Hey,
I just had an amazing weekend in Austria. My friend and I left for the airport after work on Friday and stayed until Sunday night. It was perfect. We saw the main things we wanted to do and even more. This weekend just highlights why I love living in England. A weekend in AUSTRIA is perfectly possible!
We arrived in Vienna Friday evening and headed to the hostel to drop off our bags and game plan for the next couple days. I had a vague idea of what we wanted to do, but mostly it was just planning on the spot! We stayed at the Wombats hostel which I can highly recommend. They have locations all around Europe including London, Vienna, Munich, Budapest, and Berlin. They were very accommodating and had some nice features. There was breakfast (not included but cheap, convenient, and all you can eat), laundry facilities, provided linens and towels, and a bar which they give you a free drink coupon. There was a band playing when we were there.
We went to the bar, got our free drink, and looked at the tourist map that the hostel provided to plan our journey. We saw that there was a free walking tour that left from the hostel the next morning, so decided to do that. Whenever you can, I would definitely take the walking tours. They give so much interesting information and make the city come alive in ways that just aren’t possible if you don’t know the history behind what you are looking at. For instance, we saw the art university that Hitler was rejected from that was the catalyst for his anti-Semitism. He blamed the Jewish community for his failure. Without knowing that history, I would have walked past the university and thought nothing of it.
After we looked at the map, we went to look for dinner. It was around 11pm that we started walking around, so there weren’t many restaurants open. We stumbled upon an Australian pub. It was so cheesy… There was kangaroo and alligator on the menu with silly Australian jokes on it. We decided to take a pass on that surprisingly 😉 We ended up at this other pub where I had the most amazing halloumi and hummus burger. It was amazing! We headed home after that.
As I said before, we went on the walking tour in the morning to see famous market outside the hostel, different art installations, a palace, a famous equestrian school, told us the history of some of the museums, town hall, and parliament, and through some of the famous shopping districts. We ended the tour at the St. Stephens cathedral where he told us the history and design. After we went to the top of the tower of the cathedral for a view of the city and to another palace that has a very similar design to Versailles in Paris. We could go into the gardens free, which offered some lovely walks and trees with their fall colors.
On the tour, our guide told us how to go to the famous State Opera House for only 3 euros! We just had to line up at 5pm to get our tickets for 5:45pm. The show started at 7pm. The catch is that they are standing tickets, but it was so worth it. Seated tickets start at around 50 euros. We each had a little screen in front of us that translated the opera for us as operas are in Italian. It was a 2.5-hour opera. We ordered wine before the show and in intermission. We spent more on drinks than the show! (still only 7 euros for two drinks). We met an American girl who had just graduated from Oregon State and was traveling around Europe for a couple months on the walking tour, so we went with her to the show! It’s always interesting who you meet on these trips and hearing their stories. The whole experience was amazing, the sheer talent was unbeatable, and the opera house was stunning. I highly suggest going.
When we got back to the hostel, we saw signs for a winery tour in the Austrian countryside. There was one that was a biking tour that we were going to go on, but the last day was that day, so we missed that one! Instead there was one that used a van to go to the same places and more. We decided to go on that one. This ended up being my favorite part of the trip. There were only 8 people on the tour which gave it a really friendly environment. The others were all older than us, most were retirees. They were hilarious though! Our tour guide was amazing. He had been studying wine, so knew loads about wine and the region we were in. I learnt so much about how to tell how much sugar and alcohol is in a wine, the age of a wine, why corks are used vs screw caps, and why different glasses are used for different wines.
We first did a quick stop in the grape fields and when I got out of the van I just spread my arms wide and breathed in the fresh air and serenity of the countryside. Living in the city, exposes you to a lot of smells and noise, while the countryside is just so peaceful. Growing up in Washington, nature is a quintessential feature and I miss it when living in London. It was really special to just be outside in a gorgeous landscape. We did a quick wander of the rows and then got back in the car to head to our next stop: a village called Durnstein.
Durnstein is an adorable village that is along the Danube river. It has a cute church with a balcony looking over the river. There is a castle that is on a cliff that overlooks the village which is where King Richard the Lionheart was held captive on his way back from the crusades before buying his freedom. We had an hour to wander, so we didn’t end up going to the top, but had a lovely look around the village anyway.
After we went to our first winery. We sat outside in this beautiful garden, underneath a gazebo. The sun warmed the air and a light breeze came through every occasionally. It was one of those moments that makes you just appreciate life and realize that you are unbelievably lucky. We tried 6 different types of wine, starting with sparkling white, then white, then moving onto red. They were amazing and only available locally. The winery was family owned and personally known to our tour guide. We had lunch there, so I got a cheese platter to compliment my wine.
After we headed to our next winery, that had views of the grape fields and rolling hills. We tried 4 wines there. All a different despite them all being white wines.
Finally, we headed over to the Melk Abbey. We took a guided tour of the building, balcony overlooking the town, and the most gorgeous library I’ve ever seen. The ceiling painting had figures holding various items that indicated the type of books you could find. For instance, the law and justice section had a man holding scales.
After we got back to Vienna, we had a quick dinner where street performers were playing violins, the flute, and had an opera singer to top it off. We headed to the airport after we ate.
It was just an amazing trip. I have the holiday blues now. I just love to travel and experience new things. England gives me the opportunity to have these experiences.
That’s all for now,
Holly
