Once again we were staying pretty much in the heart of the city. Actually, we eventually found out we were also in the heart of the gay district, but whatever. We were just a couple of blocks from the Naschmarkt, a 120+ stall open-air market that dates back to the 16th century. Walking down its pathways in the plaza space between two roads almost felt like we were back in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul. Vendors were displaying everything – fresh fruits and vegetables, candies, pastries, nuts, spices, meat, fish, teas, coffees, souvenirs, and of course there were restaurants as well.
Speaking of restaurants, we expected to be overwhelmed with places offering weiner schnitzel, sausages, and other foods you think of when you think of Vienna – and there were plenty of those. But we were surprised to find there seemed to be more restaurants featuring Chinese food, Korean BBQ, Sushi, Italian osterias, Greek, and Mediterranean fare. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been that surprised. Vienna has long been a cultural mixing bowl, and was after all one of the stops on the famed Orient Express.
After a short walk to get some breakfast supplies for our new home and to get our bearings around our new neighborhood, we picked a local restaurant for our first meal -The Café Savoy. Mostly because of the impressive and expressive statues that formed part of the building façade, figures dramatically straining to hold up the balconies, and such.
It turned out to be a great choice. I found out later the Savoy has been in operation since 1896. It is beautifully decorated in that 19th century style, and features two large mirrors that are the second largest single-sheet glass mirrors in all of Europe – only the Versailles Palace has one larger.
Our waiter Stefan was friendly and helpful, and the food was superb and surprisingly affordable. We ended up eating there several times, as we made friends with the staff and it was just such a welcoming environment. Stefan always greeted us with a hug like it had been years since he’d seen us last. The bills for our meals including drinks (two rounds – Vienna has goooood beer) was never over 40 euros.
Funny story – although it was pretty obvious some of the wait staff was gay, it didn’t really dawn on us until the second visit that it was a center of the gay community. We found out later from Stefan that it was actually the oldest gay meeting place in Vienna – but not to worry, because it was “straight-friendly”, which we found hilarious.
Anyway, that evening we planned our assault on Vienna for the next morning. We would be using our Vienna Pass which we had purchased online, giving us 3 days of access to the Hop on Hop Off Buses and 70 different museums and attractions around town. There will be more details about the Vienna Pass in a future article on the internationalliving.com website, but for now just know that it made our visit much easier and cheaper.
Vienna called for a different strategy than the one we used in Istanbul. Although Istanbul is much larger, the sites we wanted to explore were relatively close together and mostly walkable. In Vienna however, the palaces, museums, and other points of interest are scattered all around the city, so the Hop on Hop Off Bus and later the public transport system were crucial to our plans.
We caught the bus in front of the Vienna State Opera House, and enjoyed a ride around town with the included audio guide pointing out highlights and potential stops for us. We were on our way to one of the sites farthest from our base, the Schoenbrunn Palace. This was the main summer palace for the Hapsburgs, a major dynasty in Europe from the 15th to the 20th century. In fact, Hapsburgs ruled in Austria as far back as the 13thcentury.
Today it is a major tourist attraction, and if you visit, be prepared to spend most of the day there, as the grounds cover over 400 acres and there is plenty to see and do.
When our passes were scanned we were given a 1:20 entry time for the palace tour, so we spent the morning walking around the extensive gardens, admiring some fake Roman ruins, and taking pictures of some incredibly beautiful fountains.
We were working our way uphill, and by lunchtime were at the highest point on the property in the beautiful stone and marble structure called the Gloriette.
Rather ironically named, since it derives from the French for “little room”. It is an imposing structure in itself, with sweeping archways and mammoth statues. From there you a beautiful view of the garden and the palace, as well as the city of Vienna in the distance.
It has been converted to a café, and we took advantage of that to enjoy a lunch and a radler, which is a refreshing mix of beer and lemonade.
The palace tour is just as impressive as we had imagined, and you are provided with free audio guides for details about each of the rooms. I have to admit I felt a bit of a tingle when I heard that I was in the room where a six year old Mozart first performed for the Emperess.
Again, this is an all-day stop, not just a quick palace tour. There’s a small train and horse drawn carriages for riding around the property, a marionette theater, a hall where concerts are still held, statuary gardens, a zoo, and more to keep you occupied.
Not to mention our favorite attraction, a 20-minute class on making the perfect apple strudel. While we missed the class, we did make sure not to miss sampling some of the output in a shady outdoor patisserie.
The rest of our stay in Vienna was a whirlwind of palaces, museums, art work, churches, and just the generally impressive architecture virtually anywhere you looked. In fact, I think the architecture is the biggest draw to Vienna for me. Rita and I both commented that sometimes it seemed like the building housing the art was more impressive than the art on display.
