Salzburg, Austria Christmas Market

Our trip down to Salzburg from where we were in Germany took about 6 hours.  Thankfully, the roads weren’t bad like we thought they were going be since it snowed a good 6 inches the night before.  We did get stopped in traffic, but not for too long, it was a much easier trip than the 12.5 hour trip we took just 35 hours before.  It was nice to be able to stop and stay in Salzburg a few days, great way to break up the trip.

The last time we stayed in Salzburg we stayed at nice nice little hotel up on a hill overlooking the city. It was gorgeous. The only thing about that is, every time you want to go into town you have to drive through town and park in a garage somewhere and pay to park.  This time we booked a hotel right there within walking distance to everything. It was great. We went to Hellbrunn Palace, but besides that, our car was parked the entire time. I think that’s how it should be done, walk everywhere you go and get lots of exercise.

We got there Friday night, checked in, got the animals settled and went out to explore.  The hotel we stayed at was right off a street that had lots of shops and restaurants. Most of the road is blocked off to cars, so it’s just a walkway.  There was a great doner kebob place right by our hotel, so we stopped there are shared a wrap (durum). It was amazing.  We walked down the shopping street which led us to a main street that we had to cross, then walked over the bridge and made our way to one of the main Christmas Markets in Salzburg. We walked around, got some awesome dessert that we’ve had here in Salzburg before, it’s called Kaiserschmarren. It’s like a cut up pancake with raisins and powdered sugar with plum sauce over the top. Doesn’t taste like plums, but so amazing.  We took some pictures and headed back to the hotel.

 

This is the shopping street I was talking about. For a little ways cars can drive on it, but then it is just a pedestrian walkway

This is the end of that street where you cross the road to cross the bridge

The bridge with the fortress in the background

Looking over at the other bridge

Main Christmas Market

Fortress

One of the stands

The next day we got up and went to Hellbrunn Palace, it’s about 10 minutes away from where we were. We knew there was a Christmas market there too, but most didn’t start until 10am.  It was before 10am when we went, but we just wanted to go and check it out and see what Hellbrunn looked like covered in snow.  I cannot believe how different this city looks with a blanket of snow on it. We were here in June and I absolutely LOVED it. I loved it this time too, but I have to say, it is prettier in the summer. Here are some pictures of the Palace and the grounds.

The pavilion from The Sound of Music

This was the only pond that wasn’t frozen. The last time we were here they had big ole fish in them. They were called Sturgeon. We didn’t see them here this time. I call them man eating fish, the things were huge!

The gardens covered in snow. You can see the hedges under the snow is you look closely.

Can you see us?

Advent calendar. When it first starts, all the shutter are shut. Then, as the day comes they open the shutter with the day behind it and leave it open.

We then went back to the hotel, dropped off the car and walked to Mirabel Garden to another market.  This one was a lot smaller, probably only about 10 booths, so we took some pictures in the garden and headed back to the shopping street and looked around for a bit and went to the Natural History Museum. We went back to the hotel, got warmed up and looked online for a place to eat dinner.  I found a place the got great reviews, in English is was called “The Old Fox” and it was a 2 minute walk from the hotel.  It was wonderful food and a great environment. We will definitely have to go back. After dinner we walked back towards where we were the night before, but decided to go to the right once we crossed the bridge instead of going straight and hitting the Christmas market.  We walked around the old town and went in the “Christmas in Salzburg” store that’s there year round. We bought some egg ornaments, they are pretty popular here, I will have to take some pictures of those and post them.  We took some pictures and made our way back to the main Christmas market for one last look. We got this pretzel that was really a doughnut, it was interesting, but good!  Took some more pictures and went back to the hotel. Here are some pictures from that day/night.

Mirabel Garden looking at the fortress

Pretzels

We left the next morning to head back here to Italy. It was nice to get back and relax a bit, we were on the go for days, but it was a lot fun. I will have to post a blog later with pictures comparing Salzburg in the summer and winter.  I would recommend going at both times if possible