Having to travel from Switzerland to Vienna via train made it very economical to buy an interrail pass for the month of August, which allows you to take any number of trains on a single travel day, of which you can choose how mny you pay for within a certain month. We opted for a five-day pass, which left us with four journeys after our outbound one.
We started off with a weekend in Prague, which ticked off days 2 and 3. It’s quite a hefty train journey from Vienna at 4 and a half hours, but easily doable in a weekend, which is so just about the right amount of time to cover most of Prague. It’s a famously beautiful city, and although we were already a little spoilt with the regal grandeur of Vienna, its charm is a little different, less ostentatious and it does feel like going back in time at least a decade or two. We got a great sense of Kafka’s experience of the city and how it influenced his work, climbing up to the castle and visiting the museum on his life and work. We also toured the synagoges and old graveyard in the Jewish quarter, Prague played an important role in the history of Jews in this area. Czech cuisine isn’t famed for being delicate, and it’s generally very simple and quite heavy, but we made the most of it and tucked into dumplings and soup in bread bowls. We also sampled the chimney cake which you can find on almost every street, and more than justifies its popularity. The weather was absolutely scorching so we took it easy, but wandered around enough to get a good feel for the city and cover all the major sites.
Next up was a solo trip to Graz, one of Austria’s three or four major towns, and the second biggest student location after Vienna. I started the day with a climb up to the Uhrturm and the Schlossberg, meandering back down onto the other side of town and wandering through the Stadtpark, past the opera and back into the main town. Easily do-able in a day, but very pretty, especially in the old centre, and lots of cafes and bars around the university area. It felt very authentically Austrian, but without the slightly overdone touristy quality of Salzburg, and I can actually imagine people our age living there.
Our final travel day was used on a one way journey to Venice, from where I flew home. We went as a four, with Sophie and Leo tagging along with me and Francesca, and decided to end the year abroad with a bang in this utterly stunning city. It’s as beautiful in person as all the photos suggest, and I was impressed by just how aesthetic every single street is. On the first day we covered the main attractions, from San Marco square to Rialto bridge and the Grand Canal, with time on the second day to explore some of the quieter neighbourhoods and get a sense of something like normal life in the city. Two hidden gems were the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, a medieval market hall transformed into an upmarket department store, and the Alliance Francaise, which is located in an old ‘casino’ (somewhere between a brothel and an intellectual salon), and is a great chance to get inside a typical Venetian building. Both days were topped off with cheap aperol, plenty of wine and good food, and it will be a trip to remember, not just because of the sights, but because of the happy memories and fantastic company.
