Visit to Hohenwerfen Castle, Werfen

I got quite a bargain on our visit to Werfen. Two blockbuster movies for the price of one! Yes, both of the hit movies, ‘The Sound of Music’ and ‘Where Eagles Dare’ were filmed on location here. I must hasten to point out that these are real oldies, dating from the 1960s. They were waaay before my time. But not the Oldies’!

The two films couldn’t be more different, mind you – a musical and an action-packed war movie – yet they were partly filmed within a short distance of each other. In fact, if you look closely at the ‘Do, Re, Mi’ scene in the ‘Sound of Music’, Hohenwerfen Castle, the Nazi occupied ‘Schloß Adler’ in ‘Where Eagles Dare’, is clearly visible in the background.

I was beak-smacked when Dynamic Duo dared to tackle the steep climb up the 900-year-old fortress from the old town centre. Though I suspect I wasn’t the only one of us who wished the cable car in ‘Where Eagles Dare’ actually existed in real life. It turns out that there is, in fact, a funicular which goes directly into the castle, but, of course, the Oldies only found it after they’d arrived, panting, at the castle gate.

Her Ladyship, a big fan of ‘Where Eagles Dare’ (or at least, I suspect, its dashing stars Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood), made a beeline for the exhibition which opened for the 50^th anniversary of the film.

It was quite fascinating, I must say, with plenty of background information and interesting interviews with locals who were around while filming was in progress.  

In one video clip, I heard that Richard Burton and his wife, Elizabeth Taylor, stayed in a local hotel during filming. The sons of the owners, who were teenagers at the time, told the story about how they risked life and limb climbing the icy guttering in order to get a peek into Liz Taylor’s bathroom. Delighted with the eyeful they got for their efforts, they repeated the exercise the following night. But their luck didn’t hold out. This time they were met with the sight of Richard Burton sitting on the throne, reading his newspaper.

Speaking of which, as we walked along the castle walls, I spotted this loo with a view:

Whatever about the eagles of the movie, we saw real eagles and buzzards, falcons and even vultures at the Birds of Prey show. Gosh, those were impressive beasts. With impressive beaks.

I kept well out sight while they were on the hunt, I can assure you! I was better able to relax in the castle’s fascinating falconry museum. The birds on display there were stuffed. Although I still fancied that one or two were giving me the evil eye.

We thankfully had more pleasant weather when we explored Werfen itself and the surrounding hills. However, that’s when Herself spotted the Sound of Music Trail. Unfortunately.

The trail leads up to the location of that famous ‘picnic meadow’ scene in the film, where Maria and the children sing ‘Do Re Mi’. At least Maria only sang when she was up on the meadow. Her Ladyship insisted on singing all the Sound of Music hits all the way up the hill. And, bear in mind, I was still trying to recover from her version of ‘I am Sixteen going on Seventeen’ at the gazebo in the grounds of Hellbrunn Castle.

I think I prefer war movies after all, even with all the shooting and explosions. Much easier on the ears!