clearly not meant to see classical concerts, or visit art museums. We lasted almost thirty minutes in this museum.

Leaving the museum, the highlight was the fountain with a sculpture of a hippopotamus wrestling a crocodile. The hippo had gigantic breasts. Yeah for art that gets the attention of nine, eleven and forty-something year old boys.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral

From the Belvedere we walked back to Stephenplatz and St Stephen’s Cathedral. This Cathedral is the most important religious building in Vienna, as it has borne witness to important events in Habsburg and Austrian history. It is one of the city’s most recognizable symbols with its multi-colored tile roof. It has 256 stairs from the top to the bottom, which we tackled, because, why not.