Photos taken/written by Jennifer Mahon
EUROPE ROAD TRIP — DAY 9 (OF 19)
After saying goodbye to Kutná Hora, we hit the road for a 280 km drive south to Vienna, Austria (about 3 hours of uneventful highway time). The highlight of the drive? About two hours in, just past the small city of Chvalovice, we stumbled upon a bizarre sight straight out of a fantasy flick: dragons, gargoyles, sword-wielding statues, and... busty women. Turns out this fever-dream of a place is called Excalibur City—complete with a theme park, casinos, strip bars, duty-free shops, and tacky motels. Sadly, we didn’t stop for pics, but seriously, Google it. It’s in the middle of nowhere and 100% ridiculous.
Once we arrived in Vienna, we headed to our hotel, NH Belvedere—which should’ve been a simple process but, thanks to some epic GPS fails (and maybe a few wrong turns), it took way longer than necessary. After dropping off our bags and parking the car, we set out on foot to explore the city.
YOU'VE GOTTA SEE...
SCHWARZENBERG PALACE
Just a five-minute walk down Rennweg Street, we stumbled upon an iron gate that led us into the gardens of Schwarzenberg Palace and neighbouring Belvedere Palace. The palace is a baroque architectural masterpiece built in the 18th century, but honestly, we didn’t bother going inside. A peek from the outside was enough for us!
Photos: Schwarzenberg Palace
BELVEDERE PALACE
This baroque beauty was built by Prince Eugene of Savoy, and the best part? You can walk through the massive, perfectly manicured gardens for free. There are statues, fountains, and flower beds galore. Again, we skipped the inside, but rumor has it there's an impressive art collection in there.
Photos: Belvedere Palace
VIENNA STATE OPERA HOUSE
This place is a stunner. We didn’t attend a performance (because, you know, budget), but standing outside and gawking at the building was totally worth it. If you’re into tours, they offer guided ones for a small fee, but we were happy just to stare.
ST. STEPHEN’S CATHEDRAL
Walking up a bit more, and we come across St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom). Another day, another cathedral. This one’s in the middle of a busy shopping square, which makes it a great landmark, but after seeing about 20 churches on this trip, I was ready to move on. It does have a beautifully tiled roof, and apparently, the views from the top are awesome (but we didn’t bother with the climb).
Photos: 1 - Vienna State Opera House | 2 - St. Stephen's Cathedral
PALAIS FERSTEL & FREYUNG PASSAGE
If you’re wandering around Freyung Square, pop into Palais Ferstel and walk through Freyung Passage. The building is super impressive, and Café Central, one of Vienna’s most famous restaurants, is housed here. Oh, and there’s a 6-metre tall Danube Mermaid Fountain inside, which is pretty cool.
Photos: Palais Ferstel, Freyung Passage
HOFBURG IMPERIAL PALACE
So here’s the deal: I was so over walking in the rain trying to find this place that I almost gave up and called it a night. You’d think a giant palace in the middle of Vienna would be easy to spot, but nope—after walking in circles, we finally made it, only to find it was closed. At least the views from the outside were breathtaking, especially around sunset. Totally worth it, but I’ll remember this one for the never-ending rain.
Photos: Hofburg Palace
SCHÖNBRUNN PALACE
You can’t walk to Schönbrunn from the city centre, so we drove the next morning on our way to Budapest. Didn’t plan to go inside, but once we saw it, we caved and waited 45 minutes in line to book a tour. An impressive palace, and well worth the visit. You’re able to get a good feel of the Hapsburgs and how soap-opra-ish their lives were. The palace itself has 1441 rooms, all ultra-lavishly furnished. The gardens are huge – with a maze, tree lined walkways, beautiful fountains and, of course the Gloriette on the hill in the back (which when I saw how far the walk was, I decided I wasn’t going to do that in the rain!).
Photos: Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens
Photos: Feeling quite at home looking out at the Schönbrunn Palace Gardens. Perhaps I was a Hapsburg in another life. | Funny statue of Brutus and Lucretia, which I've named "But FIRST, Let me take a selfie!"
YOU'VE GOTTA EAT...
ITALIAN RESTAURANT
Somewhere on Bräunerstraße, we stumbled into a random Italian joint for dinner (there are a bunch on this street). The food was chef’s kiss—no clue what it was called, but it was pretty damn good!
Photo: Some Italian restaurant on Bräunerstraße
CAFÉ SACHER
So, it is a totally touristy thing to do, but could not help myself when we ended up walking by it. We hit up Café Sacher, right across from the Opera House. It’s one of the most famous cafés in the world, so obviously, I had to try the Sacher Torte. Don’t come for me, but... I didn’t love it. My husband had something layered with apricots, and it was divine. Gorgeous place, though, and the service was top-notch.
Photos: Café Sacher, Vienna
SCHWARZENBERG CAFÉ
We stopped here for breakfast. The place looks super fancy, but the service could’ve used a sprinkle of friendliness. The food was okay—eggs, croissants, and jam—but we were still hungry afterward and ended up grabbing a bite at Illy down the street. Fancy, but left us hangry.
Photos: Schwarzenberg Café
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