Rick Steve's My Way: Alpine Europe 12 Days Tour 2015
The Hills are Alive in Salzburg
Salzburg is the city of Mozart, and, if you are an American, it is also the city of the Sound of Music. We had fun visiting the sites from the movie, dancing at the famous gazebo, and even grabbed a sing-a-long bus tour. Nothing like singing "My Favorite Things" with a busload of your new best friends.
Biergarten
We had the chance to visit a beer garden in Salzburg and it was delicious. Inside there were all sorts of vendors selling schnitzel, sausages, and strudel, with freshly tapped beer as an accompaniment.
We also tried Almdudler on our visit, sometimes called the national drink of Austria*.
*although nowadays that title may belong to Red Bull which is also proudly Austrian.
No sing-a-long bus tour would be complete without a little dance-a-long thrown in for good measure.
Hiking in Hallstatt
In Hallstatt we chose to hike up to the top of the hill behind the town. At the top we took a tour of the old salt mine which used to be Hallstatt's main industry. To get deep in the mines the miners build long wooden slides which are still operational. To keep your warm in the mine they provide special coveralls that have special reinforced legs that help you slide smoothly down into the depths of the mine.
Can't Beat the View
The local butcher made us special sandwiches to take on our hike for lunch. Along the way we also snacked on the alpine strawberries that grew along the path.
Taking Rick's advice from the book we ordered the locally caught fish at a little restaurant on the lake for dinner. The food and desserts were amazing and the view was even better.