Salzburg 🇦🇹

 Last week I visited Salzburg with some friends, mostly motivated by one friend's obsession with The Sound of Music... 

Friday, 5th June 2026

We travelled via Bristol airport to Munich airport, then 2 trains to Salzburg before arriving at our accommodation at 1am. I'm surprised it all went so smoothly!

I was intrigued by this English translation - Kiss & Ride anyone?

Saturday, 6th June 2026

Our first full day in Salzburg started with breakfast outside on the patio. The day mainly consisted of finding The Sound of Music locations - fortunately we revised for this (see blog - The Sound of Music).

Salzach river. 

The 6 of us - from left to right: Beth, me, Ellie, Helen, Alice and Kerry. 

Salzburg reminds me of Cardiff in one way - they have lots of little alleys and squares almost alike to our arcades.

Kollegienkirche (Catholic church). Very white inside but I liked the clouds. 

Possibly mountain drinking water? I also like their green pedestrian lights. 

Bürgerspitalkirche St. Blasius (another Catholic church), with lots of beer drinkers outside. 

I had Mark choose our magnet from afar - thank you Mark for taking pity on my indecisive brain. 

Our main stop of the day was Mirabell Gardens - known in the film for the Do Re Mi song steps and archway. 

Lastly we headed partyway up the Kapuzinerberg mountain for the views (not pictured). 

Sunday, 7th June 2026

On Sunday we took a bus most of the way up Gaisberg, getting off the bus at Zistelalm (if you can see it on the tiny map). 

It was about 2km almost directly uphill - my calves were aching for days!

Once at the top we had some gorgeous views of Salzburg and its surrounding mountains. 

We enjoyed a quick snack at the top. 

We decided that the quick hike up hadn't been quite enough for us, so I suggested descending as well - you're welcome, friends.  

Austrian flags painted on the trees along the route.

Partway down two of our group stopped at a bus stop, and the rest of us proceeded to walk fall all the way back home.  

At one point we passed a field, perfect for frolicking in. 

More views!

You can see the mountain we descended from here - the one with the pointy thing on top. And a cool looking house. 

That afternoon we headed to a local lido and had a lovely refreshing swim - no photos unfortunately!

At some point in the day there was a height analysis (as you do), followed by a delicious dinner. 

That evening we wandered out to see some of the squares in the Old Town. 

Außenorgel - outdoor organ. 

This was my favourite square - Petrusbrunnen. 

Kapitelschwemme sqaure with the Golden Kugel Kunstprojekt - a man stood on a gold globe. Mark played chess against a local when he visited here briefly - and won. 

Dom zu Salzburg (Salzburg Cathedral).

Residenzplatz

Monday, 8th June 2026

This was our super sunny day of the trip, so we took the bus to Mondsee lake. A gorgeous small town with a stunning lake. 

This is the church Maria got married in. 

Gorgeous views in the sun!

We found a lovely place where we paid 5€ to swim in a small area with inflatables, docks, and general things for me to grab onto, as well as toilets, changing spaces and an ice cream shop. 

I'm usually very nervous about swimming as it's not a strong skill of mine, but I felt safe here so was very pleased. 

Kindle reading time!

Tuesday, 9th June 2026

A more rainy day for our last day, so we headed back into Salzburg to visit Hohensalzburg Fortress. This included a trip on a funicular!

View from the top. 

Cute wee windows. 

The Salzburg Stier (bull). 

We enjoyed the walk back down too. 

We had dinner out that evening in an Austrian restaurant - I had dumpling soup and some others had some locally brewed beer (sorry dad - I'm still not a beer fan). 

Wednesday, 10th June 2026

Our day home consisted of lots of chunks - first we got a train from Salzburg to Munich. We popped out in the rain for an hour to have a quick look around Munich. 

We waited for this clock (Rathaus-Glockenspiel) to do its dance. Very exciting stuff. 

We then got the S-Bahn to Munich airport, flew to Bristol airport, then took a bus back to Cardiff. Time for sleep!

Llanerch Vineyard

This weekend we cashed in my Christmas present to Mark - a wine tasting at Llanerch Vineyard. I'd picked this weekend when the weather forecast came out - what a treat! It really didn't feel like we were just 25 minutes from Cardiff. 

It was lovely, and we had a few extra drinks afterwards to soak up the sunshine, buying a bottle to take home (but not paying £5 for a bag!). 

This is Mark after I told him he wasn't allowed to buy a McLaren. 

We had a lovely weekend in general!

On Friday I met up with some friends for some delicious food from the late night Cardiff market (bao buns & pierogi), then for some drinks in a gorgeous arcade. 

On Saturday Mark & I went for a walk around Bute Park, stopping for an excellent cinnamon bun at Brodies Coffee. 

On Sunday I went for a run via Riverside Market... again for another cinnamon bun. There is a theme here. 

Then to the vineyard - see above!

Whistle-stop Devon tour

This weekend I headed to Devon to visit a few of my favourite people. 

First stop was to mum & JC's new home in Cullompton. Look at this gorgeous wisteria! (mum complains that it is too heavy but that is the price of beauty). 

We hopped in the car and drove down to Sidmouth for a jacket potato/chips/homity pie at our favourite cafe there, before browsing at least 10 charity shops and seeing the sea. What else does a day need? 

That evening mum took me to see her local trig point. 

Then we worked on some super secret wedding projects, of which I cannot currently show you here (may be less exciting than you think). 

On Saturday I headed into Exeter to visit Abbie. 

 
We had a scrummy lunch of quiche and strawberries and enjoyed catching up.

On Saturday evening I headed to dad's, and on Sunday morning we took the canoe out for a paddle on the Great Western Canal. We walked the boat from the car, put our buoyancy aids on, put the boat in the water... then realised we'd left the paddles at home. A 1hr round trip later we were on the water! Plonkers. 

It included a wee tunnel. 

And plenty of ducklings and cootlings. The water was pretty full of vegetation, and made it hard going after a while. We therefore abandoned our paddle to the pub, electing to paddle back to the car and instead drive to it. Chips were still eaten!

I don't think I've seen the start of a canal so starkly before. Not quite like how it ends in a quay/the sea in Exeter. 

Dad bought rubbish picking gear, but fortunately there wasn't much to be found!

The great Adams-Bennett-Haldane meet up

Last weekend Mark and I invited our families to Cardiff to meet each other. Nearly 10 years together and getting married, yet neither our parents nor our siblings had met their counterparts - it was about time. 

Mum & JC were the first to arrive on Friday evening, allowing us to get out for a lovely run around the bay on Saturday morning.

 

At the end of the run, I stopped to take a photo of our matching sports bras (cute!), but paused when a car pulled up next to us. It was Mark, off to pick up Caitlin from the station. Oh hi Mark!

Saturday morning brought Caitlin and dad to join us for lunch. 6 people in our flat was already feeling overwhelming, and Cait had the fabulous idea of the Adams/Thelen lot going out for a coffee in town so we could welcome the Bennett-Haldanes in a bit more space. 

They arrived to Cardiff that afternoon, his parents not having seen our flat or the city before. We met up with the others in town and then we introduced them to Cardiff in the true Welsh fashion - by having everyone get soaked on a walk in the rain. 

Sunday fortunately brought much nicer weather! The kids (& dad & friend David) went for a climb in the morning with a gorgeous break midway through for pastries from Petit Four Patisserie. We then met everyone in Roath Park for a sunny stroll. Mum was not pleased with me that I had kept the lighthouse from her for years. 

From L to R: Rog/dad, Cait, Mark, Deborah (Mark's mum), Luke (Mark's twin), Mark senior (Mark's dad), JC, Ruth/mum, me!

People trickled away home on Sunday and Monday. Mum & I squeezed a jigsaw into the weekend on Monday morning. I then spotted mum driving back to our flat, leaping out and sneaking something in the letterbox. She really liked that lighthouse!

*some photos stolen from my mum's blog