Barcelona Vacations, Barcelona Vacation Reviews, Tourism Guide

Barcelona Vacation Guide

The classier face of modern architecture is slowly creeping in amongst Vienna’s overt historical predominance. It’s a heady mix; you’ll find towering palaces, baroque ballrooms and vast squares all tucked away around the famous Hofburg, while just round the corner the huge glass facades of buildings that are half functionality, half art and all new take priority.

Vienna’s a highly musical city, and it’s impossible to walk the streets or sample strudel and dumplings in the open-air restaurants without hearing the sounds of former residents Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms filling the airwaves. The ornate Musikverien concert hall, home to the New Year’s concerts is the best place to catch the music scene for real, while the State Opera House, though extremely costly, is a wonderful environment in which to be loudly hollered at from a grandiose stage.

Surprisingly, for an aged European city, Vienna is home to a host of parkland, and walking the ‘Blue’ Danube (it’s not actually particularly blue) reveals another trademark of Vienna: endless trees, and open green spaces in which to sit with a glass of wine by the river banks or spend a happy afternoon with a picnic from the local bakery. For a panoramic view over it all, climb to Schloss Schonbrunn and stare out from its flower-filled gardens.

You can explore it all by tram, hopping on a winding, yellow, railed bus with a multimedia system to tell you about all that you pass, stopping at the Belvedere to admire a memorable collection of modern art (including ‘the kiss’), or watching as the angular modern art that seems to dominate some quarters of Vienna has everyone reaching for their cameras.

Wine, coffee, opera and theater are the classy attractions that make Vienna something of a playground for the rich, and a place steeped in cultural meaning. You only have to look at the list of creative souls born here to see into Vienna’s bohemian side, but today it’s modern, trendy, and hasn’t lost any of its old world charm. A beautiful taste of a striking country.