We felt the holiday spirit traveling in Vienna, the capital of Austria.
Christmas is the time when you miss home - even if you're already home. Carol Nelson
After a few years of simply feeling cooped up in the house due to the pandemic that I really felt I couldn't escape, having little freedom of movement, I can finally say that the most awaited time of the year has arrived, the month of presents (that's what I like to call December), I'm glad we're back to our old ways.
I can say that we have created a habit of visiting with our friends Christmas fairs in Europe, but we must not omit the traditional ones here in Romania where we even have some cities whose Christmas fairs have occupied top places in a top of the most beautiful Christmas fairs in Europe (Craiova, Brasov).
Today I want to go together to the Christmas fair in front of the Vienna City Hall (Rathaus), it is one of the fairs I love, I love so much the atmosphere here, the generosity of the people even if we are from different countries.
As you probably already know Vienna hosts Christmas fairs in several locations such as Belvedere Palace, Maria-Theresien Platz, Schonbrunn Palace, but we focused on the one in front of the City Hall.
The city has a stunning baroque architecture where the old style combines with the new, indeed the extravagance of the buildings is remarkable.
How did we get here?
From Romania to get to the capital of Austria, Vienna, we followed the route through the Nadlac II customs (here to cross the border we spent two hours, there was a huge flow of tourists eager to go on holiday and visit Christmas fairs in Europe) then we followed the route on the highway in Hungary (highways in Hungary are called M0, M43, M5) and we did the same through Austria until we reached the center of Vienna.
I have to mention that to drive on the motorways in Hungary I paid a toll of 10euro/7days (I bought it from a petrol station in Romania it may be more expensive if you buy it elsewhere), and for the motorways in Austria I had to buy a vignette worth 10euro which was actually a stiker that I stuck on the car window.
At first glance the city was overcrowded, in the public car parks we actually didn't find any parking space so our friends quickly looked for a parking lot, they also found a private parking lot where we paid about 3-4euro per hour, it didn't matter the price because the parking lot was relatively close to the place where the Christmas fair was taking place in front of the Vienna city hall.
Let's get carried away by the Viennese spirit of the Christmas holidays
Have you ever written a letter to send to Santa?
You see this is the spirit of the winter holidays, in this month of the year we learn to be kinder to each other, we learn to give, and as far as I know Vienna has been dressing up for the holidays since November.
Visiting Vienna's largest Christmas market, the one in front of the town hall, you will easily get into the spirit of the approaching holidays, when you walk among thousands of people, when the smell of mulled wine with the aroma of cinnamon or orange is in the air, when you have to stand at least 20 minutes in line to taste the best wurst, that traditional sausage put in a crispy horn, a delicacy.
I must admit that from the moment you enter the fair you are hit by a lot of people, you have the feeling that all of Vienna is in that fair, but as you walk inside and admire or buy different decorations for Christmas you will manage to integrate into the atmosphere there, the place is magical.
The square in front of the town hall is transformed into a magical place, where you can find a merry-go-round, a giant wheel, many decorations, trees dressed in thousands of colored bulbs, at certain hours you can have a show, you can really see that people put their heart to create something like this.
If you visit this fair, you really need to be armed with a lot of patience, although our way here was quite tiring, we still had enough patience to take the beautifully colored houses in a row and look at the beautifully made decorations, lots of gingerbread designs and many other eye-catching sweets.
You definitely won't leave here empty-handed or with an empty stomach, hehe.
Here you will find the right place to choose some Christmas tree decorations or decorations to give as a gift to a loved one.
Dear travellers, this was our first Christmas fair that I share with you today, this month there will be a few more posts with other Christmas fairs in other big cities in Europe.
If you liked what you saw and read here please don't forget to give a LiKe, Follow, reBlog or a Comment, for all this I thank you, and until the next post I say goodbye.
P.S. The attached pictures you have just seen are taken by me with my mobile phone in Vienna, and the text is also designed by me.
