Eisenstadt (9th June 2014)

Took a short day trip to Burgenland from Wien just to make it a point to visit as many state capitals in Austria as possible.

While not exactly a popular tourist destination, Eisenstadt is still known for being the hometown of Joseph Haydn. Haydn was regarded as the "Father of the String Quartets" and was a good friend of Austria's darling, Mozart and a teacher to Ludwig Van Beethoven. His most popular piece was the Serenade String Quartet in F Major. He spent most of his time as the court musician for the Esterházy family who lived within the Esterházy Palace in this album cover.

Not enough to have a full day trip here because it's a really really tiny little city at just under 43 km² but it was still nice to just pop in to have a look at someplace different in Austria. And of course, unlike Vienna, the people here were much more friendly.

Dom St. Martin in Eisenstadt (Eisenstadt Cathedral) is known for hosting concerts during the annual Haydn Festival. It is among one of the most stand-out structures in Eisenstadt.

Relaxing by the Leopoldine pond in the Palace Park just behind the Esterházy Palace. The entire park is about 50 hectares huge. Seen behind is the circular Leopoldine Temple with Egyptian columns built in 1806.

Taking a stroll in a quite park with hardly anyone around is a good thing because you get to enjoy all the greenery all on your own. The blazing hot sun made it less comfortable though. Here's the Orangery, which is further into the park from where the Leopoldine pond is.

Cloudless days are never a good thing, because you get the sun shining on you in all of its glare. Not so kind on the skin, I'm afraid, but it manages to give some of these structures a nice little glare. The Bergkirche, which houses Haydn's tomb gets that full glare here but with a lighter touch of yellow on the exterior, it doesn't glow as much.

The interior ceiling of the Bergkirche probably isn't as grand as the much larger cathedrals and churches you'll find.

Can't say that I've not been here then. With the Esterházy Palace under the crazy sun.

The same Esterházy Palace, only this time from a different angle where there are some flags from neighbouring EU nations.

If you thought there was nothing special about Mozart's house in Salzburg, you'll be even more surprised at how ordinary Haydn's home looks. It wasn't just this, of course. It had a nice little garden, but seriously, it's small...

Full view of the Esterházy Palace from the front. And that was it, or at least that's what I covered while I was in little Eisenstadt.

Had a simple lunch with some extra doses of ice cream to cool myself down and then headed back to Vienna before the homeward bound train back to Graz in the evening.