Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
The ‘Sound of Music’ route
|
Rolling hills, snow-capped mountains, charming cottages, and, of course, the film connection… Take a tour of the Austrian city
|
MUSICAL ATTRACTIONS Salsburg where ‘The Sound of Music’ was shot
We’ve never prepared as intensively for any trip as we did for this one – for as soon as we booked our train tickets to Salzburg, my daughter and I began practising our Do-re-mi’s in earnest. Being major fans of Sound
of Music (SOM), we wanted to, like millions of tourists before us, sing along and visit the castles, gardens and hills where the movie was filmed. Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you greet me! we would passionately rehearse, m
aking do with a bunch of buttery yellow narcissus; Climb every mountain, search high and low we would belt out, in our best treble, to lowland swans and mallards. And after a fortnight of frightening every living creature in the neighb
ourhood, we set off for the hills.
We arrived in Salzburg after a long overnight journey, but nevertheless, found train travel far superior to the regular budget-airline experience, especially since we could see, up-close, the lush Austrian countryside. Rolling hills, the distant snow-capped mountains, charming cottages, and winding mountain lanes ensured that we sat with our nose glued to the windows.
The city of Salzburg is celebrated for a number of things — (a) the pedestrian-only Altstadt (old-town), with its striking, baroque green-domed Cathedral, bustling squares, and old-world Fiakers (horse-cabs), is a UNESCO world heritage site; (b) Mozart, the musical genius, was born in Getreidegasse, the now hip shopping street, and composed about 150 of his works when he lived across the river; (c) the prestigious Salzburg Festival, every July/August, that attracts millions to this Mecca of classical music; (d) and of course, ‘that musical’, as the locals call the SOM, was filmed here.
The Altstadt
We commenced our tour at the beautiful, manicured Mirabell Gardens, which features in the Do-re-mi sequence. In full-bloom, since it was a warm spring, the gardens, with the Pegasus fountain was a colourful foil to the stately palac
e on the grounds. Crossing the bridge over the river Salzach, (which, by the way, affords some great photo-ops) we reached the old-town, where all the action, so to speak, lay.
The Altstadt, with the Hohensalzburg (the fortress) towering over it are perhaps the two most recognisable features of the city. While the old town is a tad too large to impart an authentic medieval feel, it still manages to work its charms on you. The gazebo, the site of the famous I am sixteen song, was next on the list. Now, the gazebo itself was quite modest; but the impressive Hellbrunn palace grounds, with its Wasserspiele (trick-fountains), certainly made up for it!
Close to the Hellbrunn palace was the Untersberg Mountain, which, to its credit, faithfully pretended to be Switzerland in the movie. Riding up by a cable-car on a foggy day was a bit sad, as the promised, panoramic views were obscured by a thick, swirling white-mist.
And finally, we set off on the last leg of the tour, to explore the little villages around Salzkammergut (lake district), where several scenes, including the opening scenes of the movie were shot. This was, by far, the most beautiful stretch, as it wound its way through the mountains, with the lakes shimmering in the valley below.
APARNA KARTHIKEYAN
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
