Vienna Holiday

The Austrian capital of Vienna is an eminently civilised city to visit with its rich Habsburg history, world-class art museums and superb orchestras.

To some extent, Vienna is feeding off the splendour and imperial nostalgia of the late nineteenth century during which time people flocked from all over Europe to enjoy the intellectual rigours that it offered.

This period, up until the collapse of the empire in 1918, can be aptly described as Vienna's golden age when the city was a vast of metropolis of two million people and also the capital of a huge empire of fifty million.

Although the population of Vienna now stands at 1.6 million people in a considerably smaller country of just eight million, there is much of the old and some of the new to enjoy on your travels here.

The city's central district the Innere Stadt is a good place to start your adventure in Vienna and the huge amount of High Baroque churches and aristocratic mansions that dot the area are particularly evocative off the imperial past.

One of the reasons the city and its inhabitants hark back to the glorious 19th century is that more recent history does not favour the Viennese so well.

There are few visual reminders of Austrian collaboration with Germany in 20th century conflict, although anti-aircraft towers do remain in the suburbs, but the destruction of the capital's Jewish community who provided so much to the culture of Vienna has proved difficult to cope with.

Innere Stadt is the pace to go to soak up some of the city's Jewish culture, with the old Jewish quarter Judenplatz being located here. It is just off the north-east corner of Am Hof and there is a an attractive square with the excavations of a medieval synagogue underneath it.

One of the most sumptuous baroque palaces in Vienna is the Schloss Schonbrunn from 1700, which is also one of the city's most popular tourist attractions. There are over 2,000 rooms at the palace, 40 of which you can visit, as well as a classically landscaped garden.

The Mirror Room is the place where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, then aged six, played his first royal concert in front of the royal family and Maria Theresa in 1762.

Between 1891 and 1938, Sigmund Freud lived and worked in apartments in Vienna and the location has now been turned into a museum in honour of him. The apartment contains his furniture, possessions, letters, photographs and documents and is a fascinating insight into his life.

Another must-see attraction in Vienna for any self-respecting art buff is the Kunsthistorisches Museum, which houses arguably one of the world's finest art collections.

There can be brief moments of levity in Vienna for those people who suffer from museum or sightseeing fatigue easily.

The 65 metre high Riesenrad (Ferris Wheel) at the Leopoldstadt, was featured in classic black and white film The Third Man, and is great fun as is the surrounding Prater fair. There is also a surprisingly lively nighlife with a trip to one of the city's late-opening Musikcafes or a neighbouring drinking hole coming highly recommended.

Vienna is a wonderful destination offering cultural delights in spades and plenty of other attractions as well. A wonder around the central district is evocative of a period of history gone by and a step back in time that is not to be missed.