Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km². The terrain is highly mountainous, lying within the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 m, and its highest point is 3,798 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country’s official language. Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic, and political Centre. Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC
Flag of Austria
Vienna was a place that I had always wanted to visit. I was a bit disappointed in the city, although it was nice it seemed to lack community spirt, or as my friend put it ( it lacked soul). There are some nice buildings but nothing that really stood out, maybe it seemed bland after being in Venice and Florence, these two cities are hard to compete with. We had been to Austria years ago and visited Innsbruck which was very beautiful so I had high expectations of Vienna. We did enjoy a very nice evening listening to Mozart in the Golden Hall with the performers dressed in period costumes. We wanted to try the local food so we went to a restaurant that had the best veal schnitzel and beef goulash ever. It was called Plachuttas Gasthaus zur Oper web address www.plachuttas.at or oper@plachuttas.at . If in town it is worth a visit.
Charles Church
Danube River
St Stephen Cathedral
Golden Hall (Mozart Concert)
Pre show drinks
The oldest zoo in world Tiergarten Schönbrunn is in Vienna and although i do not like animals being kept in cages, i thought we should see the zoo where it all began. They did have some of my favourite Australian animals 🐨 koalas and Kangaroos they also had two cute pandas’. The Schonbrunn Palace and gardens that surround the zoo are beautiful, you could spend a few hours in the Gardens, the roses were in bloom they looked and smelled divine.
Palm house outside the zoo
Schonbrunn Palace gardens
We preferred the country side of Vienna and some of the small towns. We had a great day hiking from Vienna’s heritage town of Nussdorf to Stefaniewarte, from here we had great view over the city and the Danube river, we went through a number of wineries and of course we had to have a tasting after our 12km hike.
Views of the City and Danube
Vineyards and wine tasting close to the town of Nussdorf
