Vienna

Melk Abbey, Austria

After a couple of nights in the Austrian town of Schönbühel, we drove east. Then, quite soon after setting out, we found Melk.

Above the town of Melk, on a clifftop overlooking the Danube river, is the impressive Benedictine abbey of Melk.

The abbey building, was at one point, the castle-residence of the Babenberg rulers of Austria from 976 to 1101.

The castle and surrounding lands were given to the Benedictine monks in 1111 and the Melk Abbey still stands today, although somewhat restored.

Melk Abbey fresco

The building is architecturally interesting and in the Baroque style. But the inside is stunning, with many hand-painted frescoes on the walls and ceilings.

Recent restoration works have used around eight pounds of gold bullion on the columns, statues and altars, to ensure the abbey closely matches its 1740 grandeur. We think it was worth it.

The small town of Melk (less than 5000 people), is built where the Danube and Melk rivers meet, and marks the end of the Wachau area of the Danube Valley. The town is first mentioned as Medilica in 831, so it’s very old.

View of the Danube from Aktiv Camping Neue Donau, Vienna

After enjoying the gorgeous abbey and town, we drove onward to Vienna, the capital city of Austria.

We found our way through the city centre, with Marg driving us safely through the narrow and busy roads, to reach our campsite for the night, Aktiv Camping Neue Donau.

The camp is close to the motorway and trains, great for convenience, but not peaceful (Marg reckoned that every train in Europe passed through that night). However, its right on the Danube and we had a lovely private parking spot.

Ornate building in Vienna's old town (UNESCO)

The campsite was a metro ride from the city (every 6 minutes and on time), so the next morning, off we went into Vienna city.

Vienna's old town, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. You could see why it had this status – there are large jaw-droppingly ornate buildings absolutely everywhere.

Vienna is a large city (population around 1.6 million), and the city layout is not straight forward. We saw many people outside the train station, like us, reading maps and trying to find their way about!

But we headed off anyway, and just walked and walked.

Kohlmarkt, Vienna

Before long, we found the Kohlmarkt and a number of other pedestrian-only streets. It was great not having to worry about vehicle traffic, but there were plenty of people.

The Kohlmarkt is famous for its silversmith shops and cafes.

From there, we visited St Stephen’s Cathedral. We were going to climb the steeple, but the queue was far too long for us to wait. 

Marg hearing about the china collection, Hofburg Palace

After a while, we stopped at the Sacher Kafeehaus. We both had a coffee there, and Marg also had Sachers famous Sachertorte (a chocolate cake; supposedly the World’s most famous), and Leigh had the strudel. It was very, very yummy, and well worth the expense.

A highlight for us was the Hofburg Palace. This 13th century palace, was the main imperial home of the Habsburg dynasty, rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Palace is absolutely stunning and we spent quite some time there, checking out the interior, the dining settings, and myriad of other collections of the Hapsburgs.

Schönbrunn Palace

While there, we visited the Sissi Museum. Sissi is the childhood name of Empress Elizabeth of Austria, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I of the Hapsburgs. It was so interesting. Today, the Hofburg Palace is the official residence and office of the President of Austria. 

Our next stop was the Schönbrunn Palace and its beautiful gardens.

The Hofburg Palace, which we had seen earlier, is the former main palace of the Habsburg dynasty rulers, and the Schönbrunn Palace was the summer residence.

Marg on the hop-on-hop-off bus, Vienna

The 1,441-room Rococo style Schönbrunn Palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural, and historic monuments in Austria. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Franz Joseph, the longest-reigning emperor of Austria, was born at Schönbrunn and spent a great deal of his life there.

By this time, we felt we were beginning to have a sensory overload and becoming ‘palaced’ out, so the next day, took the hop-on-hop-off bus.

 

While on the bus, we managed to see many sights that we hadn’t managed to fit in the previous day. These included the National Opera House, Freyung Passage, and many statues – too much to list.

The ornate arena of the Spanish Riding School, Vienna

We particularly enjoyed the Naschmarkt which was an amazing street full of food stalls. We, of course, had to buy and sample lots and lots of goodies. The 4 year-old Gouda was particularly tasty!

While in the City, we bought tickets to the Spanish Riding School. So, the next night, we were back at the Hofburg Palace to see the Riding School in action.

This school is totally focused on preserving classical dressage. Sitting around an amazingly ornate arena, we watched the beautifully groomed Lipizzaner horses and riders, as they went through their paces.

Spanish Riding School, Vienna

They entered and the horses immediately began to lift their legs in a showy trot. This was followed by a gallop with horse and rider showing their skills as they formed a figure 8. It was wonderful.

Heading back to camp that evening, we reflected on out Vienna experience. While we were disappointed at the huge amount of graffiti in the areas just outside the city, and a general air of shabbiness in some city streets, all the historic places were clean and tidy.

Overall, we were pretty happy with what we had seen in Vienna, and we prepared to leave the next day.

We drove out of Vienna via the largest shopping centre in the area, SCS - Shopping Centre Sud. After a huge navigating job by Leigh, we found our way there and then on to a hardware store to buy some essentials for the campervan.

The next challenge was to get out of Vienna in the right direction for Slovakia – eventually we made it, but not without a few wrong turns and some different views, away from the regular tourist route!! Slovakia is next.

The above describes part of our 7 month campervan trip around central and southern Europe, which began in Germany.