Easter in Viennislava

In keeping with tradition to have an Eastern European Easter, this year we visited the nearby capitals of Vienna and Bratislava. Although Vienna is hardly considered "Eastern Europe," it was the capital of the Hapsburg Empire which ruled over much of Eastern Europe for 640 years, and is a gateway to this region, being the easternmost city of the West. But, before we delved into Vienna, we first explored the overlooked capital of Slovakia, Bratislava.

Although we were prepared to be underwhelmed by Bratislava, there was still a great amount of intrigue in this capital and country that is talked so little about. Sandwiched between the popular capital cities of Prague and Budapest, Slovakia is merely a quick layover (if that) on the trains through the country leading to more exciting destinations. In recent years with its EU membership and close proximity to Vienna, it has become a more popular destination for visitors, especially due to its cheaper prices. This was certainly true, but it wasn't quite the extreme portrayed in the movie EuroTrip, where the backpackers stayed in a 5-star hotel for only a few dollars. Although it still has many remnants of its communist past, it's no longer a desolate, gloomy victim of that era, but a thriving economic and social hub. 

We stayed in a beautiful boutique hotel in the old town for an extremely reasonable price. (We paid the same price for accommodation in Vienna with no frills and very mediocre standards.)  We had planned to spend the afternoon touring the Old Town sites. Those are practically nonexistent and was accomplished in an easy hour. Below are some of the highlights of Bratislava's "extensive" sites;

Bratislava's National Theatre with Easter Market

We enjoyed posing with many random statues around the old town.

St. Michael's Gate - last remaining tower of the city wall

We hiked up to the castle, looming on a hill overlooking the old town for views of the city and Danube River. Although it was overcast, I can only imagine how amazing the views are on a beautiful summer day.

View of Soviet-era Bridge to the New Town and Danube River

View of Old Town from Castle hill

Bratislava Castle

Hangin' on History

After our brief tour of the "must-see" sites, we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon/evening exploring pubs and typical Slovak food and beer. We ate dinner at the Bratislava Flagship, which is a former theater-turned-beer hall. The ambiance was fantastic and the prices unbeatable. It was going to be quite a challenge to shift from these reasonable meal and drink prices in Bratislava to paying over the top in expensive Vienna. We enjoyed bar-hopping later that night and capturing the beauty of Bratislava lit up at night.

Dinner at the Flagship

Flagship Beer Hall and Restaurant

St. Michael's Gate at night

Old Town Hall at night

The following morning, we enjoyed a run around the Danube and through the Old Town one last time before heading to the boat dock for our trip to Vienna. Although the weather was drab and the sites were few, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Bratislava and are so glad we visited, even if it was for just an overnight. The locals were so friendly and welcoming, the city is surprisingly lovely and, once again, the prices were a welcome change from the Western European capitals.

The boat trip to Vienna took 1.5 hours and was a great way to arrive in the Austrian capital. We enjoyed seeing the sites along the Danube, to include the traditional border between Austria and Slovakia, as well as other charming riverside villages.

Traditional border between Slovakia and Austria

The name of the tour company - Jon got a big kick out of the spelling. 

Our boat docked at the Schwedenplatz in Vienna, which was a convenient 5-minute walk to our hotel. We immediately dropped our bags and began our touring adventure of this site-packed city. We started at the Hofburg Palace complex, the residence of the Hapsburg rulers until 1913. The gardens surrounding the enormous palace complex were so extensiv. All over Vienna are horse-drawn carriages eager to take tourists on walks through this beautiful city dripping with old world charm.

Horse-drawn carriage in Hofburg Palace garden with the Old Town Hall in the distance

Entry gate to Hofburg Palace

We exited the palace complex through St. Michael's gate with its grand facade. We meandered around the pedestrian alleyways to the Am Hoff markt where an Easter market was taking place. I had heard about the Easter markets in Germany and Austria, but this absolutely blew me away. I have never seen so many crafts, specialty drinks and cuisines and gorgeous hand-painted eggs, all dedicated to celebrating Easter. I wanted to pick out an egg as a souvenir, which proved to be an extremely difficult task due to the enormous selection. 

In addition to being known for its Schnitzel, decadent old world charm, and beautiful architecture, Vienna is of course famous for its classical music from the 17th and 18th centuries. Musicians and composers flocked to this music-friendly city, to include Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, and Mahler. Although Jon and I are not exactly classical music, nor opera, fanatics, we appreciate all music nonetheless. And when in Rome, or shall I say, Vienna...... one must visit the Opera House! 

Vienna's Staatoper, is one of the world's top opera houses and is dripping with old world charm. Because we didn't want to stay the entire four hours of the opera, nor pay an exorbitant price for tickets, we took the cheap route and arrived an hour and a half before the show to stand in line for 4 Euro standing room only tickets. These tickets gave us admission into the beautiful reception and we had great "seats" or shall I say, a leaning post, directly under the Emperer's box in the middle of the auditorium. It was so much fun to get dressed up, enjoy a glass of champagne in the reception hall bar, and take in the gorgeous interior of this opera building.

Vienna State Opera House

Vienna State Opera House

Trying on some binoculars before the show

The opera playing was L'elisir d'amore, and was a beautiful Italian story of love (is there any other kind?). Although we were enjoying it immensely, after the first act, Jon and I decided we'd had enough opera, and instead wandered the halls of this beautiful building. 

On Easter Sunday, I awoke for the second year in a row to water being poured on me. In Budapest last year, we learned that it is tradition for husbands to wake their wives on Easter morning by dousing them in water only to give them a gift afterward. I had mistakenly forgotten about this tidbit of knowledge, and Jon had apparently remembered. Though I was angry at first, the chocolate bunny he gave me helped make up for it. Later, we attended a service in the gorgeous Augustiner Church, the official church of the Hapsburg empire once upon a time. The church services here are known to be a great free event for music lovers, as they have a full orchestra and choir with exceptional talent. Although I didn't understand the message or lyrics of the music, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ transcends any language barrier.

Augustiner Church Easter Service

After the service, we made our way to the Cafe Central, one of Vienna's most famous coffee houses. The beautiful arches and marble columns were the perfect setting to enjoy apple strudel while catching up on the news and planning the rest of our day.

Cafe Central

Cafe Central

On Easter afternoon, we made our way to the summer palace of the Hapsburgs, Schonbrunn Palace, located a few miles outside the city. Because we didn't want to tour two Hapsburgs palaces, we chose this experience over the Hofburg palace in order to experience the beautiful palace grounds. We were pleasantly surprised to find another Easter market in front of the palace and enjoyed warming up on this unusually cold day (with a few guest appearances from snow flurries), with gluwein. The most interesting part of the interior of the palace is the over-the-top Rococo apartment of Maria Theresa, mother of Marie Antoinette. The tour of the interior of the palace was pleasant enough, but my favorite part of the palace were the sprawling palace gardens. With intricate landscaping, waterfalls, and multiple trails in the woods (former royal hunting grounds), I could have spent hours in this beautiful setting. While hiking up to the Gloriette, a decorative monument at the top of the gardens, the sun came out and blue skies appeared for the first time that weekend providing glorious views from the Gloriette.

Enjoying gluwein at the Schonbrunn Palace Easter Market

View of Schonbrunn Palace from the Gloriette

View of Schonbrunn Palace from the Gloriette

View of the Gloriette from the back of Schonbrunn Palace

We began our final morning in Vienna with a run through the city and a park with Nazi-built anti-aircraft towers sprinkled throughout. Though you would never know today Vienna had a devastating WWII past, some remnants (like these indestructible towers) still remain. 

Running through Vienna with an anti-aircraft tower in the background

Belvedere Palace

On our way to the train station that would transport us back to Bratislava and our return flight home, we managed to end our trip seeing one last bit of beautiful architecture, the Belvedere Palace. In four days, we managed to visit two countries, two capitals, see endless historical and cultural sites while exploring Easter traditions in new parts of the world. Though these two cities couldn't be more different, we enjoyed them both immensely and will never forget the memories made in Viennislava.