Salzburg/Garmisch Trip: Hellbrunn Palace

It’s a bit hard to pick up where I left off…it’s been ages since our last entry about Salzburg!

Our first day in Salzburg area was not over yet. After Hallein Salt Mines, we headed to Schloss Hellbrunn—Hellbrunn Castle that is located on the outskirts of the city.

This day was not one of the warmest May days, in fact it was kind of rainy and yucky, thus this place was not very busy.

The funny part is that, although we are headed towards the “castle” in this picture—that building in front of us-- we never actually entered it. Instead we jumped right into the fountains tour that started as we walked through the entrance gate.

What’s interesting about this place is that it was  built under the commission of Salzburg Prince Archbishop Markus Sittikus in 1612. Water was the main design of the castle, but not simply water—the castle grounds, statues, walls inside and outside the castle are full of water surprises—hidden fountains and sprinkles throughout. Apparently, Hellbrunn was a very popular place to entertain the nobility of surrounding areas, thus, after having a bit too much to drink, those automated fountains seemed like just the kind of thing to play with.

Although some fountains look completely normal, like this one…

…some are hidden inside the ceiling, meant to surprise you at any moment.

This is the room that turned into a complete wet mess after several fountains came out from the wall (once most people exited the room but had to go back through it to go outside).

But even after you leave the room, you find yourself facing more surprising fountains.

Kids did not mind one bit. In fact, this place was one of their favorites in Salzburg.

Plus it was already raining a bit, so no one cared.

And this is a different spot with more fountains to run through.

After this forty five minute tour, we took a little break and walked over through the park. I guess if you don’t want to take the tricky fountains tour and don’t want to see the castle, you can walk around the gardens for free.

If you do that, you’ll find this famous gazebo! Does it ring a bell?

“I am sixteen, going on seventeen” song was filmed here. Well, here, in this gazebo but not HERE in Hellbrunn. This gazebo was moved from the filming location to this garden, possibly to attract more tourists, who knows. It’s closed now, because, I guess, too many people were trying to reenact the scene and got injured.

And if our children see a playground, we usually let them let off steam for a bit. This was actually a really cool playground, lots of new equipment to try out. This was their favorite though—Robert got a work out too.

And this is the best jumping picture I ever get of Robert, so I’ll take what I can get. Goobye, Hellbrunn. We thought it was the last time we’d see you, but we were wrong dot dot dot.

Lyana.