If you're looking for a city with beautiful architecture, a pleasant climate and a highly significant cultural heritage, Vienna is hard to beat.The capital city of Austria, Vienna has a population of approximately 1.6 million and the currency in use is the Euro.
The climate in Vienna is mild, usually reaching the mid-twenties celsius during the Summer and rarely falling below zero in wintertime.Vienna was originally a Celtic city, formed around the year 500BC. By the Middle Ages, it was home to the Babenberg and Habsburg dynasties.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the rampaging Ottoman Turks were stopped on two occasions at Vienna, and in 1815 the city was the site of the Congress of Vienna following the defeat of Napolean at Waterloo. During World War II, a quarter of this historic city's buildings were either damaged or completely destroyed, and the population fell dramatically. The rebuilding of the infrastructure of the city began after the war and since the nineteen eighties, the population of Vienna has begun to increase again.
The city is steeped in art and culture, and there are many opera houses, theatres and museums for the visitor to enjoy, with a proud emphasis on the city's musical heritage; after all this is the birthplace of Schubert and Strauss as well as being the educational centre for many of the great composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms. The cultural centre of the city is the Museumsquartier (MQ) a 60000 square metre area in the 7th district of Vienna where many of the cultural houses are to be found.Getting around Vienna is simple due to the excellent tram network. There is never more than a few minutes between trams, and the city also offers a good bus service. Public transportation does not operate through the night but there is a special bus service, the Nightline, which operates on the main routes every thirty minutes after the regular services cease.
The best nightlife is to be found in the 18th district of the city known as Grinzing where a variety of taverns and beer houses stay open into the early hours. As you would expect from a city with the population of Vienna, there is no shortage of fine restaurants to choose from but visitors should also try the traditional eateries known as Beisl where the world-famous Wiener schnitzel can be sampled.Vienna has a timeless quality to it. As you stroll along the streets admiring the beautiful architecture, strains of the same music that played a century ago can still be heard wafting from the same rebuilt concert halls. Its fun just sitting in one of the many coffeehouses watching the local people in their immaculate dress stopping to greet their friends with the traditional kiss and handshake.
There is something very stately and elegant about Vienna which has to be experienced to be understood. It is undeniably one of the must-see destinations of the world.
.Dara Ward operates over 150 travel websites dealing with all major world locations. Some of his sites include Hotels in Barcelona and Hotels in Manchester.
By: Dara Ward
