The Best City to Visit and Revisit In Europe
On September 12, 1683, after weeks of skirmishes and the undermining of the great walls of Vienna by Ottoman sappers, the final battle for the city, the goal of the Turks for over a century, had begun. Over 400,000 Janissary, sipahi, Tatars, and goat-boys smashed into the great relief army of Poles, Germans, Austrians, and a Frenchman* across the Viennese countryside, from the surrounding small fortified villages up to the breaches in the great wall itself.
The day ended with the greatest defeat of the Ottoman Empire; the conflict that started the first stone downhill in the landslide that finally obliterated the remains of the Turkish state at the end of WWI in the West, in 1918 (though the Austrians and Ottomans, strangely, were on the same side by then!)
The loot stretched for miles, including thousands of bags of coffee along with the equipment to brew the strange little beans.
And so began the story of the Austrian coffee houses.
If my heart could stand it, I would drink coffee from the time I got up until the time I finally staggered into bed at 3AM with enough Sangiovese in me to counteract the liters of blackest caffeine.
So it is natural that it is my life’s mission to visit every single one estimated 2,400 cafes in the greater city of Vienna. That coupled with my secondary goal of photographing every one of Germany’s 10,000 castles leaves me with distressingly little time to write code, which is ultimately how I make my living.
Paris is nice; I love the d’Orsay Museum and I have more pictures of St. Denis than I do of my father. Berlin has great museums, effervescent nightlife, and lots of funky districts — if I were lots younger I might move there. Munich is also great fun — I’m taking my entire family by ones and twos to the Hofbraeuhaus — and Prague is beautiful. And I’ve not seen anything like Venice but Venice.
But to me, the best city for visiting and re-visiting is Wien.
The center of their empire for the better part of a millennium, the Habsburgs ruled from the Hofburg in the center of the city on the edge of the former inner wall, where the great Ringstrasse now encircles.
To a degree not recognized by many Americans because our school system is such sh*t, that ugly, unloved, but vastly-connected family influenced the development of our country, especially before it was a country.
The pillaging of South and Central America? The near-extinction of the Aztecs? Habsburg.
Hyperinflation in the 16th Century (due to all the gold of the Americas)? Habsburg.
The French and Indian wars? The Habsburgs had their broad, ugly chins in it up to the top of their powdered wigs — though in Europe the conflict was called the Seven Year’s War.
The Mexican Empire? Kaiser Franz Joseph’s brother, Max. (For whom it did not end well).
Napoleon, with whom we nearly went to war, oversaw the execution of Marie Antoinette (Habsburg) — For the Habsburg involvement in the American Revolution, I reference The American Revolution and the Hapsburg Monarchy by Jonathan Singleton.
Franz Joseph (not the Germans!) started WWI with his invasion of Serbia — and we know how that turned out. Over 200,000 American dead — though admittedly, most of the Spanish Flu (Habsburg?).
So there is plenty of history to see in Vienna — from the former seat of power at Hofburg itself to St Stephens Cathedral (founded 1137), to the fantastic Army Museum (Heeresgeschichtliches Museum) housed in an original Franz Joseph-era armory complete with ca100 year old squeaky parquet floors. In this museum, you can see the car in which Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot and the bloody couch where Ferdinand breathed his last. (And a lot more — the museum will get its own article in due time).
And did I mention the coffee? The best outside of Italy. Served in cafes so beautiful to make all but a Parisian say ooh, la la.
Do you know the difference between Viennese Schnitzel (Wienerschnitzel) and ‘regular’ schnitzel? Read my article on the best Vienna cafe.
Beethoven played here, as did Mozart. (Though neither was born remotely near the city, as I’ve seen in some poorly researched pieces).
It’s my #1 destination for the Christmas markets — Weihnachtsmarkt or Christkindlmarkt — of which there are several major locations around the old town.
There are Baroque churches and parks and zoos and monuments and crypts and the worldliest-of-world-class museums stocked with the treasures of the former Empire, formed over the centuries. There’s an amazing natural history museum (the Naturhistorisches Museum) which is perfect for a day-long family visit.
And it’s all surprisingly affordable — I’d estimate a third to half of the cost of a visit to NYC or DC. It’s also easily accessible since the public transit system in (and out of) Vienna is as good as any I’ve traveled on anywhere in Europe.
If you’re planning a trip or thinking of planning a trip, you might want to bookmark this page. I will keep it updated to serve as an index for my Viennese articles as they are written.
While I’m definitely not a native, I’ve traveled there dozens of times since 1994, hitting the cafe circuit several times a year, and am constantly looking for new areas to explore. Rick Steves has nothing on me, not when it comes to my favorite city!
Stay tuned if you wish to discover the secrets of the Habsburgs.
- There was more than one Frenchman. Just a joke. I love the French.
