Oktoberfest was over and I had very little itinerary planned, other than spending my birthday in Passau.
I still had a week or two before then.
Lucie, my new Australian friend from Oktoberfest was also as unorganised as me. Lucie wanted to visit Salzberg, Austria. I’ve also had one of the best experiences of my life there, so I agreed to accompany her to Salzburg.
And… Salzburg delivered again.
“Everywhere you go, the scenery, the skyline, the music and the history send your spirits soaring higher than Julie Andrews’ octave-leaping vocals.”
– Lonely Planet
Once we’d decided on Salzburg, the home of The Sound of Music, the birthplace to the great Mozart and much more, we backpacked up and said our farewells to our tent buddies. I have to admit, it wasn’t emotional as such, but it did feel like I was letting go of a prized possession – I had the same feeling back in Bilbao.
My one day with them at Oktoberfest was a blast and I had built an instantaneous bond with all of them.
Lucie and I headed into Munich centre and set up base in a small coffee shop, where we took turns to get any required items and waited for our flixbus to Salzburg.
The bus was delayed for over an hour and by the time we got on, we KO’d. At one point I woke Lucie to check out some awesome lake and mountain views – not sure she was too happy with that – before unintentionally falling asleep on some dude’s shoulder myself.
I thought Salzburg was going to be a one or two-day thing and then plan Passau, but it rapidly transformed into a real adventure.
As we got off the bus we met an Aussie travel veteran. Jordan had three consecutive months under his belt by this point and had basically completed Greece.
Jordan mentioned a hike in the area, and I knew immediately my plans were about to change. Something good.
We planned to meet for dinner and went to our separate hostels. That’s when I met Arthur in my hostel room.
The hostel was a converted hotel and so there were still the two single beds pushed together to make a double in the room. Clearly, Arthur didn’t think about his bed partner before choosing the double bed.
I chose the safety of the single bunk bed and I held nothing back about a potential humungous, hairy, smelly guy cuddling him in the night.
Arthur joined us for dinner and so did two Aussies from Jordan’s Topdeck Oktoberfest group, Alex and Alicia.
We had the most amazing pork ribs, accompanied by sauerkraut – I’m not the biggest fan – and a stein of beer – which I am a massive fan of…
Prost!
We didn’t stay late as we were all still fatigued by Oktoberfest.
On the walk back to the hostel I filled Arthur’s imagination with thoughts of Hillbilly Hagrid cosying up to him, but it turns out lady luck was on his side and a fairly attractive Aussie girl had the luxury of sleeping next to him that night.
The next day, other than taking a “shortcut” and accidentally hiking over the mountain in the middle of Salzburg, Arthur and I had a fairly chilled day until the evening.
(Lucie had abandoned us and checked into Jordan’s hostel – I don’t blame her, it was a lot more fun than our one.)
In the evening we met up with the others at their hostel, which turned out to be the hostel I’d stayed in whilst backing with Topdeck. Memories came flooding back when I saw the hostel bar again. This is where Jack and I had performed the full monty!
That’s a story for another post. This night we suffered a frustrating game of ring of fire. Honestly, I don’t know how Jordan kept his patience as the game organiser. That evening, I met Isaac and Catie who also hiked the hike the next day. We also went for a spicy pizza and more beer.
Oh, and I saw my first ever shoey.
(Drinking beer from your shoe – Aussies?)
I don’t want to go into it too much, but I feel it’s unfair for me to write only positive items, as it’s not completely true. For example, it was raining all day, though the weather doesn’t bother me too much. There was however this one guy from Israel, who was dead fucking annoying. I had to put up with him throughout the evening, whilst he gave his bull opinions about London/England and the world.
Whatever, I just wanted to highlight that not everything is perfect. I try to make an effort not to be nasty to people and I also try not to retaliate in most circumstances.
I pay no attention whatever to anybody’s praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.
– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
We again didn’t stay out too late, due to the hike in the morning, though we did go into a strip club on the way back to the hostel, however, there appeared to be more mobsters than girls, so we doubled back to the eingang swiftly.
I woke to the spicy pizza’s revenge, cooked some breakfast and met up with the others to start the day’s hike. Initially, I wasn’t in the highest motivation with my gut, but I’d seen the sun rising over the mountain on the way to breakfast and new it would be a great day.
The hike was the hardest I’ve done. There were parts I had to use my hands to climb, but it was totally worth it. I really need to get better at story-telling these hikes, as I struggle each time I come to write about mana filled experiences. This time I’m just going to link my Instagram pictures.
At the top, we had a bite to eat, with brandy hot chocolate and shared dad jokes… Well, mainly I shared them and everyone else groaned.
Arthur and I both had buses to catch and time was short after the hike, so goodbyes were quick, yet still left the feeling of leaving another fantastic web of connections behind.
Arthur was off to Lake Bled, which looks incredibly beautiful and I hope I’ll also check it out on my travels.
I myself, was off to Nurnberg to pickup my GoPro/laptop from Polly and visit the city for a few days.
In just a few days I’d met two trustworthy groups of friends. I’d experienced new and memorable experiences, some free, some expensive and gained knowledge of completely different walks of life, from beer tents to mountain tops.
If you can pardon the pun, These are just a few of my favourite things!
