On another beautiful sunny day, we walked into the main part of the city and came across a cafe selling all sorts of beautiful cakes. Sacher torte, the traditional Austrian chocolate and apricot cake, was definitely on the cards, even if it was a Works Cup themed version. Angus chose a cheesecake with strawberry sauce, Ella a raspberry jelly cake and Clint a layered chocolate mousse cake. They were all delicious!
Fueled by cake, we wandered the Naschmarkt and bought some falafel, dip, cured wild boar and venison salami for our lunch. There were so many other delicious cheeses, bread, meat, fish, fruit and vegetables we could have tried.
The train ride to Burg Liechtenstein took about 20 minutes and we then walked about 3km to get there. As we came through the forest, what a sight there was. Rising above the trees was the tower of the castle.
Built in the early 1100's, the chapel was built first and then the remaining castle around it. Originally it was built in the Romanesque style and was the main residence of the Liechtenstein dynasty until 1295. Interestingly, we learned that Liechtenstein means 'of light-coloured stone' and the stone of this castle gave the noble family their historical name.
Over 500 years there were 3 attacks on the castle, the last about 350 years ago by the King of Hungary. The most recent remodeling was 200 years ago, when the upper level, roof and wooden floors were rebuilt. Some of these pieces came from the current owners other palaces in Venice and other parts of Europe!
Ella and Angus were quite enthralled by the castle and loved walking around in a building that was so old.
They were also quite excited by the ice creams they has afterwards. A watermelon flavoured one for Ella and a bubblegum flavoured 'bum bum' for Angus! Angus assumed we wouldn't let him buy something with clearly such a rude name and had already chosen his other option. But we saw the fun in the name and encouraged him to buy it, since we were never likely to see it back in Australia.
After another long walk back to the station, we caught the train back to Vienna city. We had a short walk through the gardens of the Belvedere Palace before heading home.
I love cooking with local ingredients, so made a delicious pasta with chanterelle mushrooms and the cured wild boar we'd bought at the market.
After just over 20km of walking, we were ready for an early night!
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