Just Back: Playing Maria on the set of the Sound of Music
Jemma Saunders wins £200 for telling us a few of her favourite things about Salzburg, where scenes for ‘The Sound of Music’ were filmed.
Bells ring out across Salzburg and birdsong is audible everywhere. To stand with your eyes closed while a horse and carriage drives through a cobbled square is to be transported to the last golden days of the Thirties. Or at least, the last golden days as represented by Messrs Rodgers and Hammerstein in The Sound of Music.
I wandered meandering streets where intricate iron signs denoted the wares sold within each establishment, delighting when I chanced upon locations from the 1965 film. Within 12 hours I’d splashed water at the horse fountain on Residenzplatz (with confidence), strolled across the Mozart footbridge and pranced around Mirabell Gardens, albeit clad in jeans.
Bright dirndls and leather lederhosen enticed me into shops where I was routinely welcomed with the Austrian “Grüss Gott” and the Untersberg mountain loomed majestically beyond the fortress that crests the city. With trepidation, I boarded the gaudily painted tour bus, but our guide’s blend of sardonic humour and genuine passion was infectious and I soon found my reticence falling away as we all chirped along to the iconic soundtrack. Posing before the famous gazebo in which Sixteen Going on Seventeen was filmed, I shook off the last of my tourist inhibitions, arms outstretched and wearing a smile to match Liesl’s.
Continuing to Mondsee, home of wedding scenes and strudel, the natural beauty of the mountains was spellbinding.
No studio could fully capture the scale of Austria’s Lake District and I longed to dance across the meadows and hillsides, only to snatch my discarded rain poncho from the verdant grass when summoned by the bells of the city – even if it is further than the film might have us believe.
On that damp afternoon I climbed the gentle incline to Nonnberg Abbey, its crimson dome proud. A minute after entering the building a single, clear chime rang from within the stone walls, and was gently followed by the unseen nuns singing in chorus. A beautiful few minutes of harmonious a cappella voices rising and falling; all the more poignant for its unexpectedness.
As we passed Mirabell Gardens en route to our hotel that evening, a group of Canadian teenagers with a selfie stick chanted the chorus of Do-Re-Mi while perfecting their routine. Embracing my newfound delight in simply being a tourist, I strode round the Pegasus fountain’s edge as bells chimed around the city and the evening chorus commenced. Behind us, the fairy-tale fortress glowed pink and beyond that the mountains were falling into shadow.
Mozart balls may glint from every window on the Getreidegasse and schnitzel is indeed the standard bill of fare, but the iconic sights and sounds of Salzburg were definitely my favourite things.
How to enter
Email your entry, in 500 words (with the text in the body of the email), to justback@telegraph.co.uk. For terms and conditions, see telegraph.co.uk/tt-justback.
The winner will receive £200 in the currency of their choice from the Post Office.
The Post Office is the UK’s largest travel money provider. It offers more than 70 currencies with 0% commission. Customers can buy selected currencies over the counter at 8,000 branches and all currencies can be ordered for next-day delivery at 11,500 branches. Orders can be placed online at postoffice.co.uk/travel-money.
