than samplinglocal and youhave region. ’s bestwine-producing Whatbetter waytospendanafternoon times, a year;couplethiswithrichsoilbaseandwinehistorydatingbacktopre-Roman itinteresting. thatmakes day’ aspect The province receives areputed 300daysofsunshine several timesinitsnatural history–mostrecently inthemid-19thcentury. with .Even the jewelinitscrown–NeusiedlerSeehasdriedupanddisappeared the contrary,itissmallandsleepy,inlarge aflatprovince sections situated ontheborder read about.Ithasneitherbombasticarchitecture andsoaringmountains. nordeeplakes On given bytourists,BurgenlandOften isallbutthe typicalAustria awideberth youhearofor Burgenland 188 © LonelyPlanetPublications are content toenjoygoodwineandfood,relax inthegreat outdoors. házy inEisenstadt,theprovince’s smallcapital,Burgenland ismore aplacewhere people them. Althoughitdoeshave ahandfulofinteresting culturalsights,suchasSchlossEster- the roofs ofseveral –includingRust,oneofthenicestplacestoobserve townsnearthelake yourself fascinated byBurgenland’s charms. emerging inAustria, andaddaswampy,medievaltownsuchasRust,youmightfind National Park, paththatleadsintotheparkandthroughHungarybefore tackonabike re- ofitthatisnowtheNeusiedlerSee-Seewinkel the shallowNeusiedlerSeeandasection „ This is the kind ofplacewhereThis everyday isthekind life precedence, takes butitisprecisely this‘every- Stork-spotters will beintheirelementhere insummer,whenfeathered friendspopulate

„ „ „ „ „ HIGHLIGHTS

POPULATION: 279,300 Swimming,splashingorsailing inthe Revelling inviewsfromEisenstadt’s Staringinto thefaceofmummified Cyclingata leisurely pacethrough the Sippinggoldenwinesandsuppinginoneof dler See capital, Stations oftheCross Bergkirche tour of Roman legionnaire Constantineonagrand ( p197 ), ahaven forbirdlife SeewinkelNeusiedler See- National Park Burgenland’s pretty across Burgenland Schloss Esterházy ( p193 ), Austria’s slurpingsteppe lake ( p191 ) after completingthe Weine Heurigen „ (wines)ina AREA:3966 SQKM ( p191 ) inthe 14) dotted (p194), Neusie- Heuriger

„ (winetavern) underawarm sun?Throw in HIGHEST ELEVATION: GESCHRIEBENSTEIN 884M Eisenstadt Neusiedler See National Park Neusiedler See- Seewinkel BURGENLAND 189 (capital). Hauptstadt Hauptstadt With the defeat of the Turks at the gates at the gates the Turks of With the defeat The arrival of marauding Turks in the Turks in the marauding of The arrival by train; here the bus is often your best op- the bus is often by train; here tion. The A2 autobahn, heading south from Vienna towards Graz and Carinthia, runs Burgenland. border of parallel to the western north of the province, consistently records records consistently the province, north of highest the summer temperatures some of water expanse of in Austria, but the large high humidity. ensures Language to Hungary, it’s With its close proximity speak no surprise that some Burgenlanders German with a slight Hungarian accent. to include province is the only Burgenland Croatian and Hungarian alongside German official languages. as Getting There & Away Eisenstadt of and the northern extension by train Neusiedler See easily reached are Lower from Vienna and . less accessible are and middle Burgenland tled over the area. With the demise of the the With the demise of area. the tled over WWI Austria lost after empire Habsburg to retain Hungary, but managed control of of the German-speaking region western St Germain. of Hungary under the Treaty was born, Burgenland of The new province but Hungary was loath to lose Ödenburg held in a plebiscite (Sopron) to Austria, and circum- controversial December 1921 (under Ödenburg people of in the stances) resulted lost opting to stay in Hungary. Burgenland its natural capital, and Eisenstadt became the new Climate hot sum- of microclimate The Pannonian for wine is perfect and mild winters mers production. The Neusiedler See, to the who traded uneasy peace with outright peace with uneasy who traded war the centuries. throughout quashed both the Hungarians 16th century and the Austrian-Germans, and devastated Landlords,the local population. an- without substantial farms, invited their yone to tend Croats to settle. Their presence of numbers the popu- of today – around 10% is still felt is a recognized lation is Croatian, Croatian small towns in and a few local language Croat signs. bear middle Burgenland peace set- relative ), p37 Vienna in 1683 ( of B10 20 km 12 miles

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0 0 s u A4 e N Szombathely St Margareten Rust LOWER Klostermarienberg AUSTRIA Raiding am See Purbach B61 am See Breitenbrunn Geschriebenstein (884m) Mörbisch Sopron Schwechat Airport Eisenstadt Schwechat VIENNA BURGENLAND •• History B50 dorf Burg Wulka- Güssing proders- S31 A3 Traiskirchen Bad Tatzmannsdorf Oberwart Forchtenstein Bernstein

Gerersdorf Fürstenfeld A2 Wiener Baden Mödling A2 A22 Neustadt

S L O V E N I A

The region was first settled some 7000 settled was first some 7000 The region Neunkirchen Klosterneuburg BURGENLAND Bad Vöslau Perchtoldsdorf Hartberg STYRIA To Graz (45km)

To Semmering (20km); Bruck an der Mur (73km) History History Burgenland is the youngest of Austria’s prov- of is the youngest Burgenland the face of Burgenland forever. The region The region forever. Burgenland the face of soon became a buffer zone between the Hungarians and the Austrian-Germans, Celts Romans. However, and the arrival of the Hungarians in the 10th century changed millennia many peoples tried their hand at settling the Illyrians, permanently, including (Soporn) and Eisenburg (Vasvär). Eisenburg (Soporn) and names at that time – Pressburg district names at that time – Pressburg (Moson), Ödenburg Wieselburg (Bratislava), empire at the end of WWI. It’s so named for at the end of empire Hungarian suffixfour western the the ‘burg’ of inces, arising after the collapse of the Austrian the collapseinces, arising after of lonelyplanet.com to 12,000 years ago, and over the ensuing the ensuing ago, and over to 12,000 years S6 A21