Vienna, a place I have wanted to visit for a long time, and once planned, had to postpone twice because of the pandemic.
It was worth the wait, a magnificent metropolis, resplendent with its imperial palaces, baroque architecture, monuments, gardens and fountains, beautiful river and historic centre which is a UNESCO world heritage site.
So where to start? How do you 'walk' a city like this without missing anything?
Well I suppose that the answer is that you can't, or rather you shouldn't try to, unless you have planned to stay for a couple of weeks and have a lot of money - Vienna is not a cheap place to be a tourist.
Our apartment was a half hour walk from the historic centre, a good daily warm-up, and a 72hr metro pass gave us the freedom to go further afield. We chose two or three places to visit each day, exploring them at our leisure and leaving time each day for cafes, parks and public gardens, all an important part of the 'Wien' experience.
The Schonnbrun Summer Palace is a metro ride from the centre and well worth a visit. We paid for the short guided tour of the Imperial Palace, giving us an appreciation of the history and architecture of the 'schloss' as well as a peep into the lives of the royal families that have lived there since the 17th century. For me though, a greater pleasure was to be gained from wandering around the formal gardens and parkland, visiting the aptly named 'Gloriette' from where you can look back down across the gardens to the Palace, and finding the almost hidden fountains and statues, rose gardens and tunnels of Wisteria.
There are other attractions that we opted out of (all additional costs to the entrance ticket), an extended tour of the palace, the acclaimed Zoo, Maze, Palm House and Desert Experience amongst them. However most of the park and gardens are open to the public at no cost and worth exploring, and coffee and cake in the cafe should not be missed.
Stephansdom (St Stephens Cathedral) is located in the historic Centre of Vienna. It appears quite suddenly as you emerge from the narrow surrounding streets and is hemmed in by shops, bars and cafes, making its spire and towers seem even more impressive. It was not always this way, as the original church was believed to be built in an open field outside the City walls with St Stephens being built on the site of two previous churches dating back to the 12th century.
Todays cathedral is a result of major reconstruction and extension over around 300years, and the only part of the original church that can be seen is the romanesque 'Giant's Door' which is the main entrance.
Stephansdom has two towers, both of which are open to the public and have viewing platfirms giving views cross the city. The massive South Tower is its highest point and dominates the city skyline. Until the 1950s it served as an observation post for the city watchmen whose command post can still be seen. However, to see the post, and to visit the viewpoint, you must climb 363 steps up a dizzying spiral staircase - a level of fitness and a head for heights is required, but worth it for the views of the roof with its double eagle imperial emblem designed into the colourful roof tiles, and the 360 degree panorama of the city.
The North Tower was originally designed to mirror the South Tower but the plan proved to be too ambitious and and it was capped at only half the height, but as it is accessed via a lift it is still worth a visit.
The next day, which we had planned in advance, we had timed slots for visits to the Spanish Riding School and a tour of the Vienna Opera House.
The Spanish Riding School was first and we needed to set off on foot early to walk into the centre as our slot was 10am.
The entrance as you approach from FranzJoseph1 is very grand; the curved concave facade of the Hofberg Palace with its baroque grandeur, central fountain and horses and carriages lined up in front. The interior of the winter indoor training school is equally impressive, with similar baroque design, gold and grey accents and several grand crystal chandeliers. We were seated in a gallery above the large oval training paddock where we were able to watch as the horses were put through their rehearsals, practising their graceful movements accompanied by beautiful Venetian music. It was quite mesmerising to watch and made me want to watch one of the revered performances where these magnificent creatures perform their balletic display.
With a few hours to spare, we wandered around the Imperial buildings in the historic centre, coming across the Albertina Museum, Hofburg Imperial Palace, Art History museum, Concert Hall and Natural History Museum to name but a few, and also taking in the street scenes from a cafe in the cathedral square.
In good time, we made our way to the Wien Staatoper for our timed tour and joined the queue for our group. I don't usually like guided tours, preferring instead to wander at my own pace, but this one was really good. The guide took us into the auditorium and state rooms showing us the stage area and giving lots of interesting information about the repertoire (as a repertoire theatre, a different performance every is given every night), costumes, scenery and performers as well as the history of the iconic building and its uses including the Vienna ballet. He also told us about the acclaimed Annual Balls, where the stage and auditorium are converted into a huge ballroom where local venetian people can attend a grand ball - very expensive events to attend, but create a huge amount of interest and revenue to support the maintenance and running of the building.
After our highly planned tours of the Riding School and Opera House, we decided to spend a day walking without a plan and set off in the direction of the River Danube; the main sights of Vienna are not actually based near the river, but a few kilometers away, and we wanted to see what the riverside looked like. After almost an hour walking through the more modern, urban outskirts, we crossed first the 'new' stretch of the Danube, (the Vienese people have constantly battled with the course of the river, which used to regularly flood the medieval city) and then the 'old' which is now dammed. Both are wide, around 100metres, and huge bridges span them providing access for road vehicles, trains, cyclists and pedestrians. The water changes colour with the sky, and the day we crossed was a dusky jade in the morning changing to a turquoise blue on the return journey when the clouds had cleared.
For a while, whilst walking, we had been able to see a tall structure rising from the trees. Once across the river, we crossed the park in its direction until we arrived at its base. We had discovered the Danube Tower, or 'Donauturm', the tallest structure in Vienna at 252metres. We learned that it had been built in the 1960s in preparation for the Viennese international horticulture show, and since then has become a popular tourist attraction with its high speed elevator, 360 degree lookout point, giving spectacular views of the Danube and Vienna beyond, and rotating cafe and restaurant. Pleased with our find, we spent an hour admiring the views, taking photographs and having afternoon tea in the cafe, before making our way back down and across the park to the metro, which had us back in the city in 10minutes.
From there we made our way to the Art History Museum spending a few hours wandering around the galleries displaying works and collections from the Ancient Egyptians through to modern times and admiring the festive palatial architecture of the building with its magnificent staircases and octagonal dome. It would take too long to list its content, being one of the finest art museums in the world, but I think it would be fair to say that it has something for everyone, and we particularly enjoyed the large çollection of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and finding some works by Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
In contrast, we also visited the Kunst Haus
Museum to see an exhibition by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, an Austrian visual artist and architect who was also passionate about environmental protection.
Vienna does have something for everyone. This almost felt like a scouting trip: next time we come we will have planned a few things in advance and stay a bit longer, but four days was definitely long enough to give us a good flavour of the place.
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