Einar's homepage: Destination Austria

Austria is situated in central Europe. Along with neighboring Switzerland Austria is the winter sports capital of Europe. Austria is just as popular for summer tourists who visit its historic cities and villages and hike in the magnificent scenery of the alps. German is the official language in Austria and there are few differences to the writen German spoken in Germany. There are though some vocabulary differences between Austrian German the Hochdeutsch German used in Germany. Something that struck me as I traveled Austriais that verything is in perfect order. There is no littering to speak of nor no grafitti in public areas.

Travelling within Austria
ÖBB is the Austrian state Railways and sells tickets domestically using a price based only upon distance traveled, regardless of when you buy the ticket and which train you take. Long distance buses are hard to find in most of Austria. No one checks your ticket at the metro in Vienna but if you are cought without a ticket you get a 70 Euro fine. The metro in Vienna is one of the best in Europe and makes it easy to travel between the different sites in Vienna.

Places to visit and when to go there

Austrian cuisine and drink
The Austrian cuisine is distinctive and delicious, and is traditionally of the stodgy, hearty "meat and dumplings" variety. Wiener Schnitzel (a bread-crumbed and fried veal escalope) is something of a national dish, and KnÃ¶del are a kind of dumpling which can be made either sweet or savory according to taste. In Vienna the Tafelspitz (boiled beef with potatoes and horseradish) is traditionally served on Sundays, and is normally accompanied by clear broth with dumplings and herbs. Apart from these, Austria is renowned for its pastries and desserts, the most well-known of which is probably the Apfelstrudel. When it comes to liquid Austria is most famous for wine, beer and coffee.

Linz is situated in the province of Upper Austria and is the third largest city in Austria. I experienced Linz as more relaxed than both Salzburg and Vienna with a friendly atmosphere. The city is close to the border to Germany and it takes about an hour and a half by train to travel to Munich. In Linz you find the New Cathedral which is the largest church in Austria. The main street and the shopping area are two places you have to visit in Linz. Near the castle, being the former seat of Friedrich the III is Sankt/Saint Martins church. It was built during early medieval Carolingian times. Other sights include St. Mary's Cathedral (Mariendom), Pöstlingbergkirche, Brucknerhaus (the concert hall named after the composer Anton Bruckner), Gugl Stadiu and the Linzer Landestheater.

Adolf Hitler was born in a nearby town but moved to Linz with his family when he was young and spent most of his youth in the Linz area. He considered Linz to be his home town and envisioned architectural schemes for it. He wanted it to become the main cultural centre of the Third Reich. In order to make the city economically vibrant, Hitler initiated a major industrialization of Linz. Many factories were dismantled in other cities and then reassembled in Linz. Because of the industry facilities Linz where bombed several timed during WWII.

Salzburg is one of my favourite places in Europe. Its a small town and everything is within walking distance. The old town contains a world famous baroque architecture and is one of the best-preserved city centres in this style. other places to see in Salzburg is the Salzburg Cathedral, the Franziskanerchurch, The St. Peter's cemetery, the Nonnberg Abbey a Benedictine monastery, Mozart's Birthplace and Mozart's Residence.

In 1997 the city was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Salzburg is the birthplace of the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Problaby the best known chockolate in Austria is carrying his name and is from Salzburg. The city was the setting of the musical and film The Sound of Music. The film was released in 1965 and there are numerous tours which takes you to the places where they made the film.

Festung Hohensalzburg is situated close to the city center and you may either walk to the top or use tram. The view of Salzburg and the surrounding area is truly stunning and one of the pretties places I ever been to. The castle is sitiated on a hill dominating the old town is one of the largest castles in Europe The Salzach river floats through the river.

Salzburg festival is a famous music festival that attracts visitors during the months of July and August each year. A smaller Salzburg Easter Festival is held around Easter each year.

Vienna is the capitalin Austria and is situated in the western part of the country. This city where the first city I visited in Austria and I found the inhabitants rather rude. Luckily this was a phenenomen I didnt fint in other parts of Austria. The city is the former home of the Habsburg court and its various empires and the city still has the trappings of the imperial capital it once was. The most interesting things in Vienna is situated close to the Hofburg Palace which has housed some of the most powerful people in Austria. The Palace is huge and most of what i found interesting in Vienna is situated close to the palace. It takes at least a couple of days to visit all the museums thats situated inside and around the Hofburg Palace. Close to the Hofburg Palace are a couple of parks in whitch they play live classical music. The Museumsquartier is situated across the street from Hofburg Palace and is the eighth largest cultural area in the world. It consists of 60.000 m² with different buidlings and museums. Of all the museums in the Museumsquartier I liked Leopold Museum the most.

Zentralfriedhof, the central cemetery, is the largest cemetery I have ever been to. On this cemetery there are more graves than living residents in Vienna and it is "housing" whoping 1.8 million graves. A public "cemetery bus" line exists within the area. There are lots of famous Austrians resting on this cementery and its worth a visit. Within the cementery is a nice church (Dr. Karl Lueger Gedächtniskirche ) design in Jugendstil ("Jugend-style") and have an aswesome design. The cementery is situated in the outskirts of the city but is easy accesable using metro.

Other places you should visit is the Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral) which is a quite large cathedral. Other places worth a visit is Staatsoper (State Opera) and Burgtheater (Imperial Court Theatre).

The city is famous for its café culture and there are coffee houses all over the city. Many of which have outdoor terraces that are popular in the summer. Visit them for coffee, hot chocolate and pastries. The inhabitants in Vienna drinks half a litre of coffee each day. The most famous pastery in Austria is Sacher-Torte.

It takes almost an hour to drive from Vienna to Bratislava which is the capital of the Slovak Republic so if you have planned to stay in Vienna for a couple of days spend a day in Bratislava. The can easily wiev the interesting places of Bratislava in a couple of hours before you head back to Vienna.