Walking in Vienna in 1 day? It's totally possible!

One day in September, I decided that I had to take matters into my own hands and overcome my fear of flying. My desire to travel and explore the world is much greater, and for that I MUST redefine this fear!

Without giving it much thought, I started looking at different options for day trips by plane from Sofia airport ... well, unfortunately the options are quite few and I didn't have much choice if I didn't want to spend the night at the particular place. I chose the capital of Austria. Austrian Airlines and Ryanair travel to Vienna and there are 4-5 flights per day, making it possible and convenient to travel to this destination without an overnight stay.

It's good to know that if you buy round-trip flight tickets in less than 24 hours, airlines charge additional fees. In this regard, I recommend buying 2 separate one-way tickets, rather than one round trip, which will be more expensive. In my case, I chose to travel with 2 different airlines as there was a convenient Ryan Air flight one way which was significantly cheaper and I bought 2 one way tickets anyway.

I woke up worried on the day in question, already in the car my heart started pounding, but as soon as I entered the Sofia airport, I felt a rush of happiness. I like the atmosphere of the airports very much, I also like watching the planes on the runway.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the modern look of the new free shop and other renovated spaces I saw at our airport. Hopefully we will soon live to see Terminal 3, which has been talked about for so long. The new concessionaires seem very ambitious, hope they really change the airport for the better!

Indeed, as soon as I entered the airport and saw the view of the runways, I was excited about what was to come! I even forgot the fear at times!

On boarding I was afraid to photograph the plane because of some superstitions in my head, but after we landed and my anxiety passed, I decided to photograph the plane. The flight was operated by Lauda, ​​but whether that company inherited the planes from the bankrupt Fly Niki owned by Formula One driver Niki Lauda, ​​I'm not sure.

It was time for the long-awaited walk around Vienna! The next flight was about 12 hours away and I could at least stop thinking about the fear for a while and enjoy the day!

I knew I had to take the S7 train to the Wien Mitte stop, but at the stop I got confused or rather didn't differentiate between Vienna Central Station and Wien Mitte and made a mistake but didn't waste much time.

I got on a direct train to Vienna Central Station, but when I got off and started the navigation, I realized that Central Station and Wien Mitte were 2 different stations, but I immediately took the subway and within minutes I was at the right one. As I was riding, I realized that the center of Vienna is very small because I was passing stops that I had marked for walking and the distances seemed very small to me.

The Wien Mitte stop confused me a bit. 2 buildings opposite each other with the same name and they have trains, metro, mall, food section and even a cinema, but I found what I needed. Wien Mitte is a convenient starting point for a walking tour of Vienna. You can quickly reach the very heart of the city - Stefansdom.

I had chosen Hundertwasser's home as my first stop, as I had not visited this building on my first visit to the city. It is about a 15-minute walk from Wien Mitte.

The building designed by the artist Hundertwasser is interesting and it was full of tourists, but I can't say that it is a must-stop in the city.

Minutes from the Hunderwasser is also a tram 1 stop, which you should remember if you are going to explore Vienna! The tram passes near almost all the main sights of the city - Belvedere, Karlsplatz, Opera, Stefansplatz, Parliament, City Hall, University, Wotifkirche, Hundertwasser. If you can walk more, you will easily go around all these points on foot. At the end of the story, I will tell you how many steps I took during those 12 hours in Vienna.

Here from the tram, although not very clearly, I managed to photograph the Wotifkirche, which I remembered from my first visit to the city.

The Wotifkirche is one of Vienna's iconic churches in an incredible neo-Gothic style. Interestingly, it was built by Ferdinand Maximilian after the assassination attempt on his brother Emperor Franz Joseph in 1853.

Traveling on tram 1, I also managed to take a picture from afar of the City Hall in the city, whose building is one of the most impressive. It was built in 1883 and its architect was the famous Friedrich john Schmidt, who mixed neo-gothic and baroque styles to make this building so distinctive. It looks a lot like a Harry Potter building to me, and that's what I've always associated it with.

The park in front of the town hall is usually a place for various events. One of the city's most emblematic Christmas markets opens there every year, which was already prepared and I guess is already open to visitors. During the coldest months, it is replaced by a large ice rink.

Right next to the town hall is the huge Parliament building. This building is hard to capture in one photo. One feels insignificant next to him. The construction of the building lasted a long time and was finalized around 1910. The style in which it was built is called historicism and the purpose of its construction was to remind Greece in its role as the "cradle of democracy".

My tram 1 ride ended at the gates of the Belvedere Palace, which usually captivates visitors with its amazing gardens, but unfortunately we cannot expect a colorful and beautiful garden in the month of November in these latitudes.

Belvedere is a baroque palace, built at the beginning of the 18th century, which served as the summer residence of one of the great generals, Prince Eugene of Savoy. After his death, the Belvedere Palace belonged to Maria Theresa.

Today, the two buildings are home to the Austrian Gallery, which has a rich collection of works by the inimitable Gustav Klimt and many other important Austrian artists. It's certainly worth a visit inside, but there was no way I'd be standing in the huge queue given my short stay.

Exiting the lower side of the Belvedere Palace, after a few steps I found myself at the Soviet War Memorial, which I had visited 12-13 years ago, when I was sad that I could not visit the Belvedere, but I had not informed myself enough to know that they were next to each other.

The monument to the heroes of the Red Army was opened in 1945 and is located on Schwarzenbergplatz and is a semi-circular colonnade made of white marble.

A very serious walk through the most central streets of Vienna followed. I did not miss the central shopping street Kertnerstrasse, which took me to the heart of the city - Stefansdom.

A Christmas market had already opened on the square in front of the Stefansdom, and on Saturday afternoon it was more than an incredible madhouse. The crowd of people was staggeringly large. I'm not a fan of Christmas markets, but congratulations that many European capitals have created a "product" that attracts millions of tourists every year at a time when it's cold and fewer people would consider traveling abroad.

I looked around the stalls quickly but didn't see anything that caught my attention. Christmas markets are certainly not my thing.

On one of the many shopping streets near the Stefansdom, there is also the incredible "Holy Trinity" column, which is a very interesting looking monument erected in memory of the harvests of the plague epidemic.

All else I managed to see in Vienna that day was shops, shops, shops and more shops. From cheap, to medium expensive and reaching a whole street with the most luxurious brands in the world.

I was stunned by 8 floors of stores with all kinds of global brands, but I was just going in and out. The madhouse was amazing, and it was more important for me to walk around.

The window displays of the places selling candy and other sweet items were amazing.

Dubai chocolate seems to be very trendy here too. Apart from the numerous signs of sweet delights, I also came across a place offering a "Dubai Pancake" where I tried a Chimney. People can be very inventive when a product goes viral.

I know that many of you will say that important sights in Vienna are the Schönbrunn Palace and the Zoo, but I have already visited them, and I thought they required too much time, which I did not have. In one day one can either do a walk like mine or go to Schonbrunn and the zoo, but it is difficult to combine both.

My walk started a little after 10 am and by 4 pm I was barely walking ... I decided it was better to spend a few hours at the airport because I had no plans to visit any more places and it was already dark outside.

Arriving at the airport and sitting in a comfortable chair in Terminal 3 literally in a blur, I realized that I had walked over 25km. But I was satisfied! I faced my fear of flying and made a difference on a Saturday in November.

Shortly before landing in Sofia, I managed to take this photo. Well, that's when I realized that gritting my teeth and getting on a plane was worth it!

The best thing about this trip was that although I didn't overcome my fear of flying...it's clear that it won't happen just once, a few days later I'm elated and already in the process of choosing a destination for the next such plane trip with the aim of not only dealing with the fear, but also touching the winter discounts in one of the big European outlets.

Would you be interested in me telling you about such a walk, or would a shopping trip not be your choice?