Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Christmas Markets….Vienna, Bratislava & Zagreb

Our First Day in Vienna

It’s that time of year when we are off on another Christmas Market adventure. This was our 5th Christmas Market trip since 2013, four have been to Europe (Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia and Croatia) and one trip up to Quebec City last year.

Walking around these Christmas Markets, mingling with locals, smelling the different foods, having a hot cup of the mulled wine and just taking in the festive atmosphere is a perfect way to get into the Christmas spirt.

We left Boston on Wednesday Nov 28th and travelled to Vienna via Newark and Zurich, arriving on Thursday midday in Vienna. Our hotel, the Hotel Alpha Wien was a very nice, comfortable smaller hotel, perfectly located near the main Christmas Market at City Hall. Like many European hotels, the room was a bit small and the shower was really small. The hotel served our purposes and the staff was very friendly and helpful. Also, breakfast was included in our rate. We booked this hotel through Booking.com which we use quite a bit and have been happy with this online service.

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Cozy sitting area at Hotel Alpha Wien lobby.

Vienna

Vienna, the Imperial City, is one of Europe’s beautiful cities. It has magnificent buildings and architecture, broad avenues and many parks and palaces. According to the Vienna tourist website there are a dozen separate Christmas Markets. In our first four days in Vienna (we came back for one day at the end of our trip) we were able to visit five of the larger markets.

On our first night, we pushed through the jetlag and walked the two blocks from the hotel to the main, biggest Christmas Market at Rathausplatz (city hall plaza). It was a very cold evening, but when we turned the corner and walked onto the plaza the view was spectacular. Every tree in the park was covered in lights, rows upon rows of vendor chalet stalls selling all kinds of Christmas items and crafts, and, of course the food. We made a bee line for the first Bratwurst stand we could find and got on obligatory Brat. Delicious! Also, to warm up, we had to imbibe in some Gluhwein.

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Rathausplatz Christmas Market

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