Post Cruise - Vienna

Another reason for this cruise was that the post cruise extension was in Vienna, a place that I have always wanted to go to, largely because of the Spanish Riding School and the Lipizzaner Stallions. 

Following the tour of Budapest, it was a bus ride to our hotel in Vienna.  What a spectacular hotel! We stayed at the Palais Hansen Kempinski. Amawaterways always uses 4- or 5-star hotels. Some are very American but some are truly unique. It was late in the afternoon when we arrived so after settling in at the hotel, we asked our cruise director for some tips on where to eat nearby. 

Light switches - high tech hotel

Lobby

Our room

The bathroom

Our cruise manger recommended a beer garden at a restaurant close by. We actually walked by it because it looked so small, but we turned around after not finding anything else. We found out that you went through the restaurant into an inner courtyard. We had a delightful meal.

Courtyard garden

The next day in the morning there was a bus and walking tour of Vienna. Again, like many of the tours on this trip things seemed a bit rushed. It was still an interesting tour.  We visited a garden dedicated to Empress Elizabeth of Austria and St Stephan's cathedral.

Horse and carriage behind Peterskirche in Vienna

Stephanplatz and St Stephan's Cathedral

Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Princess Sisi)

Many in our group were going to a Mozart concert that evening. This was an optional excursion arranged by Amawaterways. We had decided not to go to the concert so we had the afternoon and evening on our own to explore. We took the transit out to Schönbrunn Palace. Once we arrived, we found a place to have lunch at the edge of the Palace grounds. We ate outside on the patio. The interior of this restaurant was amazing but except for one group there was no one inside. 

The Golden Throne

After lunch we headed over to walk the Palace Gardens. The grounds are free but you have to pay to go into the palace. The main gardens were very nice and we walked all the way to the top of the hill to get the view of the palace. We certainly got our steps in here. 

We walked all the way to the top.

Schönbrunn Palace

Fountain

View from the top.

Once back in Vienna we looked for a cafe but had a hard time finding anything that looked nice. Most places were just a couple tables right on the street. We finally found a place where most of us decided to have a Viennese coffee, at least that's what the waitress called it. It was so good. We probably should have gone back to this restaurant for dinner. Instead, after going back to the hotel for a while we walked back to see Stephanplatz at night. After having so many great meals, the restaurant Cafe Europe where we ate dinner that evening was quite a letdown. 

St Stephan's Cathedral at night

This was our last night in Vienna and the end of our Amawaterways journey but not the end of our vacation. We had booked train tickets to Prague on a train that left Vienna at 3:10 in the afternoon. This was so I could cross off my bucket list a visit to the Spanish Riding School to see the Lipizzaner Stallions. Ever since I saw the Disney movie Miracle of the White Stallions, I've always wanted to see them. Performances are only on Saturday and Sundays but there are training sessions on weekdays that you can go and watch. I had purchased tickets online before we even left for the trip. I'm certainly glad I did as mostly it is standing room; we had tickets for seats along the side of the menage. You're not allowed to take pictures or video once the riders and horses enter so all I have is the memory. I hope someday to go back to Vienna and see a performance and to have a piece of sachertorte.

After the training session, it was a short walk back to the hotel to finish up packing, put out our bags and take a taxi to the train station. Next post will be about our visit to Prague.

Magical and Mysterious - The Alhambra

To finish up on my post of Granada, Spain and the visit to Alhambra and the Nasrid Palace, as our tickets for the palace weren't until 6:30 pm, we took a relaxing morning at the hotel. We had breakfast and then packed as we would be leaving for Brussels, Belgium through Madrid very early the next morning.

We walked up to the old historic center of town and had tapas and wine for lunch, then caught a bus up to the Alhambra.  Our visit started with the gardens, in an area called the "Generalife".

The word used for the area "Generalife" comes from the Muslim Jennar al Arifor or Garden of the Architect. As you can see it was an overcast day when we started and it did start to rain just after we arrived. The gardens were lovely all the same.

After touring the gardens and the villa, we headed to the Alcazaba or the citadel. By now the rain had stopped and it was quite hot and somewhat humid.  At the citadel, you have to climb up a tight winding staircase to get to the top of the fortress.  I'm not sure what was worse, going up or coming down.

There is also a large building, the Palace of Charles V,  that has a rotunda inside and a large chapel on site to explore.

Heading into the fortress, Alcazaba

Not at the top yet

At the top

Looking back down over the Alcazaba

Palace of Charles V

Inside the palace

Chapel inside the Alhambra

After we finished touring the grounds, we still had some time to go before the timed entrance to the Nasrid Palace.  We found a small hotel, called the American Hotel, that also had a very small restaurant and had some dinner. The restaurant was at the front of the hotel and so the waiter didn't have to go down the hall past the reception desk, there was a small hatch in the wall of the dining room connected to the kitchen. He just passed the orders to the kitchen that way and they would ring a bell when there was an order ready.

After eating we walked back the palace entrance area and waited for our time to enter.  The Nasrid palaces only have limited tickets available and some people at my workshop were disappointed not to be able to get tickets; they still were able to get entrance tickets to see all of the other areas.  We occupied ourselves while waiting watching the cats.

The palace was pretty amazing.  The tile work and the carved stone work must have taken a huge amount of  time and labour.

You are asked not to touch anything, I put my had on a plain column and was even asked to remove my hand from that.  They did have replicas of stone work and tile work that you could touch.

Yes, we could sit in the chair.

 The Court of the Lions (Patio de los Leones) and fountain was spectacular. It was too bad that we couldn't get closer or that the fountain had to be roped off. The fountain is a replica now, all of the original lion carvings are in museums. We were only allowed around the outside of the patio under all the arched areas.

Spectacular roof 

View of Granada

Some Christian paintings on the ceiling

Palace baths

Everywhere you looked there was something to see, it was really impossible to take it all in.  I can hardly imagine what it would have been like to have been someone of wealth who had lived there during the reign of the Nasrid dynasty.

After leaving the inside of palace, there are more royal garden areas to walk though with fountains, waterfalls and ponds.

It was a long day but certainly one that was well worth it and that I will remember for quite some time. The pictures just don't do it justice.  If you get a chance, you should visit.