In May 1997 we spent a two-week vacation, its first half we passed in Hungary near the Lake Balaton and the second half we spent at the Neusiedler See (=Lake) in Austria. We had liked the stay in Hévíz and the trip to Budapest very well and now planned the last part of our journey in Austria.
After the border crossing from Hungary to Austria at the town of Pamhagen we reaching our pre-booked pension at Neusiedl am See (= Neusiedel at the lake). Unfortunately it did not corresponded to the pictures in the folder and we were very much disappointed. Here should we spend thus our last vacation week?
Unfortunately the weather had worsened in the last days enormously, it often rained and was for the end of of May quite cold. Neusiedl should be according to the travel guide
the most popular resort at the lake, we however noticed nothing of it, perhaps this was because of our travel time, perhaps also of the bad weather. Except for the city center there are not many objects of interest in the small town. The main place forms the center, worth seeing is otherwise only the Tabor ruin on a hill over the city.
Completely different than we had expected was the Neusiedler See itself. This steppe lake in the middle of Europe is about 36 km long and usually only 1.70 m deep and surrounded by up to 5 km broad reed belts. This has the consequence that on can only in few places reach the water. In Neusiedl
one managed this with a dam, which crosses the reed belt and ends in a "seaside resort", in which because of bad weather during our
stay nothing was going on. Being worth value was however the attendance in the nearby sea-museum, in which the singular
animal world of the lake is presented.
Better than Neusiedl the village Illmitz actually pleased me, with 118 m over the sea level the most deeply place of Austria. It lays directly next to the the protected area Neusiedler See, has a beautiful local centre and at the outskirts the reconstruction of an old well and eed huts. There is also the reed belt with a bathing beach, which is build even into the lake as with Neusiedl. Illmitz and in addition the northern places Podersdorf and Gols
lie in the middle of the wine country "Burgenland".
On one day, when the weather had again improved, we went to the west side of the lake. We visited Eisenstadt, the "capital of the Burgenland and with approx.. 11,000 inhabitants the largest city around. The visit was worth while! The visit was particularly interesting in the castle Esterházy, the most important object of interest of the city and one of the most beautiful
baroque castles of Austria. After our disappointing attendance in the Hungarian counterpart castle Esterházy in Fertöd we could admire here, how such a castle in the completely renovated condition looks! The castle, which is now on the Austrian side, was begun in 1764, i.e. one year later than the castle in Fertöd. Not only the interieur was absolutely worth seeing, also the enormous garden was worth the attendance!
Besides castle Esterházy in Eisenstadt also the old part of town is worth seeing. Typical for the region is the plague column standing on the main place, on the main street is also the baroque city hall.
In the proximity of Eisenstadt also the inconspicuous village Schützen lies, however supraregional known was by the gourmet restaurant "Der Taubenkobel". Since we were not necessarily content with the meals in Neusiedl, we went to the Taubenkobel several times with its outstanding quality of meals. Also we spent the evening of my birthday at the end of of May in this beautiful restaurant.
We used one day to a excursion over the border to Sopron in Hungary. Sopron is at of the southern end of Neusiedler See and is one of the cities most worth seeing of Hungary. The old part of town was renovated to a large extent and has an almost completely medieval and baroque ensemble. Besides it is closed for the motor traffic, so that one can visit unhindered. Here business was particularly adjusted to Austrian customers. Many inscriptions were in German and at each corner recruited a Hungarian dentist with favorable artificial dentures Austrian and perhaps also German customers.
In Sopron the still from Roman time coming firetower is particularly worth seeing. Center of the city center is the Fö tér with plague column, beautiful historical houses and the "goat church".
Since Vienna is only approx.. 50 km far away from Neusiedler See we decided to visit the capital of Austria. On that search for a multi-storey car park we got a first impression of the objects of interest of the city, we drove past directly past the Prater entertainment park with its famous ferris wheel.
To foot we had then reached fast the center of the old part of town with the landmark Stephan's cathedral, which impressed us with its multicolored roof and the monumental south tower. In the pedestrian precinct around the cathedral in radiating sunshine was a lot of business, all street café were fully occupied. In order to get a "real" impression of Vienna, we rented a Fiaker (horse drawn carriage) and drove around.
After the half hour tour we continued then by foot. We visited the Hofburg, an enormous building complex with many wings and occupying among other things the Spanish Riding school, the national library and the vault. Also the Austrian Federal President has here his
seat. We continued to go over the Heldenplatz to the pedestrian precinct Kärtner Straße. On the Graben, likewise pedestrian
precinct, we reached then the well-known plague column, which served many other columns in Austria and the former K&K monarchy as model.
After we had recovered in one the street cafés, we decided to visit castle Schönbrunn at the outskirts of town.
Unfortunately it was for a visit of the interiors of the 1695 built castle already too late. Thus we were content with an extensive walk by the enormous park put on in the French style. From here we had also free view of the monumental castle. Castle Schönbrunn does not rank in vain among the absolute Top highlights of Vienna and Europe! At the time of our visit it adiated in the evening sun, painted in the Habsburger yellow - an absolute object of interest!
Unfortunately the time progressed fast. After a very moderate dinner in a restaurant lain in direct proximity we made ourselves again on the way back to Neusiedl.
A further day of our holidays we used for a daily trip to Bratislava not very far from Neusiedler See (in Austrian times called Preßburg), today in the Slowak Republic.
Conclusion of our Austria vacation: Unfortunately the stay at the Neusiedler See disappointed us altogether. Perhaps the bad weather and the bad accommodation played also a role, but we had imagined the area somehow differently. Particularly unfortunate is that one nearly nowherer can reach the lake, which is grown with reed ever more. A compensation for this were the beautiful trips to Vienna and Bratislava, which I would repeat at any time.
