Europe India Trip: Day 57: Ahoj Slovakia : Vienna sight seeing & Vienna — Bratislava ride [ June 7, 2023 ]
This is part of my Europe India solo motorbike trip travelogue . Read here for details
In my previous blog, I mentioned that I had reached Vienna & current day was for Vienna sight seeing. I remember cooking my breakfast in the morning. I had booked the morning tour from guruwalk with redandwhite tours. The Stadtaffe hostel where I was staying, was not exactly at the center so it was bit a of walk to the tour starting point & I remember starting like an hour in advance. This was also one of the few times when I did not need to hurry as I had quite a bit of time in hand to leisurely walk exploring Vienna a bit.
The start point of the walking tour was the Opera House. Apparently the place is really popular because it got featured in multiple movies. But the building was underwhelming to say the least :).
We met our tour guide lady (I dont remember her name). She was French but born & raised in Vienna.
The tour was average. Not one of the best of my tours. While the tour guide was knowledgeable, it wasnt an engaging tour. I also could not hear what the tour guide is saying at times because of feeble voice or the accent or both.
Some of the things I picked was the Hofsburg Palace & the dynasty which was one of the most powerful & longest ruling dynasty of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They were pretty powerful it seems. I also picked that Vienna is at the bank of Danube river & so is Bratislava, Budapest & Belgrade. Danube is the 2nd longest river in Europe. Also Vienna has produced quite a few eminent personalities like Mozart (guess he was from Salzburg but he lived in Vienna for long time) & pshyciatarist Sigmund Freud (she told more but I only remember these two). She also mentioned that Vienna is rebuilt by French architects post world war hence the Vienna architecture looks very similar to that of Paris. I also felt that initially when I walked to the walking tour location & I was surprised to see how accurate my feelings were :).
She also told some interesting hacks like watching Opera at Opera House for cheap. There are 500+ standing seats which open in the evening & you can get a seat under 20 Euros. There is a cafe in Parliament House that is open to public & you can go in & buy coffee there. There were a few other hacks but I only remember these two.
I remeber the tour ended at around 1 PM & I was hungry as well as yearning for a coffee. I looked up ‘cheap coffee near me’ on google map & ended up reaching ‘Truth Coffee’ which was in an ally. The coffee was ok but their cheese cake was pretty good.
I then decided to head back to hostel as I had to leave to Bratislava as well. I noticed Spar Enjoy on the way & I had seen some locals holding coffee cup of the place. So I decided to try their coffee. It turned out to be pretty good for 2 Euros. So I would recommend the coffee if you looking for cheap & good coffee in Vienna
I was pretty tired & decided to hitch a tram ride. As usual, I tried my luck with ticketless travel. I kind of knew that Germany had very little ticket checking & Austria would be very similar to Germany. The less developed nations (like Poland, Czechia, Slovakia) had more aggressive ticket checking. Thankfully, I could travel without a fine :).
I came to the hostel, loaded my stuff & left for Bratislava at around 3 PM. I had thought of spending time writing blog post but then decided against it.
The ride to Bratislava was quick & smooth. I had called Patio Hostel in Bratislava & asked them about motorcycle parking. They had parking space for cars but it need to be paid. I asked them if I can park on sidewalk & they said that it should be doable. So I booked a night at their place.
I requested Vincent if they could make an exception & let me park my motorbike inside. Vincent said he need to check with the owner & he did come back later & let me park my bike at one of the car spots for free :).
I noticed quite a few Indians in the hostel & at one point, a guy named Varghese happen to chat with me. He is from Kerala & he mentioned that he & his other friends drive truck in Europe & they are headed to north of Slovakia & stopping by at Bratislava on the way. One of them Jafrin, insisted on doing a video with me as well & I obliged :).
It was very heartening to meet Indian folks & they wishing me luck for my ride. I then decided to take a bath & sort out my dinner. I figured Bratislava is a cheap city so I decided to eat out rather cooking.
I found a Subway at walking distance & walked to it. I saw some nice buildings on the way & took pictures.
I was pretty hungry & did not take picture of the sub. I think the 15 inch sub was for 6 Euros, which wasnt exactly very cheap but reasonable. On my way back, I noticed a shop with 2 Euro pizza slice & I decided to come to the place next day for a pizza.
Patio hostel was a nice hostel with a bar inside that sold beer for 2.5 Euros which was decent, not as cheap as Czechia but still decent. I remember meeting a Kazakh girl Remina who was tending the bar. Overall, a pretty eclectic hostel with people from different countries & friendly vibe.
Next day was for the walking tour & this time, while I looked for a tour on Guruwalk, I decided to pick a tour from an individual rather than a company. I found a tour from Sebastian & I decided to go for it the next day. It turned out to be one of the best tours during my trip so far. More about it in the next blog.
