Vienna: a fiaker ride

On the Wednesday evening, we headed out to the Hofburg, where we took a fiaker (a traditional horse-drawn taxi) for a city tour. Fiakers were first licensed in 1693 (the name comes from the Rue de Fiacre in Paris, where they originated), and in the second half of the 19th century there were more than 1,000 in the city. (These are the horses who took us round.)

Chloe was very taken by the little hats the horses wear; our driver told us they were called zwlischen.

It was a very comfy ride, even over the cobbled streets.

So we went through the arch into the Hofburg.
And plenty of other tourists were doing the same.


Back through the arch towards Kohlmarkt.



And then pretty much the route we’d walked, two days before.

Vienna is undergoing quite a programme of restoration, so there are cranes everywhere.



Past Mozart’s house.


And the Stephansdom.


And then finally past the Altesuhr clock again, and back to the Hofburg.