Half-Day Tour Of Vienna, Austria

By now you all know that I had been on a vacation to Europe in the 2^nd week of August 2017. I had been to Prague, Vienna and Budapest. You read about Prague in the 1^st post. In today’s post you will read about Vienna. This post will not be as lengthy as Prague post as I spent just half a day and 1 night in Vienna. But yes, the next post on Budapest will be an interesting one. Now get set to see the sight-seeing places in Vienna on a half-day tour.

The drive from Prague to Vienna was a beautiful one. Our driver stopped the coach at a petrol bunk, as in Europe, they have to compulsorily take a break after 2 hours’ drive. We purchased some eatables here and we also had a rest room break before proceeding to Vienna.

We also stopped near Merlin’s Kinderwelt which is an amusement park.. There was a castle like fairy tales and some dragons too. Unfortunately, we got only 20 minutes break here too. We were not allowed to enter the amusement park as we had to reach Vienna for lunch and also an appointment was booked at Schonburnn Palace.

Vienna is the capital of Austria and is situated on the Danube River. It has such a good history. It was the capital of Austro-Hungarian Empire. The World wars were fought in these European countries. Vienna was the home of some powerful European rulers. We stopped at a South Indian restaurant Naadu for lunch. We all were disappointed with the food there and I would say that this was the worst food I had during my trip. The servers were also serving very small portions of food to the hungry souls.

 

Soon after lunch, we proceeded to Schonbrunn Palace. I also got the first glimpse of river Danube on the way.

Schonbrunn Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was a summer palace of the Habsburg Empire.  There are 1000+ rooms in this palace. We took an entry ticket and entered the palace.

Photography was not allowed inside the palace. We were provided with an English audio guide. We got to see the 18^th century Empress Maria Theresa’s room and private apartment of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Sisi. The royal garden behind the palace was worth a visit.

Vienna is much safer than Prague and is very expensive compared to Prague and Budapest. It is better to walk and explore some places. The city is extremely clean and looks very elegant. After visiting Schonburnn Palace we had a guided city tour of Vienna by coach.

We also went for a walk and visited the Hofburg Palace. This palace was built in 13^th century and is now the official residence and workplace of the President of Austria. The palace belonged to the Hafsburg dynasty rulers.

Very close to Hofburg Palace is the Maria-Theresien-Platz which is a large public square in Vienna. The statue of Empress Maria Theresa is lies in the middle of the square.

On either sides of the statue are two near identical museums.

The architecture of monuments and buildings in Vienna is very much different than that in Prague and Budapest. There are lots of museums, grand boulevards and royal palaces.

Some of the buildings in Vienna were destroyed during World War II and have been rebuilt.

Vienna is also the cultural capital of Europe.

This was followed by dinner at an Indian restaurant Zum Moghulhof.

 

After dinner, we were transferred to Hotel Bellevue a 4-star hotel for overnight stay. The hotel was a beautiful one and is an architectural monument located close to City Center. One of the oldest building in Vienna. But the lift was a big problem. Since the building is an ancient one, the lifts were also antique ones.

I felt like I was living in an ancient classical building. The continental buffet breakfast was excellent here too.  Wi-Fi was very slow in the room.

After breakfast, we checked out from the Hotel Bellevue, boarded the coach and proceeded to Hungary. I really wish to visit Vienna again and stay there atleast for a week and explore the city myself.