Sightseeing and Christmas market on a sunny November day

Going to Vienna, Austria, for a day trip is a common thing for Hungarians. It’s not far by car, train or bus. I have been there several times, mostly during the Christmas period as this city is famous for its beautiful Christmas markets, lights and decorations. This year, we decided with my mom to go there early, just as the markets open and this special season begins. We were actually very lucky with the weather as it was sunny and quite warm for this time of year, but we didn’t have a Christmasy feeling at all. Anyway, we decided to explore the downtown a bit (just like every time we go there) and then to visit shortly the famous Christkindlmarkt in front of the Rathaus (city hall).

Even though I have been to Vienna several times, I have never taken the FlixBus. The reason for our choice was that the train tickets were quite expensive and FlixBus always has very good prices, especially for such short distances. Our non-stop bus journey from Budapest to Vienna took three hours, only a bit more than by train. We were not bored, we had breakfast and drank our coffee, we were talking and then resting or listening to music. The weather was so sunny, so unusual for the middle of November! We enjoyed walking around in the city center once we had arrived. We had to take the subway first, as we wanted to reach different places, a bit farther away. First, we went to the famous Hundertwasserhaus, which is special for its architecture and design. Although we have seen it before, that was quite many years ago. It’s a cute place with some very nice souvenir shops. We hadn’t intended to buy anything, but we couldn’t stop ourselves from purchasing a few gifts for ourselves (such as bracelets) and for the family. I think it’s always nice to buy a few things somewhere else, as they also remind us of that place and that trip. Then, we continued our trip and visited a beautiful but not well-known church near the Hundertwasserhaus, as well as the famous Stephansdom (cathedral). It was beautiful, especially from outside in the bright sunshine, but the whole place was crowded with tourists. After my trip to Italy, it wasn’t a surprise or something unusual for me.

What was actually special about our daytrip was that this time I realized how quiet it is in the downtown of Vienna, not like for instance in Milan or Rome. We also compared the Austrian capital city with the German one, as I lived in Berlin for some time and my mom has also been there several times. It’s incredible how different the two cities are! Vienna is much cleaner and quieter, the people look better, they dress much better and they are friendlier than in the German metropole. The whole culture is different; and the only common thing we could mention is the more or less same language (apart from the regional dialects).

After having lunch, we continued our little sightseeing tour and saw the Albertina Museum and the Hotel Sacher on the other side of the street, the Opera House, and then we walked along the Ring (main street) and saw all the famous buildings such as the Parliament or the Hoftheater.

Finally, we reached the Rathausplatz with the Christmas market. It was a bit strange to visit the market in such weather, but it was still nice. It was just like every year: a huge Christmas tree in front of the city hall, a carousel in the middle of the market, an ice-skating rink on one side and many stalls with traditional food, drinks, gingerbread in the shape of hearts and many more. We decided to drink something to be able to take home some nice mugs and we walked around a bit. This short visit to the market was enough this time, but it was beautiful as always. 😊

Regarding the tourists, there were of course quite a lot of them, but the city was not as crowded as it usually is in December. We were not surprised by hearing a lot of Hungarian: as I have mentioned, it’s a popular destination for us. But we could also hear quite a lot of Spanish, some Italian and other languages as well.

At the end of our trip, we did some shopping at the mall of the main train station. We always enjoy buying things, especially those which are more special. And we also had coffee and a cake before we headed to the bus station to find our FlixBus. We didn’t know which platform will be ours, there was no information about it anywhere, but as I heard Hungarian all around me, I told my mom that this will be the right place for the bus back to Budapest…

Although we were travelling all the way in the darkness and we even fell asleep a bit, plus it was late at night by the time we finally got home, it was a very nice day and a great start to the Christmas period of 2024. 😊