Even though I had been planning a pure city break, I simply couldn’t resist the call of the mountains. Salzburg Card also includes a cable car lift to the nearby Mount Untersberg, so that’s where I headed after the Hellbrunn tour – much to the dismay of my poor knees.

The top station of Unterbergsbahn is practically right next to the first summit. There were hilariously many tourists wearing their best summer dresses and flip flops, hopping and skipping around, yelling “Woooooo!” into the wind, and posing heroically for carefully staged photos. But not me, oh no. Since I am A True Hiker™, after all, I left them behind and kept going on the actual hiking trail. Possibly not my best move.

Some parts of the trail were super steep with lots and lots of stairs that sometimes ran through tiny caves. There were cables and railings in the most difficult spots, but I probably didn’t hang onto them desperately enough. The weather was nice and dry, but the dripping water in the caves had made some of the wooden stairs deceptively slippery. As you might have guessed, my murderous shoes immediately took advantage of the opportunity.

My foot slipped on the stairs and I slid the rest of the way down in style, on my arse. I also managed to hurt both my palms, which started to bleed and soon got swollen from colourful bruises. Still didn’t roll over the edge, though, ha! Excellent shoes in every aspect, but they might work better as ice skates.

The way back was less eventful but more scary. The throbbing pain rendered my hands pretty much useless, and I couldn’t grab onto any of the railings. Afraid of slipping down again, I probably made some kind of a new record in slowness while balancing back on the stairs. To cheer myself up, I had a dorky picture of myself taken at the same spot where everyone else had theirs taken, too. I mean… I did have fun, though.