The D8 (Adriatic Highway) at Podimoć, Croatia: One of Europe's Most Beautiful Roads

Iceland & South-Central Europe Road Journey

This 12-episode travel series follows a sweeping journey from Washington, DC to Iceland’s volcanic wilderness and onward into the imperial heart of Central Europe. What begins as a full circumnavigation of Iceland’s Ring Road evolves into a cross-border road loop through Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Slovenia.

Along the way, the series moves from glaciers and geysers to Habsburg palaces, medieval old towns, Alpine fortresses, film locations, Tesla’s birthplace, and the dramatic Adriatic coast. It is a geographically continuous, historically layered, self-drive journey linking raw landscapes with Europe’s cultural and architectural backbone.

The hills are definitely still alive here. Mehlweg Meadow in Marktschellenberg, Germany – the precise, obscure spot where Julie Andrews spun and sang the film's iconic opening.

Fresh from climbing all over "Where Eagles Dare" Burg Hohenwerfen, we figured we weren't done playing movie detective. So we ditched the idea of a crowded bus tour and cooked up our own DIY Sound of Music tour. Our mission? To hunt down the real, authentic Sound of Music filming locations. We decided to skip the tourist herd in Salzburg for now - we'll circle back - and pointed our rental Nissan Qashqai toward the German border.

Our main target was the real "Julie's Meadow," the alpine stage for cinema's most famous twirl. And here's the kicker that almost everyone gets wrong: that magical opening shot wasn't filmed in Austria at all. We were crossing into Bavaria in Germany to find a tiny hamlet called Mehlweg. It's home to a private meadow that somehow launched a million singalongs. No pressure, little field.

Vagabond Tip: The specific slope is part of the Mehlweg 18 farmstead. While the coordinates 47.6890°N, 13.0657°E are precise, the Bayerisches Landesamt für Digitalisierung, Breitband und Vermessung (the actual authority for these maps) notes this is technically the Gollstein ridge. Cameraman Paul Beeson specifically chose this spot because the Hoher Göll mountain provides the jagged backdrop that Salzburg’s local Gaisberg lacked. Arrive by 6:30 AM to catch the "side-lighting" Beeson favored for 70mm Todd-AO film stock.

Now, most standard tours gloss over the chaos behind this spot. But the logistics were a real nightmare. We left Hohenwerfen Fortress and crossed into Bavaria, armed not with a tour guide, but with the production logs of cameraman Paul Beeson. The crew didn't just fight the slope; they fought the sound. A nearby mountain brook was so loud it drowned out the playback music Julie Andrews needed to lip-sync to.

To get the shot, the crew had to actually dam the stream. Then they covered the riverbed with rubber mats and fir branches to muffle the rushing water. Talk about noise cancellation, 1960s style. We parked the Nissan and hiked the final stretch, remembering that on this very incline, the downdraft from the helicopter famously kept knocking Julie Andrews flat into the mud.

And get this: it was Beeson himself who hung out of that helicopter to get the shot, strapped in by just a harness. The kicker? He was wearing a full suit and tie because he'd been pulled straight from a formal dinner to replace the terrified main operator. That's dedication - or a really confusing dinner invitation.

Burg Hohenwerfen: The opening shot of our family of four that makes your jaw drop This 11th-century flex of architectural dominance watches over the Salzach Valley like a stone gargoyle with tenure

Burg Hohenwerfen: A Fortress of History and Majesty

We left Vienna with its perfectly manicured palaces and headed south into the Austrian Alps, where the mountains get serious and the architecture gets defensive. Leaving Vienna is a bit like finishing a perfectly crafted Sachertorte - satisfying, but leaving you with enough coffee-house secrets to power a small Habsburg dynasty. As you trade the city's baroque facades for the open road, the drive becomes a transition from historical drama to a nature documentary.

Vagabond Tip: The funicular is convenient, but for the true medieval experience (and to save a few Euros), take the Knappensteig (Squire's Path). It’s a shaded, well-maintained trail that winds through the forest and reaches the castle gate in about 15–20 minutes. It’s faster than waiting in the funicular queue on a busy Saturday.

The Route & Road Numbers

• A1 Westautobahn: You’ll spend most of your trip on this highly efficient motorway heading west toward Salzburg.
• A10 Tauernautobahn: After passing Salzburg, you’ll merge south onto the A10, heading into the heart of the Alps.
• B159 Salzachtal-Straße: Take the Pass Lueg exit to join the B159, which leads you directly to the fortress parking lot.
• MAP

Interesting Landmarks Along the Way

Your "conversation with history" continues as you pass several iconic Austrian sites:

• Melk Abbey: A striking yellow Baroque monastery perched on a rocky cliff overlooking the Danube that we just visited on a Wachau Valley Danube River Cruise.
• Linz: Austria's third-largest city, famous for its historic main square and the Ars Electronica Center.
• The Lake District (Salzkammergut): As you approach Salzburg, you’ll pass the turquoise waters of Mondsee and Attersee, framed by towering mountains.
• Salzburg: The skyline is dominated by Hohensalzburg Fortress and you might spot the specific hillside (the Gschwandtanger) where the picnic scene from The Sound of Music was filmed (our next destination).
• Eisriesenwelt: Just before reaching the castle, you’ll pass the access road to the world’s largest ice cave system. Note that the Eisriesenwelt access road winds high up the mountain behind the fortress, offering one of the only vantage points where you can actually look down into the Hohenwerfen courtyard from a vehicle.

The journey eventually replaces urban tram bells with the calling of mountain eagles as you reach the fortress where "eagles dare". The Salzburg archbishops weren't messing around when they picked this spot. They wanted everyone for miles to see their power flex carved in stone.

Burg Hohenwerfen (we'll call it Hohenwerfen Castle because our tongues trip on German compound words before coffee) isn't just another pretty European fortress. Located just 40km south of the city, it is the ultimate day trip from Salzburg. This is the medieval equivalent of a "Keep Out" sign written in granite, starring in the Austrian skyline since 1077 AD. Unlike the polished palaces of Vienna, this is an authentic medieval castle in Austria with bonus towers and a serious moat attitude.

Schwedenbrücke from Leopoldstadt district The Danube Canal flows quietly under Sweden Bridge A glimpse of Vienna's unique island district

So here we were, fresh off an epic Iceland overland adventure. We'd dodged geothermal vents and debated life choices with puffins. Now we were trading volcanic landscapes for Viennese pastries. Honestly, we couldn't decide which was more dangerous to our waistlines. We touched down in Vienna with that particular brand of excitement. It's the feeling you get when you swap glacier hikes for palace tours and hot springs for coffee houses.

The transition felt like switching channels. One minute you're watching a nature documentary. The next, you're staring at a historical drama. We went from watching steam rise from the earth to admiring Baroque facades. Those buildings look like they're wearing too much makeup - in the best possible way. Vienna doesn't just have history. It wears it like a perfectly tailored suit passed down through generations. If you listen carefully between tram bells, you can practically hear the ghost of Mozart tuning his piano.

"It was the Golden Age of Security. Everything in our almost thousand-year-old Austrian monarchy seemed built to last and the state itself was the chief guarantor of this stability."

Most standard Vienna travel guides won't tell you this. The city was basically the original startup hub of Europe. Back when Silicon Valley was still just orchards, the Taxis family set up the first modern postal network here in 1490. The Wienerisches Diarium started publishing in 1703. Fun fact: it held the title of the world's oldest daily newspaper until July 2023, when it finally transitioned to a digital-first format. And in 1766, Emperor Joseph II opened the Prater to the public, creating the world's first amusement park.

By the way, let's bust a popular myth right now. The word taxi was not born in a Viennese coffee house. It's not named after the aristocratic Thurn and Taxis family either (even though they did master the postal system and had excellent taste in castles). That's pure urban legend. When you wave your arm at a rainy street corner, you are not summoning the spirit of a Hapsburg prince.

The unglamorous truth is much simpler. "Taxi" is just a lazy, clipped version of taximeter cab. It comes from the German Taxameter, which derived from the Medieval Latin taxa. That literally means "tax" or "charge." Then they tacked on the Greek metron for "measure." So, a taxi is essentially a "tax-measurer." That perfectly explains the sinking feeling you get watching the meter tick up in gridlock.

The Danube River near Spitz in the romantic Wachau Valley in southern Austria – a UNESCO World Heritage landscape of terraced vineyards and charming riverside villages. Spitz is one of the most picturesque wine towns in the region, with a history of viticulture dating back to the Celts.

You know those places that look too perfect to be real? The Wachau Valley is one of them. This stretch along the Danube River in Austria is basically a postcard that learned how to breathe. Terraced vineyards climb hills like green staircases, storybook villages play hide-and-seek along the riverbanks and castles pop up in the landscape like history’s way of saying, “I was here first.” As a formally designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, the valley doesn’t just flaunt its looks—it’s got the paperwork to prove its cultural cred. Whether you are taking a Danube River Cruise or driving the Romantic Road, this 36-kilometer stretch between Krems and Melk offers the highest concentration of medieval history and dry white wine in Central Europe.

Our day begins with a familiar ritual: navigating Vienna’s U-Bahn metro system. We ride from Enkplatz U to Karlsplatz U, which is about as eventful as watching paint dry, but in a good, efficient, Austrian way. We meet our Wachau Valley excursion bus at Biogena Plaza, right across from the Vienna State Opera House. The bus whisks us across the Nordbrücke bridge over the Danube and just like that, we trade cityscapes for vineyard views. It’s the Austrian version of a scene change.

We roll into Krems, where the Kunst im Kreisverkehr (Art in the Roundabout) on Förthofstraße gives us our first “wait, what?” moment of the day. The view of the Danube here is downright pretty. We continue on the road literally labeled “Österreichische Romantikstraße” (Austrian Romantic Route) toward Dürnstein. There, we visit Dürnstein Abbey and poke around the ferry ramp. Next stop: Spitz, where we board a river cruise boat. We sail to Melk, a journey so scenic it makes you understand why Strauss wrote that waltz. At Melk, we explore the jaw-dropping Melk Abbey. By the time we slump back into our hotel in Vienna, the day has officially left us happily exhausted. Here’s a map of our bus and boat route through the Wachau Valley and Danube River cruise. Details follow.