Hellbrunn Palace: Water Games and Lunch in the Sun

I'm 25 but I'm still a kid: I love fairy tales, flowers, gardens, swans and legends. That's why one of the things I like the most in Salzburg is the Hellbrunn Palace and its jeux d'eau (water games). 

This magnificent palace is only 20 mins away from Salzburg city center, you can get there with the bus 25: you really should go there if you stop in Salzburg. 

The palace and its gardens have been built in the 17th century by the prince-archbishop Markus Sittikus. Sittikus discovered the jeux d'eau during his stays in Italy. He created his own water games in Hellbrunn's gardens and adapted them to his sense of humor: each game is studied to be a practical joke to be performed on Sittikus' guests.

The water games aren't the only thing you can find in this wonderful summer residence: there are also many grottos, each of them dedicated to a particular mythological legend. 

After having spent the morning enjoying the gardens, my boyfriend and I decided to sit in the sun at the Hellbrunn's Gasthof to have a bite. 

Usually, I don't "trust" this kind of restaurants: you pay the view and the place, not the food, which is pretty industrial and tasteless.

But this time I was wrong: the "Menu of the Day" at 16€ was delicious! 

The Creamy Wild Garlic Soup tasted just right: creamy but not heavy, tasty but not salted, and its nice "spring-green" color was emphasized by the white china bowl.

Creamy Wild Garlic Soup

After the soup I had some Boiled Beef with Rösti and Spinach. The meat was very tender and the rösti homemade (often in France you get frozen rösti or frozen pommes dauphines at the restaurant! Yuck!) but unfortunately the spinach were puréed... I'd have preferred some spinach leafs sautéed with garlic, more suited to a earthy dish like the boiled beef.

Boiled Beef with Rösti and Spinach

The French Chocolate Cake with Strawberry-Rhubarb Sauce and Vanilla Icecream was HEAVEN! When I read "French Cake" on the menu I was afraid to get some chocolate&cream-loaded cake, hard to swallow after a starter and a main course and even harder to digest. Luckly I was mistaking again (I like this kind of mistakes!): The "French Cake" was a moelleux au chocolate perfectly cooked (rich and moist). The slightly sour taste of the Strawberry-Rhubarb Sauce was perfect to balance the rich and sweet French Cake. 

French Chocolate Cake with Starwberry-Rhubarb Sauce and Vanilla Icecream

What a wonderful day!

I hope I'll be able to come back to Hellbrunn very soon!