For me, it was my first visit to Vienna, and in my mind, I had a picture of how Vienna should look like; big old buildings, tons of historical sights to visit and very charming.
And guess what?
I wasn’t too far off!
Let’s go visit Vienna
How to get to Vienna
Arriving in Vienna city center
The best way we found to get to Vienna’s city center was with CAT. CAT stands for City Airport Train, and it’s a super comfortable train service that connects Vienna’s airport to the city center in just 16 minutes!
The train goes every 30 minutes and we had a very smooth journey!
We bought tickets at the official ticket machines in the terminal and there are two options:
single tickets for 12Eur each or return ticket (valid for 30 days) for 21Eur.
We choose return tickets.
Friday Night
Once we got to the city center, we still had to take a subway to our hotel, which was also very easy to do. I can’t remember the ticket price anymore (sorry!); after checking in at our hotel (nothing fancy, but central – Hotel Admiral), we still had a little energy left, so we checked the pubs close by.
There was a nice cocktail bar around the corner where we went for a couple of drinks until both our batteries ran low and we decided to finally go to sleep.
Saturday
We decided to go our day in the Museum quarter.
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| Volkstheater |
As usual on weekend city breaks, we don’t go visit the Museums but instead, we check out the surroundings and their architecture. The time is limited, so this is the way that works best for me (or us), we just walk as much as possible and try to absorb the city’s energy.
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| Museum of Natural History |
Fun fact, as we approached the Museum of Natural History, I noticed there was a statue of Vasco da Gama, one of the most important Portuguese explorers of all times. History tells that he was the one who found the sailing route to India, back in 1498.
Now, I have no idea why was he on that building among other important historical figures, but my Portuguese proud heart got a bit warmed up when I spotted him!
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| Museum of Natural History |
Oh, did I already mentioned that it was quite chill on this Saturday morning?! I was so not prepared for it…
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| Maria-Theresien-Platz and Museum of Natural History |
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| Heldenplatz |
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| Cute red old tram and modern tram. |
By the time we arrived that Stephansdom, the sun had decided to show up as well, so what did we do? We hid inside the cathedral… Smart, right?! 🙂
From outside, I was fascinated by the cathedral’s tiled roof; one side has a chevron pattern and the Austrian eagle on the other.
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| Chevron tile work on Stephansdom’s roof |
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| Austrian eagle tile work on Stephansdom’s roof |
Inside of the cathedral was packed with tourists, obviously, but at the same time, it was so calm and definitely beautiful.
To visit the cathedral tickets aren’t necessary, however, if you wish to take tours, then tickets are necessary.
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| Inside Stephansdom (St Stephan’s Cathedral) |
This cathedral has many Gothic elements, which I personally love, and also a baroque high altar.
Interesting fact: the area around the cathedral used to be a graveyard, but due to the plague and influenza, it got closed and all the dead were then buried beneath the cathedral.
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| Whatever this is, it’s amazing!!! |
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| Burning tea candles inside Stephansdom |
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I hope you liked this first post about Vienna!
