Well, we are almost a month in! I think we’re pretty well adapted to life on the road now, and we have seen more impressive central European buildings than you can shake a stick at. I’m writing this in our adorable little accommodation in Český Krumlov, watching the snowy streets out the window – but you’ll hear more about that in my next post. For now, let’s look back on a week in Wien (Vienna).
Vienna
Vienna is a fascinating place. Central European history has never been something I’ve known much about or paid much attention to, but Vienna was the centre of power in Central Europe for hundreds of years – as the centre of the Holy Roman Empire, and then one of the dual capitals of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the city was incredibly wealthy and became a centre of architecture, art and music over a long period of time. I didn’t find it quite as romantic as Prague or as visually spectacular as Budapest – it feels a little colder, and a little more impersonal – but hard to know if that is the weather, or the fatigue of seeing so many amazing cities in the last few weeks. It was still an incredible city!
New Years Eve in Vienna: We had planned it out so we could spend New Years in Vienna, and the city certainly gets into the party mood! Over 800,000 people hit the streets, and waltzing in the new year is basically mandatory – so we did! It was fantastic to listen to the bells of St. Stephens, free live orchestra performances, and some “big bands” as well.
St Stephens: We spent our New Years Eve under this famous church – its churchbells are broadcast across Austria at the stroke of midnight – and returned there in the following days, where I was lucky enough to catch part of a service. It is an incredibly striking and imposing structure – up there with Prague Castle’s Chapel for the most impressive churches thus far.
Demel (and other cakes): Among Vienna’s many claims to fame, is its famous cafes and particularly, famous cake – Sachertorte. The cake can supposedly be traced back to 1832, when the Austrian State Chancellor asked his kitchen staff to make an incredible dessert to impress some guests. However, the chef had fallen ill, so it fell to the apprentice chef Franz Sacher to come up with the goods – the result being the Sachertorte. Not sure how true this is, but apparently the recipe is now a closely guarded secret, and there have been court cases between the different makers of this cake. Demel is one of these makers, and the queue to get a table at this cafe was so long that it was going to close before we got seats. So we got some of the famous cake takeaway ($11 AUD a slice!) – it is a little rich for my tastes, extremely chocolatey, but overall, pretty good stuff!
We also got some Sachertorte along with some Apple Strudel from an organic bakery at the Naschmarkt – Charlotte maintains the cake was better here than the famous Demel – I thought it was at least comparable (and a good bit cheaper!)
Schönbrunn Palace: We spent a very pleasant day wandering the grounds of Schönbrunn Palace. This was apparently a summer palace, and is well worth a visit for the gardens alone. We didn’t go inside as it was ticketed, but by all accounts it is impressive inside as well.
Schmetterlinghaus: In an Art Nouveau greenhouse on the grounds of the Hofburg Palace, hundreds of butterflies live in a tropical environment. It was pretty surreal to step out of the freezing Austrian winter and into a space of butterflies and jungle plants!
Belvedere Castle (aka art museums): Over the course of two days we explored the beautiful Belvedere Castle and the art museums within. The most famous painting there is “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt, but we thoroughly enjoyed the ornately decorated rooms, and some of the lesser known (but hardly obscure) paintings just as much as the most famous pieces. Also gave the modern art section (Belvedere 21) a go, but I still struggle with a lot of modern art – guess I just don’t get it.
Charlotte and I ended up signing up for annual passes as it worked out more economical – so if anyone happens to be in Vienna within the next year, let me know and you’ll get free entry.
Prater Park: Any excuse to get on a show ride is a good excuse, so we headed down to Prater Park, which has a winter market and set of showrides, and gave the highest swing ride in the world a try (the PraterTurm). It was pretty surreal, swinging 100 metres above Vienna!
Spanish Riding School and a rainy day of bad luck: I don’t want to paint a picture that everything is perfect while travelling, so here’s a quick summary of one of the more challenging days we faced. It was raining and cold, and we headed half way across Vienna to visit a flea market… to find it closed. We then tried a second hand shop… also closed. The first cafe we tried to walk to? Closed. Eventually, we headed to the Spanish Riding School, for a performance for we had bought reasonably expensive tickets. Unfortunately, I forgot that a) I’m not particularly into dressage, b) there’s some animal cruely involved (poor horses literally foaming at the mouth due to the bits used), and c) being in standing room is pretty challenging. Afterwards, we headed to another flea market… to find the very last stalls packing up. All in all, a bit of a challenging day.
One more anecdote… Towards the end of our time in Vienna, I got to talking to a man in a burger shop, who has lived in Vienna his whole life. He told me that as a child, there was enough snow most winters that he had got lost in it from time to time. For the last ten years however, they have had on average just one snowy day a year. Climate change is having a very tangible impact in Europe.
Choosing Accommodation on a budget
So when trying to travel Europe on a budget (we are aiming to average out at AUD $180 a day, sitting a bit above that so far) cheap accommodation is definitely a critical component. We’re pretty flexible on accommodation – hostel, hotel, private apartment – doesn’t worry us (though it is definitely nice to mix it up, too much hostel in a row for instance can be exhausting we’ve found), and we’ve done a mix and match so far. We don’t have a target price as such – just as cheap as we can for clean and safe bedding! So how have we found our accommodation so far? 3 sources: Booking.com, Airbnb and Hostelworld. When searching on each of these platforms, I take the following approach: filter accommodation by at least 3/5 or 7/10 user ratings (this is a pretty effective way to filter out the nightmare accommodation), sort by cheapest, then look at distance from city centre, and read reviews on any shortlisted properties. Last tip – when using Booking.com, use the app – they often have special prices on there for some unknown reason. So far it has taken us to some pretty interesting, diverse and often great accommodation, with no horror stories yet – though I did have a bit of a moan about some neighbours in Vienna short-stay accommodation with thin walls, who stayed up until 5am smoking indoors – but I’ll get over it.
What’s Next?
Our visit to Vienna concluded our tour of spectacular central European centres. It has been a lot of fun, but over the next couple of months we will be shifting focus a little – visiting smaller German/Czech/Polish towns, staying in Workaways (see earlier posts for more details) and generally trying to experience life a little more locally here. This will result in a less frenetic pace, and likely slightly less regular blog posts – will try and still get them out once a week. We will likely pick the pace up in March again (thinking we will explore France and look at a ski week around then before our month long hike on the Camino de Santiago), but nothing is locked in yet – looking forward to making it up as we go!
Next Stops: Český Krumlov, Wurzen (TBC), Bavaria (TBC)
Awesome
Have fun will check and read your blog
Thanks Carl! Having a ball so far