Author:

Ms (Leigh) Bella St John aka Luxurious Nomad ~ https://ElegantisVitae.com/

Sunset carriage ride through Vienna

What is one to do on a lovely evening in Vienna? Take a sunset carriage ride, of course!

Founded by Emperor Joseph I in 1707, Dorotheum is still operating as one of the world’s oldest major auction houses.

The Ankeruhr clock offers a small special feature at 12 o’clock noon. For several minutes, all figures of the clock are presented during a parade with musical accompaniment.

…and you want history? How about Gösser Bierklinik, a restaurant established in 1566!

…complete with a dragon skeleton over the door!

Up behind the old city brick wall is where Beethoven and Strauss both lived (at different times, of course)…

According to my driver, this vegan restaurant is owned by Jose Feliciano…

…and of course, a green bunny rabbit…

A PERFECT way to end my day…

~ Bella

Spanish Riding School of Vienna

What a strange day… I managed to purchase online the absolute, very best seat in the house to see the world-famous Spanish Dancing Horses here in Vienna – front row centre.

Before leaving the apartment, I something quite sad happened, and the vibration of that seemed to then follow me…

I walked to the nearest taxi rank, entered a taxi, told the driver where I wanted to go and he said very rudely, loudly, and abruptly that he didn’t know where that was..??? I showed him on my phone where I wanted to go and he pressed the button to lock the doors and started yelling at me!!!

I pounded on the window while attempting to find the unlock button on my side – when I did, I got out, crying, and said “I hope your day gets better, sir, because you are the rudest man I have ever met and you must have had one horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE day to make you act this horrid!” …and I slammed the door, kicking myself for letting this get to me, kicking myself for not being more charitable to this man who was obviously in need of something positive in his life, walked to the next taxi in line, still crying, told him where I wanted to go – and he said “ok” and offered me a tissue.

What’s even stranger is that hardly anybody ever has seen me cry – and while something like this might disturb me, it wouldn’t normally bring me to tears – and certainly not in public.

Anyway, I arrived at the venue, only to find that my online ticket apparently should have been printed out before I arrived – they do not do phone scanning of tickets. I asked the woman if she could print it there – “sorry, we are not allowed”… I was about to just leave, when she said, “let me see what I can do”…

I successfully managed to be admitted and ended up sitting with some lovely Americans – and they were fascinated about my ability to pick where each of them grew up simply from me listening to them speak. That was fun. It was also fun giving them suggestions of where to go in Vienna, what do see, what to do…

The performance was stunningly beautiful.

Afterward, I decided to sit outside in the cafe and have a bite of lunch…

Oh, and the contraption on the right is a massive horse-walker.

…and even drowned my sorrows in chocolate!

On an earlier visit to Vienna, I took a day trip to the Lippizan stud farm in Piber: http://luxuriousnomad.com/lipizzaner-stud-farm-spanish-dancing-horses/

After I had my fill of wine and chocolate, I went out to the taxi rank to get a taxi back to the apartment and who should be the first taxi in line…..???????

I sat and waited for someone else to take that taxi, figuring I would take the next one. This is a major cab rank, so didn’t think it would take all that long.

For 40 minutes I sat and not one person took that taxi!!! People walked past left and right, but not one person got into that cab.

So, I decided to walk.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to go far and another vacant taxi came along and he was the nicest man – I gave him a huge tip just because I was so appreciative of his lovely manner in contrast to my earlier experience.

…and thankfully, this morning I awoke feeling again like my bright and chipper self.

They do not permit photography during the show, so here are some pages from the program…

~ Bella

Vienna’s Imperial Crypt

I decided to go for a wander…

…and while I did not resist the temptation to go into the Swarovski shop, the hoards of Asian tourists made it feel like a crowded local market, so I was saved from staying long enough to make any purchases…

Time for lunch… Cafe Frauenhuber is in a former medieval bathhouse and, established in 1778, is the oldest coffee house in Vienna.

I find it extraordinary that I ended up eating in the same place that the Austro-Hungarian Emperor and Empress dined in 1788 – where Mozart performed in 1788 – AND where in 1797 Beethoven performed his Quintet in E-flat for Piano and Winds!

I love Vienna!

Scrumptious lunch and ready to continue my meanderings…

…and I came across the Imperial Crypt! Something else to check off my Bucket List!

…and here are the final resting places of – as bizarre as it sounds – people I feel I once knew… Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth (Sisi) – and also their son Crown Prince Rudolph.

I felt so honoured to be able to pay my respects to them here.

On a lighter note, I did find it strangely amusing that the German word for ‘died’ is essentially ‘defunct’.

Headed back toward my apartment here in Vienna…

What a truly delightful, extraordinary, and magical day!

Time to rest up for a while and then I may head back out for a glass or two of vino…

~ Bella

Fiaker stables and carriage ride through Vienna

What a marvellous morning! Renee, Bethany, and I started at the Fiaker stables – the Fiaker are the Viennese horse-drawn carriages…

Marco took us into the stables and we were able to get up close and personal with the horses…

The police on the intersection above were doing a roaring trade……..

Heavenly… a Victorian-era glove shop……. bliss!

These are Roman ruins…

Then off for lunch…

A magical way to spend a morning in Vienna!

~ Bella

Road trip: Romania to Austria via Hungary

Time to depart…

Poor Bethany – at one point there was a luggage avalanche, but we saved her just in time… 🙂

My Romanian friend and driver, Adrian.

We were travelling through the Carpathian Mountains and then Transylvania on what was originally a road built by the Romans…

This fort dates to just after the time of Christ…

…and into the beautiful village of Sibu…

On our way to the Red Ravine, this is the direction the GPS wanted to take us…

We bought some local honey…

…and after crossing the border from Romania to Hungary…

…we eventually arrived at our way-stop, Mako Hungary…

Meanwhile, back in Scotland, there is construction happening!

Bethany decided to sample something that looked good on the menu…………………….

…and does anyone know what “pork virgin” is???

…and crossing from Hungary to Austria…

No, this is not an alien invasion (although it looked like it!) – they are wind turbines – hundreds of them!

…and safely arrived in glorious Vienna…

…where of course one needs to have schnitzel!

Bethany and Renee looked stunning when they went off to see Swan Lake at the Vienna Opera House…

…and with horses clop, clop, clopping past my window, this was the perfect end to a wonderful trip.

~ Bella

The abandoned casino on the Black Sea shore of Constanta, Romania

It was a bright, shiny, sunny day as we headed for Constanta on the Black Sea coast of Romania…

…over the River Danube…

…complete with a monument to the nuclear power plants and atomic energy…

These are fascinating – a Romania design to protect the shore…

…and the purpose of our visit – the now abandoned Constant Casino, originally built in 1880 – and even used as a hospital during WWI.

If you look back to the Peles Castle post, you can find reference to Carmen Sylva and the incredibly sad story…

These two were part of a film crew for Romania’s national television network – they interviewed us, and we ended up on the nationally-broadcast evening news…

After exploring more of Constanta, we stopped for lunch…

…and then off to the port to collect a wind turbine Adrian had ordered from China…

Yes, this building was our destination!

…complete with a dead bird in the tree!

…but thankfully, we survived, unlike the bird, and were then on our way back toward Bucharest…

…going past literally thousands and thousands of cars that apparently are destined for absolutely nowhere…………

…and back safe and sound…

~ Bella

Snagov Monastery, Romania

Our next destination is Snagov Monastery, located on an island at the northern end of Snagov Lake…

…but first a short detour to another monastery…

…and a bite of lunch…

This is my friend, Adrian…

…and it’s a good thing Adrian knew where he was going – finding this place was quite the adventure!

There has been a church on this island since at least the 11th century, when Mircea cel Bătrân first built a wooden structure, with the monastery being added in the late 14th century during the reign of King Dan I (1383–1386).

The banks of the lake are fully of amazing houses belonging to what the Romanian’s refer to as “new money”.

The remains of the prison (behind the present-day church) can still be seen.

…and time to head back to the hotel, for tomorrow is another day of exploring…

~ Bella

Peles Castle, Romania

Leaving Bucharest early in the morning, we head up into the Carpathian Mountains on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, in search of Peles Castle – built between 1873 and 1914 for the German King Carol I of Romania.

Btw, although Romania is the second poorest country in Europe after Bulgaria, it sells more Ferrari cars than anywhere else in Europe…

Because of its own power plant, Peles Castle was the first electrified castle in Europe…

The glass ceiling was able to be opened and closed thanks to an electric motor…

This grate in the floor is for the palace’s central heating that was installed in 1883…

This photo is of King Carol’s wife and child. When the baby died, Queen Elisabeth of Romania began writing children’s stories to help ease her grief – she wrote under the pseudonym of Carmen Sylva.

Behind this bookcase is a secret entrance/exit that King Carol used frequently when he wanted to escape visitors…

The castle even had an electric lift…

…and off to our next destination…

Old Town Bucharest, Romania

It has been a fascinating week here in Old Town Bucharest… There were meetings of the EU Foreign Ministers being held here and most of the delegates and their entourage were staying in my hotel – needless to say, the place has been crawling with secret service! Thankfully, there is now only a handful remaining as most of the delegates left this morning – as I step outside the hotel front door, you can see one secret service man in black wearing a flack jacket on the left talking on a phone…

Romania is full of contrasts -primarily the glorious old buildings that have been preserved, and those that have not…

~ Bella

Day trip to rock-hewn monastery in Bulgaria

The day was cloudy, foggy, damp, and quite dreich (Scottish word) when with my driver Elisei, I set out in search of Bulgaria – as one does!

Bucharest itself – particularly the Old Town – is quite lovely, but on our way our of town, Elisei advised that we were going through a part of town that was very rough, he told me to promise not to go there myself – and apparently at night even the police are reluctant to venture…

…and with minimal English he simply described this place as “wrong”. Oh dear…

Along the way there were lots of abandoned gas stations…

…and in case you are wondering, this IS the major road!

…arriving at the border crossing between Romania and Bulgaria, just before we cross the River Danube from one to the other…

…and what looks like a strange glow at the end of the bridge is simply the fog… it looked amazing!

Yes, again, this is the major road!!!

…still the main road……..

Not exactly an encouraging sign… but interesting it is in English!

…and like magic as we approached our first destination, the fog totally vanished!

We were going to visit the rock-hewn church, however upon seeing how many stairs there were… and no, this isn’t all of them…

Look up – that will give you an idea of how many there are… we decided to give this one a miss and head to our next destination – another rock hewn monastery…

…and just as strangely as the fog disappeared, it reappeared…

…and – hey presto – just as we approach our next destination, the fog vanishes!

What I found extra-fascinating is that this is still an active monastery! We encountered a monk – a man in his forties with a long dark brown beard – and he and Elisei chatted, but out of respect, I did not photograph him.

Elisei took my camera and climbed the stairs to the chapels to take some photos for me while I remained below…

…and while I waited, a kitten came over, purred, jumped up on the seat, stepped into my bag, and promptly made himself comfortable!!! He was sooooo cute!!!

After asking him several times to relocate, and giving him gentle nudges, Elisei decided it was time for more deliberate action…

…however kitten had decided he was going with us!

…and he was not impressed when we wouldn’t take him……… 🙁

…and just as we are preparing to leave, the fog rolls back in…………….. Twilight Zone!!!

Oooooooooooodles of Romania houses have seats in front of their fence – to sit and chat with the neighbours – seriously!

…and back to the hotel – and this reminds me – this cab driver has a sign on his door displaying the tariff of 3.50… Here in Romania, be wary of taxi drivers! The tariff they are supposed to charge is 1.99 – and not only will you have to pay the inflated amount if you get into this taxi or others like it (that have all types of amounts advertised) – but the drivers will quickly turn off the meter when you arrive, and if you haven’t paid attention to the total, you will often end up paying an exorbitant amount! No, I didn’t learn this from experience, a friend here educated me…

…and now safe and sound back in my lovely hotel… and just in time to get to work…

~ Bella