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Euro Winter

December 2023 - February 2024
A 71-day adventure by Jarrod Read more
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  • TravelerEuro Winter
    Day 2

    Vienna Reunion

    December 16, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    After a sleep in and a couple of quick phone calls in my hostel, it was time to meet my parents in the early afternoon. After getting slightly lost, we managed to find one another and reunited after 6 months a part. This was really nice, and I was eager to travel and experience the Christmas markets with them. This was the main objective we wanted to complete as I was yet to see any. However, first, we wanted to try and find a nice cafe for some lunch, then drop off their bags at the hotel. We got very lucky and found a nice table at a very busy cafe. We had some lunch, a drink, and then headed off. By the time we all dropped off our bags to the hotel, there wasn't much time left in the day, as the sunset is about 4 pm here in winter. As such, we decided against the Christmas markets and figured we would go for a brief wander around just to see the local area. We had plenty of time in Vienna and had already done a bunch of walking, so we weren't in a rush to see it all. After this, we sat and caught up in the hotel over some wines and then headed to bed for an early night.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Winter
    Day 3

    Christmas Markets

    December 17, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    We enjoyed a relaxing morning this morning to catch up and enjoy a nice sleep in in our comfy beds. Eventually, we dragged ourselves into our cold clothes and waddled toward my first ever Christmas markets. What an amazing experience. The architecture of Vienna, in combination with the cosiness of the Christmas markets, meant my first experience was incredible. The Votivkirche, a Viennese Catholic church, overlooks the small park that occupies the Christmas markets. Its imposing size and Gothic style meant that it created an ominous view when you gazed upon it. Yet, while wandering through the markets, you feel very at home and festive. Everyone is wandering around drinking their Gluhwein, eating their Langos, and spending time with loved ones. Although the shops are interesting, they really take a back-seat to the time spent being social and festive. There was even the option to ice skate in a little loop around the park. Something hard to believe they could install, but it was every bit cold enough. After some time here and a few Gluhwein, we began a stroll through the streets of Vienna where I could see more of the ancient architecture and history. The streets are beautifully constructed, and the avenues are amazing for walking through. Though not a massive shopper, it is still fun to walk to see spruce trees being sold, Christmas decorations lighting up the path, horse and cart carrying people through the city, and people selling their Christmas goodies. The only thing it was missing was a touch of snow. Although I do want to see some, I will have to acclimatise slightly before I can enjoy it. We enjoyed a nice lunch before some more wandering. Eventually, it was afternoon, and the sun had already set. Though, this was welcome, as the skies were lit up with Christmas lights, and the streets became even more lively with people. It did cause the temperature to drop quite a bit, and we had already done quite a bit of walking. As such, we didn't stick around for too long before heading back to the hotel to enjoy some warmth and to put our feet up. We were due some busy few days so we were glad to have a relatively relaxing day today.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Winter
    Day 4

    Viennese Churches

    December 18, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    We didn't have a lot of plans for today other than seeing a bit more of Austria and seeing what else would be available during the week. We wanted to do some museums and site seeing, but figured some of these activities would be best after the weekend. We have had to battle some minor crowds during our time and want to minimise this as best we can. As such, we stuck to the basic sites and saw the main plazas, such as Hofburg and Ausgrabungen Michaelerplatz, the Volksgarten, and churches such as St. Stephen's Cathedral, St. Peter's Catholic Church and Votivkirche. Of all these, the Hofburg Plaza and building were the most impressive. And tomorrow we will be going inside to see the Ephesus museum. This rounded out our day just about, we had a plan for tomorrow, and we're excited to see the cultural exhibitions on offer. As such, we went to a cafe recommended to me to try some great applestrudel before making out way home.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Winter
    Day 5

    Day of the Dog and Ephesus

    December 19, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    Today, we had to do our best to get up and out to Austria as early as possible to ensure we could do all the museums we wanted to during the day. This was quickly brought to a halt as the museum of natural history was closed. We also convinced ourselves against the museum of art history and so left ourselves with just the vienna Museum of Modern History. I was especially excited for this because they had a section about the ancient Roman city of Ephesus, in which I had been just a few months prior. This was really interesting as I could finally see the pieces that were missing from the site to be stored safely in museums. They also showed pictures of the statues when they had first been uncovered, allowing me to get a better idea of how the ancient artefact looked while still in ephasus - connecting the dots between the two sites. We then wandered through the modern history museum and learnt about Austria after WW1 and the Hapsburg Empire, their first attempt at the Republic, before an eventual, yet brief, return to dictatorship. Vicious conflict between far right and far left led to Dolfuss becoming chancellor in 1933. He instantly started to quash pro-nazi and pro-german-unification sympathisers. Later that year, a full-blown civil war would erupt, as Austria was torn between joining Germany or staying independent. When Nazi German aided in Dolfuss' assassination, many expected that Germany were around the corner to annex the country. Luckily, Dolfuss' good relationship with Mussolini caused a reaction in him that promised to protect Austria against a Nazi invasion. As such, Austria was safe as Germany tried to maintain relations with Italy. Austria's eventual unification with Germany through voting (rigged) meant that they fell under German rule during WW2. They would gain independence again once the Nazis were defeated.

    After this, I began my journey to the most recommended thing to do in Veinna by my previous group. The hot dog. And, it was amazing. I wouldn't call it a hotdog, as the Austrian sausage was far too tasty to put them in the same category, but it was very nice. We enjoyed this and began our journey to more Christmas markets before ending up in the National State Library. This was actually really cool, though small, and it was very different from anything else I had seen during my travels. 500,000 books going back as far as the 16th century. It was very clean, organised and beautiful. Definitely recommend. The style is difficult to describe, looking like a truly ancient library while still feeling incredibly well maintained and modern. Unfortunately, there was an exhibition for a Japnese photographer and artist, but thus kind of took away from the library if anything. Not to mention, I have no idea what the connection was between him and the library. This was the end of our day as we took the long way home, grabbed a feed, and went to bed.    Read more

  • TravelerEuro Winter
    Day 6

    Natural History & Spanish Riding

    December 20, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    Today, we would finally successfully make it into the Vienna Museum of Natural History. First, we saw the training for the Spanish horse riding school in the Plaza of the Statue Emperor Joseph II. This was very interesting and quite unique to see. Although we didn't see the full repertoire of skills possible by the horses, despite being close to the performance day, we saw some pretty cool stuff. Along with the horses training for the show, we also got to see the 'rookie' horses being brought up. This was perhaps just as interesting as the rest of the show as the horses are incredibly well trained and coordinated, so it was interesting to get an insight into this. We did see one horse pony-up on its back legs, but that was about as exciting as it got. The rest of the stuff was just seeing the horses trot around. This was still cool given the number of ways the horses could dance, hop, and run around the pit. Once again, it was interesting to get insight into how they could get them to move as they do. Unfortunately, photos aren't allowed, so it was hard to get good photos, but we did score a few. After this, we headed to the Natural Museum for History. We headed to the second floor to begin the tour after a quick coffee. This resulted in 2 hours of wandering around the different fauna exhibitions and information pieces. As we approached two hours, you could quickly begin to understand how much information is present on the site and how much time could be absorbed in such a place if you read all the information. A matter of days rather than hours. It was cool to go through the African sections, and see which animals I had spotted during my safari and my tours, then head to Australia and see animals what we have there that I hadn't yet seen. Such as the wombat and even a Tasmanian devil taxidermy. This went all over the world. Seeing hundreds and hundreds of animals. After this and a quick break, we went on to the evolution and geology floor to finish the museum. This also went for 2 hours in the end as well. This started with the geological history of earth and had endless amounts of different elements, compounds, and rocks from all over the world. Some were quite unique in the colour, shape, formation, and purpose. This was quite cool to see, but you could quite easily just walk through without needing to read the information pieces. Had I more energy and less soreness in the legs, I may have spent more time, but a lot of it wasn't particularly interesting, and I was keen to get to the evolutionary history. This was really interesting as we could see how sapiens evolved, the difference in species, how home sapiens became dominant, how our brain developed, and progressed into how we came to dominate the world. This then evolved to reflect the effects of modern climate change and how quickly our species has impacted global species. It was a sad but necessary way to end the day. After 2 hours of walking, again, and 4 hours total, I was very excited to find somewhere to sit and put my feet up. We found a nice Viennese restaurant to do so, and I enjoyed a Cordon Bleu. After this long day, we dragged our tired legs back to the hotel to sleep.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Winter
    Day 7

    Hungary 🇭🇺

    December 21, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    Today was a day for dragging our heavy bags, waiting on trains, and sitting around our hotel. Although we would arrive in Hungary for the first time, and were eager to see what was on offer, the trek to get to the train station in Vienna, and the subsequent trek to the accommodation in Budapest, zapped us of all our energy.

    We woke up to pack all our belongings and began our hour and a bit walk to the train station. This is quite comfortably the longest I have ever had to walk with my backpacks. I felt every single gram of the ~17kg backpack and every step of the almost 5km walk. By the end, my back was killing me, and I could barely lift my arms above my head. But we arrived. The train gave us some time to recover for a few hours. Unfortunately, once we arrived, we had another extended walk to the hotel. This was admittedly shorter, about 40-45 minutes, but every bit as painful. As such, a well needed break was taken halfway through as my shoulders had not yet fully recovered from the first walk. We enjoyed some nice Asian food, which is surprisingly very prevalent throughout the city. I had a beer to hopefully numb some of my pain and allow me to continue. After another 20 minutes or so, we arrived to literally drop my bags and have a break. Other than this, we went to get some groceries for our week ahead in Hungary and sat around waiting for an appropriate time to head to bed, we were knackered.

    Unfortunately, between the painful lugging of my bag around and the boring train ride, I didn't take many photos. So there is just the one to share for today.    Read more

  • TravelerEuro Winter
    Day 8

    Buda Exploring

    December 22, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    We didn't have a lot of plans today in terms of sightseeing, as although there is plenty to do in the city, we mostly wanted to see what the Budapest Christmas Markets are like. This meant we could just wander through the streets and experience the city. We started from our hotel, leaving quite late to allow our muscles to recover from the day before, before eventually heading south toward the city centre. This allowed us to pass the Parliament building. We only saw it from the road, but it was a mindboggling sight nonetheless. In a few days, we would be seeing it from the river, and this only made the building more spectacular and shocking. The photos from the road don't do it much justice as you can't capture the whole building. Its large spires, many levels, old windows, and balconies make it really unique. After some more wandering and picture taking of a beautiful city, we arrived at the local Christmas markets that are situated at the feet of the local church, St. Stephen's Basilica. Interestingly, Puscas, a legendary footballer who is Hungarian, apparently, is buried here. The best goal of the year, awarded by eufa, is named in his honour. The entrance fee to the church was far more than I was willing to commit to the church, however, so we figured we would skip it. There are plenty of free basilicas all over Europe that would likely be just as nice. But we heavily enjoyed the Christmas markets. There was a plethora of food, sweets, little trinkets, and plenty of Gluhwein. As such, we strolled through and started to build up a hunger before continuing south. This would allow us to quickly pass through the more famous Christmas markets of Budapest on our way to lunch / dinner. We didn't spend a lot of time at the markets as we were quite hungry, but we continued to a restaurant recommended by Melissa and enjoyed a feed. By this point, we had quite a long day of walking and decided to head home, enjoying the scenery as we went. The lights of the city are really beautiful at night and we are keen to see it, and more of the attractions over the next week or so.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Winter
    Day 9

    Snowy Season

    December 23, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ ❄️ 1 °C

    Given how close we were to Christmas and feeling particularly festive (I guess), we wanted to continue to explore the Christmas markets as they would soon be coming to an end. As such, we continued to just wander through more markets. Today, we were gifted a nice christmas surprise from the weather as snow fell in quite an abundance. This was a nice surprise as it really put the finishing touch on the festive feeling of the Christmas markets. And as much as I enjoyed seeing the snow, though: comes snow, comes cold. And it was bitterly cold. Though admittedly, I was happy to deal with a couple of degrees colder temperature to be able to have the excitement of snow. Otherwise, it's just cold. To shelter ourselves from the cold, we found another nice Asian restaurant for lunch. Then, once again, we wandered around to see the city under the evening sky and snow. It was a beautiful sight to witness, too. I am excited to hopefully have some more snow in the coming days and weeks. It provides a reward for putting up with the temperature.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Winter
    Day 10

    Christmas Eve River Walks

    December 24, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Given it was Christmas Eve and we had seen all that the markets had to offer. We spent the morning making phone calls to the family and friends before venturing off around midday. We were booked into the same restaurant that we had visited during our first day in Hungary (recommended by Melissa), and so had a Christmas Eve dinner to be excited about. Although the Christmas markets were still on, they closed early, and so we didn't have a lot of opportunity to wander through them. We had done plenty of that the last few days either way. As such, we arrived at the restaurant, enjoyed some drinks, a great meal, and chatted for a good couple of hours. Mum and I enjoyed the pork, while dad had the salmon. All were very good. Given that it was still very early and we hadn't done much today, we explored the view of the city along the Western side of the river. It was a great walk, and the views were mind-blowing. The lights of the city shun against the night sky, and some of the buildings glowed from across the river. It put into perspective the shear size of the parliament building, which you should be able to see in some of the photos. It looked unbelievably so well lit up and shining along the river. This marked the end of the walk as we then crossed the Margaret Bridge to head back to the hotel for some cheese and crackers and some wine. It was a much quieter Christmas Eve than some in the past, but it was very relaxing, and it was nice to spend it with family. Some months ago, I was expecting to spend it on my own, so it is fantastic to be able to spend it with my folks.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Winter
    Day 11

    Christmas Cruise Down the Danube

    December 25, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Similarly to yesterday, we made some calls in the morning before wandering around the Christmas markets. We figured this would be the most christmassy experience we could get while we waited for our dinner on the Danube. Funnily enough, Christmas Eve is celebrated more in parts of Europe so all the Christmas markets were bustling with people and it felt like a very unique way to spend the big day compared to how it's celebrated in aus. We walked around town and the river just soaking up the atmosphere before heading back to the room and chilling out until it was afternoon. Because our dinner was a bit later, we figured we needed some drinks to keep us going untik then. We found an English pub and had a couple of drinks before heading to the boarding location. The river level was incredibly high and threatened to breach the top of the kurb and spill onto the road and flood the boarding port. Luckily, for now, this hadn't happened, and we could safely board and enjoy the cruise. To our surprise, dad had secured us a window seat on the very fancy top level. He was as blissfully unaware as mum and I, but it was a great surprise. We got plenty of views of the river and had a fantastic night. Unfortunately, photos were hard with the glare and the moving boat, so I decided to take a time lapse that turned out pretty well. We enjoyed a 4 course meal, I had an aperitif, pumpkin soup, beef ragout, and the brownie for dessert. All were fantastic and the staff were amazing too. After a great feed, a 3 hour cruise, and a couple of bottles of wine, it was time to disembark. It was sad to leave, but it had to come to an end, and I feel as though we got very good value for the experience on Christmas day. Seeing this beautiful city from the water was a highlight of my trip and doing so on Christmas day, with my family, only made it better. The walk home was great too, walking back past the parliament building, with a very well-lit, enourmas Christmas tree topping off a great night. Once we got home, it was late, and so we headed to bed.Read more

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