Decided to go east to Vienna which was on the old Orient Express routes, even though we’ve had to give up on the idea of going as far as Istanbul [long story, but mainly due to lack of train connections in Greece]. It will be a long day and we set an early alarm to be out in the square by 0645, Saturday 21 March.
Too early for our complimentary breakfast at la Finisterrare we walked across Piazza Santa Croce to wait for a taxi. One arrived almost instantly and it was a very quick run to the station with a friendly driver at only €15 this time. We enjoyed coffee and croissants at a fine Art Deco cafe on the platform concourse waiting for the train.
Left Florence at 0836 arrived Vienna 1940 with two changes. We were 10 minutes late into Verona at 1015 but had good time for the connection onto an Austrian Railjet to Innsbruck arriving at 1430 for another change to Vienna. Passed through spectacular scenery along the way, including the Brenner Pass and Innsbruck. Both Austrian trains were pretty crowded, quite a few people with ski gear. Pleased we paid for reserved seats in Business class, all very spacious and comfortable. Stewards served food and drinks (not complimentary but reasonably priced) to order. The beer was served in glasses!
Arrived late in a residential district not close to the station and decided to splash out €35 on a fixed price taxi as it was too late to familiarise ourselves with the Vienna public transport system! No grocery stores are open but we find an Albanian bar opposite – are you serving food? Yes! The landlord doesn’t speak much English (our German is very basic) but he showed us pictures of gulasch, schnitzel and sauerkraut, offering potatoes or salad as accompaniament. We went for the gulasch and schnitzel with salad. It was excellent, washed down with local wine. As we were finishing, a motley crew of local farmers with their ‘guide’ arrived on a stag ‘do’. Starting at 0900 they have a small beer in every one of Vienna’s 23 districts – they had three more to go and were most insistent we should join them, plying us with a share of