Some of the garden grounds at Hellbrunn
Hired a bike for the day from the hostel for only 10 euros. Weather was again awesome, actually freaking hot, so I did a ride out to Hellbrunn, which is in one of the districts thats part of the city of Salzburg. Not too far away really, a very nice and leisurely 30 minute ride along the river. The place is basically a giant garden, with huge open grass areas for picnics and also very well kept smaller areas with ponds and flowers etc. In all the ponds there were monstrous carps swimming around and ducks pondering about.
The main draw cards for tourists is the Hellbrunn Palace and the ‘trick fountains’ that surround it. It was built in 1613 by the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg of the time. Oh yea and the original gondola thingo from The Sound of Music is also there, but I haven’t seen the movie so yeaaa. The palace was kind of boring so I headed for the trick fountains. They were originally made to perform jokes on guests to the palace, and now they just freak out unsuspecting tourists. Theres about 15 different stations that the tour guide stops your group at, they explain a bit about it, and then out of nowhere soak you in water. The most famous one is an outdoor dining setup with water jets in the seats, so when they’re turned on your arse gets completely soaked. And theres also jets all around the table as well. But there is always one dry spot at all of the stations, and thats where the Archbishop would always be, and today its where the tour guide hides.
The water jets are actually quite tiny though, and you really don’t get THAT wet, and it being such a hot day it was quite nice. However watching people you would swear they were hoses used to fight fires. All of the water that is flowing through all the fountains and streams is drinkable as well, it all comes from the natural spring nearby. So yea spent most of the day there, just riding around the gardens and enjoying the weather. So good to ride on such well kept bike paths and not have crazy Sydney drivers trying to kill you. Continue for heaps more pics.
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[…] First day I walked around the old town for a bit, checked the time on my phone and had 2 missed calls and an SMS from Westpac saying my credit card has been suspended. Called them up and apparently it had been flagged for possibly being skimmed at some stage. Sorted all the crap out with the very very helpful woman on the phone, and a new card is being sent to my hostel in Munich and will hopefully arrive just before I get there. If it doesn’t then…well…shit. This is why it pays off to have so many different ways to get your hands on money. Once that was sorted out I went on the ‘Lakes and Mountains’ tour, which ive already blogged about here. After that I just went back to the hostel, made use of the free wifi and had a cheap schnitzel, chips and salad dinner. And then the second day was spent at Hellbrunn touring the Trick Fountains etc which I blogged about here. […]
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