Austria and Croatia

We left Germany and crossed over into Austria.  The girls were sad to leave Germany, they all loved the markets and the beautiful old cities, but we assured them there was more of that to come…much more.  Our destination in Austria was Salzburg, our only stop, for two reasons.  It was a logicial place to break up the drive to Croatia and of course (and perhaps more importantly) to visit some of The Sound of Music sites.  We only had a couple of days exploring the city and although it was cold the sun shone and Salzburg was more beautiful than I remember.  


Our accommodation was about a 2km walked to the centre of the city – which is always a bit of a gamble (especially with kids – no quickly ducking back to the hotel), but in this case it was perfect.  I find, as a rule of thumb, when you visit a new city you explore from your accommodation into the city, very rarely heading away from the city (exceptions would be in large cities like London or Paris).  So being a little further out meant we saw a little of the outer city in our walks into town.  Half the walk was through, what looked like, residential streets and then the walking streets started.  So picture perfect.

We did a lot of walking in Salzburg, the girls are still talking about ‘that day we did the big walk’!  We walked through the Mirabell Gardens a few times (the girls were desperate to dance around the fountain or jump up and down the stairs)  but they were sectioned off.  Not sure whether that is a temporary, winter, thing or permanent – the traffic through these sites must be enormous.  We climbed the steep embankment behind Salzburg and walked along the ridge toward the old town – WOW WOW WOW – what a view.  So worth the burn in the legs climbing the stairs (and the whinging children!!) – the views were picture perfect, in fact the photos don’t do it justice.

After exploring the old town, we visited two more ‘important’ (if you’re a Sound of Music tragic like we are) sites.  The Von Trapp Family home – now a luxurious hotel – and the gazebo.  The girls could hardly believe their eyes – the lake in front of the family home had frozen over already.  Hard to imagine the Von Trapp swimming in that.  It was -2 when we were there.

Here’s some of the pics:

After finishing our own self guided tour of The Sound of Music sites we pointed the car towards Croatia.  It’s a strange thought (only because we live in Australia) that at 11 in the morning you could set off and drive the width of 2 countries and well into a third before dinner time – but that’s what we did.  We crossed Austria and Slovenia and made our way to a small village close to Plitvice National Park.

We explored Plitvice NP (or as much as you are able to in winter) walking along snow covered timber walkways, with water gushing underneath us at times.  The boardwalks would never meet Australian safety standards so it made for an adventurous walk at times – we walked right along the very top of a few waterfalls – amazing.  The water was such a beautiful greeny blue colour, even when the sun was well hidden behind grey clouds.  The cold, harsh, winter look of the bush around the lakes was softened by the snow – a truly exceptional place.  This has been Alice’s favourite place so far.  I’m beginning to think we are nature hunters rather than city explorers!

From Plitvice we made our way down to the coast, to Dubrovnik.  The afternoon we arrived it was SO warm (about 15c) Olivia went for a swim!  She said it was warmer in the water than out.  We had a lot of fun exploring Dubrovnik – the old town Christmas markets, the fort way up on the hill behind the city, the walls of the old town and the small narrow old town streets.  Such a lot of history here and some it very recent – the town is a credit to the strength and determination of those that fought so hard to protect it.

After Dubrovnik we moved to Split.  The weather was postcard perfect when we arrived, but quickly turned sour.  Fortunately there were enough inside sites to visit to keep us entertained.  Another stunning city with rich history – we climbed the Cathedral tower, explored the Diocletian Palace tunnels and wandered through the old city streets.

Here’s Croatia in pictures:

Split was a last stop in Croatia – we did stay over night in Rijeka as we made our way north – another gorgeous Croatia city by the sea.  We spent a couple of hours in the city before heading further north across the boarder.  We’ve all loved Croatia, but the girls as super excited about getting to Italy – here we come!!