The Best of Vienna

03 524364 Ch01.qxd 3/31/03 8:54 AM Page 3 1 The Best of Vienna City of music, cafes, waltzes, parks, pastries, and wine—that’s Vienna. Vienna is a true cosmopolitan center, where different tribes and nationalities have for centuries fused their cultural identities to produce the intriguing and often cyn- ical Viennese. From the time the Romans selected a Celtic settlement on the Danube River as one of their most important central European forts, “Vindobona,” the city we now know as Vienna, has played a vital role in European history. Austria grew up around the city and developed into a mighty empire. The capital became a showplace during the tumultuous reign of the Habsburg dynasty, whose court was a dazzling spectacle. The face of the city has changed time and again because of war, siege, victory, defeat, the death of an empire, the birth of a republic, foreign occupation, and the passage of time. Fortunately, the Viennese character—a strict devotion to the good life—has remained solid. Music, art, literature, theater, architecture, education, food, and drink are all part of Vienna’s allure. In the pages that follow, we’ll show you the brilliance this city has to offer. 1 Frommer’s Best of Vienna • Listening to Mozart: It is said DDSG, or Blue Danube Shipping that at any time of the day or Co. (& 01/588-800), offers 1-day night in Vienna, someone some- trips with cruises priced for every where is playing the music of budget. While on board, you’ll Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. You pass some of the most famous might hear it at an opera house, a sights in eastern Austria, including church, a festival, an open-air con- towns like Krems and Melk. See cert, or, more romantically, in a p. 138. Belle Epoque cafe performed by a • Watching the Lippizaner Stal- Hungarian orchestra. Regardless, lions: Nothing evokes the heyday “the sound of music” drifting of imperial Vienna more than the through Vienna is likely to be the Spanish Riding School (& 01/ creation of this prodigious genius. 533-9032). Here, the sleek white See section 1, “The Performing stallions and their expert riders Arts,” in chapter 9. demonstrate the classic art of dres- • Cruising the Danube (Donau): sage in choreographed leaps and Johann Strauss used a bit of poetic bounds. The stallions, a cross- license when he called the Donau breed of Spanish thoroughbreds “The Blue Danube”—it’s actually and Karst horses, are the finest a muddy green. Cruising the river equestrian performers on earth. is nevertheless a highlight of any Riders wear black bicorn hats Viennese vacation. The legendary with doeskin breeches and brass 03 524364 Ch01.qxd 3/31/03 8:54 AM Page 4 4 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF VIENNA buttons. The public is admitted to summer palace, which lies on the watch; make reservations 6 to 8 outskirts of the city and boasts weeks in advance. See p. 114. magnificent gardens. See chap- • Heurigen Hopping in the ter 6. Vienna Woods: Heurigen are rus- • Biking Along the Danube: A tic wine taverns that celebrate the riverside bike trail between arrival of each year’s new wine Vienna and Naarn links interest- (heuriger) by placing a pine ing villages, including Melk and branch over the door. The Vien- Dürnstein. As you pedal along, nese rush to the taverns to drink you’ll pass castles of yesteryear, the new local wines and feast medieval towns, and latticed vine- on country buffets. Some heuri- yards. Route maps are available at gen have garden tables with the Vienna Tourist Office, and panoramic views of the Danube you can rent bikes at the ferry or Valley; others provide shaded, train stations. See p. 137. centuries-old courtyards where • Attending an Auction at revelers enjoy live folk music. Try Dorotheum: Vienna is a treasure the red wines from Vöslau, the trove of art and antiques, and as Sylvaner of Grinzing, or the Ries- many estates break up, much of it ling of Nussberg. See section 4, goes on sale. The main venue for “The Heurigen,” in chapter 9. art and antiques is Dorotheum, • Feasting on Tafelspitz, “The Dorotheergasse 17 (& 01/5156- Emperor’s Dish”: No Austrian 0449), the state-owned auction dish is more typical than the house. Founded in 1707, it fabled tafelspitz (boiled beef) remains one of the great European favored by Emperor Franz Joseph. depositories of objets d’art. Items Boiled beef sounds dull, but tafel- here are likely to be expensive; if spitz is far from bland. A tender you’re looking for something more delicacy, the “table end” cut affordable, try the summer Satur- absorbs a variety of flavors, day and Sunday outdoor art and including juniper berries, celery antiques market along the root, and onions. Apple-and- Danube Canal (between Schwe- horseradish sauce further enlivens denbrücke and Salztorbrücke). the dish, which is usually served See p. 159. with fried grated potatoes. For • Savoring the Legendary Sacher- Vienna’s best tafelspitz, try the torte: Café Demel (& 01/533- Sacher Hotel Restaurant, in 5516), the most famous cafe in the Hotel Sacher Wien (& 01/ Vienna, has a long-standing feud 514560). See p. 86. with the Sacher Hotel Restau- • Revisiting the Habsburgs: One rant, in the Hotel Sacher Wien of the great dynastic ruling fami- (& 01/514560), over who has the lies of Europe, the Habsburgs right to sell the legendary and ruled the Austro-Hungarian original Sachertorte, a rich choco- Empire from their imperial court late cake with a layer of apricot in Vienna. You can still witness jam. Actually, a court settled the their grandeur as you stroll matter in 1965, ruling in favor of through the Inner City. The Hof- Hotel Sacher. But Demel still burg, the family’s winter palace, is claims that the chef who invented a living architectural textbook, the torte brought “the original dating from 1279. Also be sure to recipe” with him when he left visit Schönbrunn, the sprawling the Sacher to work for Demel. 03 524364 Ch01.qxd 3/31/03 8:54 AM Page 5 FROMMER’S BEST OF VIENNA 5 Settle the dispute yourself by sam- • Enjoying a Night at the Opera: pling the Sachertorte at both of Nothing is more Viennese than these venerated establishments. dressing up and heading to the See p. 105 and 186. Staatsoper, one of the world’s • Unwinding in a Viennese Cof- greatest opera houses, where feehouse: The coffeehouse still ascending the grand marble stair- flourishes here in its most perfect case is almost as exhilarating as form. You can spend hours reading the show. Built in the 1860s, newspapers (supplied free), writing the Staatsoper suffered severe dam- memoirs, or planning the rest of age during World War II. It your stay in Vienna. And of course reopened in 1955 with a produc- there’s the coffee, prepared 20 to tion of Beethoven’s Fidelio, mark- 30 different ways, from Weissen ing Austria’s independence from Ohne (with milk) to Mocca occupation. Both Richard Strauss Gespritzt (black with a shot of rum and Gustav Mahler directed here, or brandy). A glass of ice-cold and the world’s most renowned water always accompanies a cup of opera stars continue to perform, coffee in Vienna, as well as the accompanied, of course, by the world’s most delectable pastry or Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. slice of cake. See section 14, “Cof- See p. 170. feehouses & Cafes,” in chapter 5. • Hearing the Vienna Boys’ • Strolling the Kärntnerstrasse: Choir: In this city steeped in Lying at the heart of Viennese life musical traditions and institu- is the bustling, pedestrian-only tions, one group has distinguished Kärntnerstrasse. From morning to itself among all others: the Vienna night, shoppers parade along the Boys’ Choir, or Wiener Sängerk- merchandise-laden boulevard; naben. Created by that great street performers, including musi- patron of the arts, Maximilian I, cians and magicians, are always in 1498, the choir still performs out to amuse. For a break, retreat Masses by Mozart and Haydn at to one of the cafe terraces for some the Hofburgkapelle on Sundays of the best people-watching in and holidays from September Vienna. See “Walking Tour 1: through June. See p. 110 and Imperial Vienna,” in chapter 7. p. 111. • Playing at the Prater: Ever since • Discovering the Majesty of St. Emperor Joseph II opened the Stephan’s Cathedral: Crowned Prater to the public in the 18th by a 450-foot steeple, Dompfarre century, the Viennese have flocked St. Stephan, Vienna’s cathedral, is to the park for summer fun. The one of Europe’s great Gothic Prater has abundant tree-lined structures. Albert Stifter, the paths on which to jog or stroll (the acclaimed Austrian writer, wrote Viennese, in general, are much that its “sheer beauty lifts the fonder of strolling). The amuse- spirit.” The cathedral’s vast tiled ment park boasts a looming Ferris roof is exactly twice the height of wheel that was immortalized in its walls. Intricate altarpieces, the Orson Welles film The Third stone canopies, and masterful Man. Open-air cafes line the park, Gothic sculptures are just some of which also provides an array of the treasures that lie within. sports facilities, including tennis Climb the spiral steps to the courts and a golf course. See South Tower for a panoramic view p. 132. of the city. See p. 116. 03 524364 Ch01.qxd 3/31/03 8:54 AM Page 6 6 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF VIENNA Did You Know? The Viennese have always been hospitable to foreigners, except during a time in the late 18th century when the emperor felt that tourists might spread pernicious ideas.

Load more