A secret Viennese playground-
beyond the Ringstrasse by Bartosz Nabrdalik No need to give you reasons to visit Vienna-the winter waltzes, symphonies, blue Danube, and cafés are all typical clichés-but to penetrate deeper you should go beyond the crowds on the Ringstrasse and head for the suburbs. Here, most people still live comfortably in pastel-colored two- or three-story tenements from the 19th century, close to the surrounding woods. Far from craggy Alpine peaks
The Lobau, a national park of thousands of acres of pristine marshland in District 22, is located close to the city and is watered by various arms of the Danube. Long wooded paths stretch all the way to the Slovak border, a good eight-hour walk east of the city. I covered the entire 30-mile stretch in one day and it was well worth it, despite the blisters. The gently swaying reeds, thick deciduous forests along the riverbanks, and the flat fields of munching cows are far removed from the Austria of craggy Alpine peaks. In the southeastern part of the city in District 13, also known as Hietzing, the former hunting grounds of the Habsburgs now welcome everyone. Empress Maria Theresa (1717 - 1780) and her children liked to shoot deer and boar here. To make sure they didn't miss their shot, the creatures were often released from cages right in front of their guns. Her successor, Emperor Joseph, gave the animals more of a sporting chance and chased his prey up and down the hills with his hounds. The royal hunting grounds are separated from the rest of the woods by a wall, and are now a nature reserve-the deer are so tame you can practically feed them by hand. Nature reigns supreme
The only large building among the 2,000 acres of forests and meadows is the Hermesvilla, built by Emperor Franz Josef as a retreat for his reclusive wife, Elisabeth, better known as Sissi. He hoped that by giving her more privacy from his courtiers they could spend more time together and she would abandon her life of endless travel. Sissi did not swallow the bait and soon resumed her vagabond ways. Since the palace was never really lived in, it has an institutionalized feel, reinforced by the presence of a branch of the Vienna City Museum. Beyond the Hermesvilla, nature reigns supreme, sliced up by more than 30 miles of hiking paths. The trek up to the Hubertus Warte, the city's highest point at 1,777 feet, is worthwhile for the views. To the west you can see the higher ranges of the Wienerwald, peaking in the distant stony humps of the northern limestone Alps, the first truly "Alpine" range said to herald the Tyrolean giants farther west. [Editor's note: Watch out for more news of Austria in future issues of The European, covering real estate, cost of living, and must-sees.] |
