Vienna, Austria
The Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, Austria
The Imperial City
In January 0f 2017, Donna and I visited the beautiful and culturally stunning capital of Austria. Vienna is a city full huge palaces from the days of the Hapsburg Empire, museums, beautiful churches and a wonderful musical legacy of composers such as Mozart and Johann Strauss. Vienna is also within easy travel distance to other European cities such as Prague, Budapest and Bratislava. You can spend quite a few days and not be able to see it all in this city so I will go over the items we saw and what we suggest to see.
Getting to Vienna and transportation within the city
The Vienna International Airport is around 18 KM South East of the city of Vienna. There are multiple ways of getting to the city center from the Airport. You could take a 16 minute ride using the City Airport Train, the S-Bahn train, bus service, taxi or take a private transfer. We took the private transfer for around $30 a person to our hotel. The Wien HBF train station is a great way to come to Vienna from anywhere in Europe and is a around 4 hour ride from Prague and an hour ride to Bratislava, Slovakia. The train station is well connected by the subway system and buses. Within the city the transportation options are great. The Wiener Lienen U-Bahn subway is clean and easy to use to get quickly throughout the city. Day and Multi-day passes are good to have as you move through the city. There are also many above ground trams that can easily get you where you want to go. Also don’t miss out on walking the beautiful city to take in the elaborate architecture in areas such as the Karntner Strasse that goes through much of the center of the city.
The Imperial Legacy of the Hapsburgs
When in Vienna you cannot help but see the legacy of the once powerful Hapsburg family that ruled the Austrian-Hungarian Empire for years. As you will see the beautiful architecture and styles such as Baroque throughout the city in many impressive buildings. You can visit extraordinary palaces such as the Hofburg Palace and the Summer Palace called Schonbrunn Palace. You will find museums and souvenirs all over Vienna about Emperor Franz Joesph I and his beloved wife Empress Elizabeth “SiSi”. Empress Elizabeth has become a legend fr her eccentric and interesting life she led. While in Vienna visiting the Hofburg museum which includes the Hapsburg Silver collection, the SiSi Museum and the Imperial apartments is well worth the visit to see what life was like for the once powerful ruling family. The Schonbrunn Palace is another place worth visiting to see the opulence of the family and the beautiful gardens outside the palace. While we were in Vienna we also visited the Imperial Crypt under the Capuchin Monastery that has the elaborate sarcophagi of 107 Hapsburg family members that includes 12 Emperors and 18 Empresses. The Carriage Museum at Schonbrunn is also an interesting museum to visit to see the ornate carriages used by the Imperial family.
Musical Legacy of Vienna
With composers such as Mozart and Johann Strauss living most of their life in Vienna it a city you can immerse yourself in classical music. Donna and I saw three classical performances and a Ballet for pretty affordable prices (around $30-$40 for a ticket) while in Vienna. We saw a concert featuring works from Mozart and Strauss at the Orangery at Schonbrunn palace where Mozart had competed against composer Salieri (think Amadeus the movie), a concert at the Kursalon where Johann Strauss played his famous Waltz’s, and the ballet La Fille Mal Gardee at the famed Vienna Opera house. When looking for ticket at the Vienna Opera House be sure to check multiple dates because some performances can be very expensive. It is a wonderful experience to hear beautiful classical music where it was composed. We also visited one of Mozart’s homes (the last one left) in Vienna and we visited Johann Strauss’s home. The homes gave us insight on the lives of the two great composers. There are many other composers homes and museums in Vienna such as Beethoven, and Haydn.
Museums in Vienna
Vienna is a city built for the museum lover. While we were in Vienna we visited the Imperial Palace museums, the Imperial Military museum that chronicles Austria military efforts throughout history and includes the car Franz Ferdinand was killed in that started World War I, the enormous Kunsthistorisches Art Museum, the Imperial Treasury and other museums. Since we were only in Vienna three days we had limited time but you could spend weeks visiting many other museums throughout the city.
Churches and Monuments
Vienna, like many cities in Europe, has beautiful cathedrals and monuments you can visit. You will see many monuments to the Hapsburgs, Musicians, and many other heros of Austrian history throughout the city located in parks and plazas. While we were in Vienna we visited two historic churches. We visited St. Stephen’s Cathedral in the center of the city and the Baroque Style church of Karlskirche at Karlsplatz. The Karlskirche has a huge painted dome that you can actually ride an elevator to the top to view the painting up close. You can even walk some additional stairs to get a good view of Vienna from the top.
The Spanish Riding School
Another great place to visit in Vienna is the famed Spanish Riding School and the Lipizzaner Stallions. The Riding school is over 400 years only and the building itself is beautiful to see inside. We were able to visit a training session at the historic school and watch the graceful horses in action. Depending on the day you could see a full show.
Tips for Vienna
One of the best ways we found to tour Vienna was to purchase a Vienna Pass. It includes a hop on hop off buss pass, entrance to most of the museums and palaces throughout the city. Be sure and plan what attractions you want to see since unless you are in Vienna for many days you will not be able to see them all. We chose ahead of time what we wanted to see and a logical order to see them in to maximize our time in the short 4 days we were there. Also the subway system is clean, safe and well done in Vienna so use it to get around the city quickly to the many sites. Austria uses the Euro as their currency and the language spoken is German. Donna and I had no trouble though speaking in English throughout Austria. Also utilize the great train system and take a quick visit to Slovakia while you are there. Vienna is one of my favorite cities in the world and I highly recommend it to anyone!