Snowy White Horses in Vienna

I looked out of the window this morning and expected to see snow – but everything was still green where I live but it still brought back memories of the next beautiful city, on my journey down the river Danube,  Vienna.

The evening before our arrival into Vienna, Karla, our excellent  Tour Manager, asked if anyone was interested in visiting the Spanish Riding School in Vienna the next day ! Yes of course it is something I have always wanted to see – I couldn`t believe my ears as I thought the only way to see these beautiful Lipizzan Horses was to be in Vienna for an evening show. Karla said she couldn`t promise but she was hopeful we would be able to see morning exercise.

Our ship docked early into Vienna and we were on our way to the city centre by 8.30. It is a lovely city and the coach took us on a tour past some of the buildings and historical sites before dropping us near to the the famous Spanish Riding School. The Winter Riding School is situated  in the Hofburg , strangely, right in the city centre. The stable are as near to a horses 5 star hotel that you can get, one fellow traveller said he had visited the stables before and the only thing they didn’t have was gold plated buckets to drink their water out of!

The horses are all born black and gradually change colour, through grey and dapple grey, until they become pure white. They are all stallions and there is always a pure black stallion in the stables for good luck ( he must be the odd one out! ) The foals are born at the Piber Stud in the Austrian mountains and carefully reared and looked after until they are brought to Vienna, where their training will go on for 6 – 8 years, ideally with the same rider staying with them through for the next 20 years !

To visit the Spanish School is a must for anyone who goes to Vienna. Morning Excursive is from 10am to around 12noon and costs 14 euros, you sit in the indoor riding school and can stay as long as you want. The horses and riders come in in teams of four at a time , changing every half hour, as they practise to perfection the dressage movements of their spectacular show or ” White Ballet”. You will also see young horses being trained to eventually become stars of the show themselves. It is really lovely to watch, and there are lots of love treats, and patting going on between horse and rider.

You can also have a guided tour of the stables too but, as this is always in the afternoon, we didn’t have time to stay, unfortunately. Cameras are not allowed but – well by the time I found out it was too late!

I could have stayed all day just watching these beautiful animals but we had to make our way back through thos lovely city to Emerald Star. Mind you we did see some other horses too! Oh look – there`s that Leprechaun again !

We wandered back to the coach, through lovely Vienna and back for an early buffet dinner as we also had a concert to attend that evening. You cannot possible visit Vienna and not listen to music. The “Sound of Vienna”  was founded in 1999 to carry the fame of Viennese music to the wider world. Its highlight concert is the music Strauss and Mozart which take place in the Kursalon Wien Palace in Vienna`s City Park, where the famous golden Strauss statue is located The evening concert is a must for music lovers and another not to be missed event in any visit to Vienna.

It had been a long day and my lovely comfy bed was beckoning, and tomorrow was another day with Bratislava beckoning !