Last weekend I took my first trip outside of Spain to Vienna, Austria. One of my goals while I’m abroad is to travel as much as I can, so after a couple weeks spent in Madrid, my friends and I decided to plan our first trip.
I had never really thought about visiting Vienna before, but while we were deciding where we should go, we noticed the flights there were inexpensive. My cousin lived in Vienna for 10 years, so I knew I could ask her for recommendations to really make our weekend worthwhile. Between those two factors, we had our minds made up: we booked the trip.
The flight to Vienna was probably one of the worst flights I’ve ever been on. It’s very windy in Vienna, so there was a lot of turbulence towards the end. It was so bad that the wings of the plane were physically rocking up and down during the entire descent, right up until we hit the ground. I was genuinely questioning if we were going to make it, but it turned out fine.
After taking an Uber to the Airbnb and sticking around just long enough to drop off our bags, we took off on the Metro to head to the city center. Tourists can buy 24, 48 or 72 hour Metro passes with unlimited rides for fairly cheap, which was really useful.
It was late in the afternoon, and we were all really hungry, so we decided to go to one of the cafes that my cousin had recommended: Cafe Tirolerhof.
We were intimidated at first, because the inside was nicely decorated and the servers were wearing suits, but all of the diners were dressed casually like us. We ordered some crepes — which were delicious — and then got onto one of the trams that circles around the city center. My cousin suggested this because she said it’s a great way to see the city without paying extra for an expensive bus tour.
After circling around Vienna, we were able to take another tram to our reservation at a winery, Mayer am Pfarrplatz, where I tried wiener schnitzel, a traditional Viennese dish. It’s essentially pan-fried veal, and it was surprisingly tasty. I’m usually not very adventurous when it comes to trying new foods, but I’m glad I did.
We got up early the next morning to kick off our official day of sightseeing. We started at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, right in the city center, where a couple of us went up to the North Tower to see some cool panoramic views of Vienna. We then went back down to take a tour of the catacombs underneath the cathedral.
This was easily one of my favorite things we did all weekend. Catacombs are underground burial chambers — the one in Vienna was made to dispose of bodies during the Black Plague — so we were walking by rooms filled with skeletons, walls lined with coffins and shelves of sealed urns that contained organs. While a little eerie, it was an incredible experience.
After our adventures in the cathedral, we toured the Mozarthaus, the apartment of legendary Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It contained some original sheet music from his compositions and detailed the story of his life, which I found interesting. Did you know Mozart had a serious gambling addiction?
After our tour of his apartment, it started raining, so we took a break indoors at Demel, another place my cousin had highly recommended. This salon from the 1880s is known for their famous homemade hot chocolate, which was hands down the best hot chocolate I’ve had in my entire life.
I also ordered sachertorte; chocolate cake that’s one of the most famous desserts in Vienna. Everything was delicious and it ended up being one of my favorite things from the weekend.
Later, for dinner, we ate at an unusual restaurant: it was underground and had exposed brick ceilings. It was so different and quite beautiful! We all shared Beef Wellington, an English dish made from steak that’s wrapped in puff pastry and then baked. It was my first time trying it and I liked it, but it wasn’t my favorite.
We had a little time on Sunday before we had to head to the airport to get back to Madrid, so we visited Schönbrunn Palace, the former summer residence of the Habsburg royals. We then took a train to the airport, and caught our flight to Spain in the late afternoon.
We were able to pack a lot into a short time, considering we were only there for 48 hours. I never thought I’d find myself in Vienna this semester, but I’m so happy I did. It’s so exciting to be able to check another country off the map. I can’t wait to see where my travels take me next!
