Departure Date: July 2024
Duration: 3 days (in practice 2)
This time I decided to take a short trip to reset myself a bit – it fell on a trip to Vienna, the capital of Austria. A city that often comes up as a suggestion for spending a weekend. I had never been there, so I took the opportunity when I found a suitable date in July. A bit atypical, as it was from Wednesday to Friday.
I planned the trip quite spontaneously. I wanted to make the most of my time, but I wondered if I would be able to see all the places of interest. Fortunately, Vienna, from a tourist point of view, is a city for old people, in my opinion – most of the attractions are museums, churches and cathedrals.
So there wasn’t much that particularly interested me, so I didn’t worry that I wouldn’t see something or that I’d have to rush – something I don’t like to do. In practice, I had one day to have a decent encounter with the city.
Day 1: First Meeting with Vienna
My trip to Vienna started late, because instead of departing at 6:20 p.m., I was delayed for 2 hours due to a storm – the plane I was supposed to take was stuck in Vienna.
Vienna airport transfer
Fortunately, getting to Vienna from the airport is fairly easy. You can take the more expensive train City Airport Train (CAT), which runs every 30 minutes and costs €12 for a single ticket or €21 for a return ticket. Alternatively, you can buy a single ticket for the regular S7 train, which is cheaper – it costs EUR 4.30 and also runs regularly. I happened to get a good deal and didn’t have to wait long. However, I had trouble buying a ticket at the ticket machine, so I downloaded the app WienMobil, where you can also buy tickets for public transportation in Vienna.
For trip planning, however, I stayed with Google Maps and using the simplest ticket. Later, I purchased a card Vienna City Card, which gives discounts on museums and allows you to travel by subway and train. If one visits museums a lot, one can even save a little with it.
Upon arrival, I took a short walk and headed to my room at KIBI ROOMS VIENNA, where I just wanted to embrace the next day’s sightseeing. The place to sleep was pretty cool, as access to the hotel is via codes, as is the room – you don’t have to worry about keys, allowing you to check in at any time. Although the rooms themselves don’t impress, as you can see that someone wanted to pack them in as much as possible. The mattresses were too soft, and there was no air conditioning in the room. On the plus side, there is a small common area and a coffee maker.
Walking through the streets of the city, I felt its elegant atmosphere mixed with the bustling life of the metropolis. I liked the city, but I didn’t feel that it suited me. I liked Budapest better, from which I would also like to upload photos in some time.
In the morning I was positively surprised by the staircase and courtyard, which had a really cool atmosphere. It’s a shame that it was bland in the rooms, but I was just there to sleep, so there’s nothing to complain about.
Day 2: Art, Entertainment and History
University of Vienna
I started the day with a visit to the University of Vienna, where I had the opportunity to see what one of the most important scientific centers in Europe looks like. The university impresses with its majestic architecture, and its campus is a place worth visiting, even if you are not a student. It’s a pity that urban spaces in big cities are not designed in such an interesting way. Near the university, I visited the Wiener Trabrenn-Verein horse racing track. This is a place with a rich tradition of horse racing, which dates back to the 19th century. There were no races at the time, but I came across several horses that had been running around the track since morning.
Prater Park
Then I went to Prater, one of the oldest amusement parks in Europe. Surprisingly, even in the middle of the week and in the morning, some of the attractions were already open to visitors. In Prater, I spent some time exploring and admiring the structures, of which there are really quite a few! I think you could spend a good couple of hours there, but for me it was just a morning warm-up.
Museum Hundertwasser and his house
Museum Hundertwasser and Hundertwasserhaus are also quite interesting places to visit after the theme park. They are places that tell the story of the artist who created them, and also present other changing exhibitions. Many would say that the visitor must have taken something strong, because the buildings have no right angles, the floors are wavy, and in many places there are unevenly laid mosaics. Hundertwasser was keen to create a connection between man and nature. I don’t know if the downtown area is a good idea for such experiments, but one has to admit that the artist had his vision.
You have to visit the museum with a ticket, but you can look in the cafe itself. I was tempted to buy a ticket, and now I wonder where the line between being crazy and being an artist lies. Many of this guy’s paintings look like they were painted by children, but all in all, the same could be said of Picasso and other modern art artists.
The village and estate, which is said to have some 200 trees on its roof, is also a cool place. The village is mostly souvenir stores, which you can enter for free.
Schönbrunn Palace
In the second half of the day I went to visit Schönbrunn Palace – the former summer residence of the Habsburgs. They used to have momentum in building their castles and palaces – I don’t know if they didn’t exaggerate a bit. Being only on a portion of the tour, it took me quite a while to see a few rooms and rooms. Not to mention walking through the numerous garden complexes, labyrinths or climbing the hill with the orangery. However, this is one of the historical sites that I decided to visit, precisely because of its extraordinary grandeur.
Austrian National Library
At the end of the day I went to the Austrian National Library – one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. The baroque interiors, the thousands of books and the sense of all-encompassing knowledge made a huge impression on me. Many people may have an association with the library from the Harry Potter movies. Along the way, I also explored the city center a bit and had to float the scammers selling tickets to the Opera House for the same evening, even though I was walking around in short shorts and sweaty.
Café Central
At the very end, I decided to visit Café Central, as I had forgone a visit to New York Café recently in Budapest. Both of these cafés have an amazing old-time atmosphere in common. Of course, you have to stick out your queue, and then reckon with appropriate prices, as befits the oldest and most besieged café in Vienna.
I was already a bit full, and it was too late for coffee, so I tried their homemade iced tea. I have to admit that it’s been a long time since I drank anything this good. The tea wasn’t sweetened with artificial syrups and didn’t taste like typical IceTea from a bottle, which has nothing to do with real tea. To top it off, I ordered a hot chocolate dessert, which was insane. I’ll admit that I would still love to try something there, because although museums and history don’t thrill me that much, the atmosphere for drinking coffee in such a place suits me very well.
Day 3: Slow Return to Reality
The next day I had all I wanted to visit, so I took a walk towards the train station. By the way, I visited the cathedral
On the way I ate schnitzel at a random stall and was a little disappointed, but apparently it’s just a weaker version of our pork loin, so maybe that’s the way it should be. Fortunately, before visiting the train station, I came across a great café called Café Hegelhof.
Reflections after the Journey
My trip to Vienna was interesting, although the city made less of an impression on me than other places I’ve visited recently. Although I visited some interesting places that I will remember, I am unlikely to recommend Vienna as my first choice for a city break. Cities, unfortunately, have a way of being either loved or hated. Myself, I’m glad I didn’t stay there longer, because I would probably have already started to forcefully invent what else I could see. Although if I were with someone passing through, I would probably visit an amusement park for a leisurely visit and take advantage of a few attractions to feel like a kid.
What does he take pictures with while traveling?
This time for the trip I took the Fuji X100VI. with which I can shoot in RAWs and JPEGs, to which I added interesting color profiles, making them immediately suitable for publication on the Internet. However, I still ripped the RAWs to the computer and processed them in my own way, using one of my resets. Although next time I’d like to get to such a workflow that after I leave, I’m only interested in arranging the photos – which I had a slight problem with this time, because it’s been a long time since I’ve done it and a lot of the photos were also often vertical, making it difficult to arrange them in a post.