Monday 24th November 2025

Museum Quarter : Spittleburg Market : Christkindlmarkt, Rathausplatz : Light of Creation Show, Voitive Church : Schönbrunn Palace

Today we travel to Vienna as we have a mid morning flight home from there tomorrow. But we have a full day of our holiday left and we intend to make the most of it.

The bus journey between the two capitals was now becoming a familiar route for us.  Once in Vienna we made our way directly to our accommodation. The hotel was part of a chain of Brazilian themed hotels.

The guy that checked us in was extremely friendly and cheerful. He informed us that all the staff were Brazilian and that the hotel had ‘Brazilian Vibes’.

While doing the paperwork, he noticed that Dave had celebrated his birthday a couple of days previously and gave us a couple of vouchers for free cocktails in the hotel’s bar.  He, of course, recommended the Brazilian cocktail Caipirinha.

The shower cubicle depicts a rainforest with greenery, toucans and other birdlife indigenous to Brazil. The room has a swing chair made from rope hanging from the ceiling.

While it is all lovely, we have only a few hours left which we wish to spend in the city.  So, we left our bags in the room and set off.

After a quick wander around Prater Park, we continued to the Museum Quarter.

 

 

 

 

 

The quarter is another impressive architectural area. The National History Museum stands at one side of the huge  Maria-Theresien-Platz . The square has gardens and statues. On the other side of the square is the Kunsthistorisches Museum, which is an art museum.

The two museums have thousands of visitors each day. This famous square links the Ringstrasse to the Museum Quarter.

It was already after 3pm so we decided to walk the short distance  to the Spittleburg Christmas Market.  This market is apparently one of the most popular of the city’s neighbourhood markets,

 

 

 

 

 

The market was spread out over a couple of streets.  There were a few stalls with handcrafted items, including glass vases, lamps and other products. A stall offering eastern religious products quite surprised us.  The chap was selling Tibetan bowls, prayer flags, pictures of the Hindu god Ganesha and other gods.

We stopped at a café for hot drinks. Seated next to a window, we watched the people outside browsing the various stalls or standing at a make shift bar which was selling hot mulled wine and various other drinks.

As we headed towards the Christmas Market at the Rathausplatz we passed the Austrian Parliament Building.

The grand building was illuminated making it appear even more spectacular.

 

The Christmas scene at the  Rathauzplatz  that greeted us was the  epitome of a Christmas market.  Children and adults were having fun on the ice rink, large Christmas baubles were illuminated and there was a lovely atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was early evening on a Monday so it wasn’t overcrowded and we enjoyed meandering.  We strolled along the so called ‘Nativity Walk’; different sized glass containers had various scenes from the nativity in them.   Pressing a button, the scene illuminated  and music played too. There was also a life size nativity scene.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving the Christmas market, we walked the short distance to the Voitive Church. This  Neo-Gothic style building has a duo of steeples, both reaching almost 99 metres.

We had booked tickets for a 30 minute ‘immersive light show’ entitled ‘Light of Creation”.  I had read excellent reviews about the show which was inspired by the world’s oldest tale – Genesis. The show tells the story of the creation of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The show set against the striking background of this religious building’s interior was mind blowing! Synchronising with classical music, the church was illuminated.

Lights portraying lava trickled down the huge stone columns. Fish, dolphins and manta rays swam in an ocean scene; this was digitally projected onto either the church’s ceiling or other parts of its interior.

A migration of animals traversed the ceiling; leopards appeared standing on ledges on the huge stone pillars.

The show is a kaleidoscope of constantly changing patterns and colours depicting the biblical story of the creation of the world.

There were lots of wows from the audience who were utterly engrossed, albeit suffering with a little neck ache.  We had paid a couple of Euros extra for better seats towards the rear of the church.  This gave us a wonderful view of the whole spectacular show.

This show is definitely one of the top highlights of our celebration week and that is saying something!

Using the metro, we made our way to the Schönbrunn Palace.  This awe inspiring building with sprawling gardens was once the summer palace of the Hapsburg Dynasty.  Now, owned by the state; it is open to the public.

We had intended to walk around the ‘Imperial Light show’ and also visit the Christmas market.  An American lady in front of us at the entrance to the light show asked for the price for a family of four, when the employee told her, she replied “No, Sir, that is not the price advertised on the internet”.  Her and her family turned around and walked away.

I had read that it was free so we were surprised to hear the price, we too walked away.  Arriving only an hour before the whole event closed, it would have been a rush to do the walk and visit the market, therefore it was an easy decision to make.

Following the pathway to the palace, we did see one or two of the displays; models of carriages and monarchs were brightly illuminated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The magnificent palace and huge Christmas tree were a super backdrop for the Christmas market. Once again the market wasn’t too crowded.  After a quick look at the food stalls, we chose two Austrian dishes, potatoes with blood sausage plus potatoes with pork. The cheerful young guy heated up the food in huge pans.

I had a hot cider while Dave ordered a hot chocolate with rum.  The young lady said that she was nearing the end of the huge urn of hot chocolate, so she would add extra rum to make it a full mug.  I assured her that my husband wouldn’t complain!

Many of the stall holders selling non food items looked freezing. They were approaching the end of what, no doubt, would have been a long day and there was no warmth for them from hot cooking food etc.

After a lovely wander around the stalls, absorbing the atmosphere and the wonderful backdrop to the market, we set off to the hotel.

On return to the hotel, we went to the bar to make use of our complimentary cocktail vouchers.  It made a perfect ending to an absolutely fabulous day.

Tomorrow morning, we travel home.  We have had a great time exploring both Bratislava and Vienna, ticking off another  two capitals on the Danube!

 

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