Our first full day in Vienna we had the hotel buffet breakfast which was very nice and typically European complete with the Yogurts, soft bacon and awful machine coffee. After a delicious breakfast we decided to walk through the NaschMarket on the way to the Belvedere Palace.
The NaschMarket goes back to the 16th Century. It was built over the Vienna River and is almost a mile long. Stalls sell fresh produce, wines, beer, olive oil, cut flowers and all sorts of general market items. About half the market stalls consist of cafes where you can get anything from coffee and pastry to a full dinner. We had a few lunches in the market as well as dinner at a very nice fish restaurant. More on that later.We enjoyed our short walk through and definitely will be coming back.
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| Stall sampling Vinegar and Olive Oil |
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| Cheese Shop |
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| Produce stall |
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| Selection of Olives by the pound |
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| Sauerkraut and Pickles in barrels |
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| One of Many Restaurants |
The varied architecture of the buildings on the narrow streets is quite pretty. Each building is in a different style, some baroque, some Romanesque, some unknown.
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| Varied architecture on narrow streets create a pretty Cityscape |
When we finally got to the Belvedere palace we found that we had to walk almost a mile down the side street to find the entrance. On our walk as we got to the Palace there was an interesting bar, the Louisiana Blues Club. Of course I had to Google it and found it had excellent ratings as an authentic Louisiana Blues bar in Vienna.
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| Louisiana Blues Bar |
Belvedere Palace
In 1697 Prince Eugene of the Hapsburgs purchased a large tract of land on the then outskirts of Vienna to build a summer palace. The Lower Belvedere Palace was built along with extensive gardens surrounding the building. 15 years later he built the Upper palace on the same grounds separated by a large pond and landscaping. We chose to only visit the Lower Belvedere, the one with the art of Gustav Klimt and several other Austrian artists.
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| Fountain in front of Belvedere Palace |
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| The Lower Palace |
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| The Grand Staircase |
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| Grounds and Gardens with Vienna in the Background |
