Vienna: between Mozart and... the Curva Sud!

First Viennese encounters

We leave at dawn. The flight is at 7 but we are happy because that way we'll be able to enjoy the whole day. By the way, what will the weather be like? Checking on the internet we realize that, by a quirk of the climate, the weather will be fair but above all... mild, with lows around 7-8°C. Unbelievable... Vienna with that kind of climate is the last thing we would have expected to find! But for us, who intend to spend most of our time outdoors, it's a great help. We remember with great fear our winter holidays in Prague and Budapest with temperatures down to -16°C! We arrive in Vienna (Schwechat airport) after a short stopover in Zurich, around 11:30. We call Oliver and arrange to meet at Wien Mitte.

At the airport we decide to buy the Vienna Card (72 studen Wien karte), which allows you to use public transport for 72 hours and get discounts on entry to museums (and not only) for 96 hours. Along with the card (which costs 16.90 euros) you will also be given a small booklet (also translated into Italian) with the indication of all the discounts you are entitled to. Moreover, at the end of the booklet there are lots of little coupons with which you are entitled to discounts in Viennese restaurants, pubs and cafés too. Remember that the discount is per person, so always carry all your booklets with you! The mini pass starts for transport with the first stamping, while for museums and the other discounts it starts with the date you write on the card in pen. So you can have them start on different days, depending on your plans.

From the airport there are two possibilities for getting into the city: the first is very fast and is called "Cat". It's a super-fast train that connects the airport with Wien Mitte. But it costs, if I remember rightly, 8 euros, takes only 15 minutes and makes no intermediate stops. The second possibility, which I strongly recommend, is the S-Bahn line 7 train. You pay about 3 euros (you can also use your credit card to buy directly at the machines on the platform) and it takes about 35 minutes to reach Wien Mitte station. You decide which is better value... one piece of advice: some people had written on various websites that there are never any inspectors and that nobody buys a ticket. In 5 days we ran into them twice! Certainly in the evening on buses or trams it's harder, but I wouldn't dare make that kind of choice...

tickets can also be bought on the tram/bus but cost more (1.80 euros versus 1.40 if bought at the tobacconist...)

We arrive at Wien Mitte and meet Oliver. The meeting is epic: he's wearing a Roma sweatshirt!! He's very likeable and we become friends straight away. Given the time, we go to the hotel, leave our suitcases and then go with Oliver to eat something. We go to the pub "Siebenstern" (The Seven Stars) where we immediately discover an important difference from Italy: many Viennese pubs brew their beer on the premises, with all the equipment in plain view. It's very nice to see them and the beer produced is tasty! We eat a "Wiener Schnitzel" which is nothing other than cotoletta alla milanese (or a breaded cutlet, to put it in Roman terms!). We discover with great astonishment that it is the quintessential Viennese dish. Several establishments serve them in enormous sizes, so much so that a "take away" service for the leftovers is also offered! We get one between two (but we regret it...

we haven't eaten anything since 4:30 in the morning!) and then we try a strudel just to stay on theme! It's not cold but the weather is bad... it's pouring rain and being outdoors isn't exactly inviting... so with Oliver we go to another pub where we meet some of his friends, who will soon become ours too! We fondly remember Christian (an Italian transplanted to Vienna), Maurizio (from Trastevere, married to a Viennese girl), George and many others. What they all have in common is a passion for Roma (except for Maurizio, a Lazio fan in contrast of views with his father). It's surprising but at the same time very funny. These are all people who live so far from Rome but who know everything about the team, perhaps better than those of us who live there. Many of them have never seen the city, let alone the Stadio Olimpico, but they are all excited about the next day's match...

Lazio vs Roma is scheduled. They want to know everything about the atmosphere in Rome, the anticipation, etc. etc. The conversation flows smoothly... the beers are plentiful and after a while I count about ten each (for them!) and one for me!!! But how much they drink!!!! It's incredible, almost unbelievable... the first thought that comes to mind is "Where do they put all that beer?" Who knows... The conversation is carried on in English and in Italian with our compatriots; then we also meet a Greek admirer of Roma because of Dellas being on the team. The hours pass and dinner time arrives... we go near the Belvedere to a small tavern (I don't remember the name... I was completely exhausted).

We eat well: I have two slices of fried melted cheese with blueberry jam and the usual beer!! The tiredness is truly great but the enthusiasm of these guys is such that they won't let us say goodbye... in the end, exhausted, we have to give in and go back to the hotel. We arrange to meet them the following evening: there's the derby in Vienna!

The Befana and the Derby prank!

It's Epiphany, the shops are closed and... it's raining! Alas, it's really raining a lot. Armed with an umbrella and patience, we head towards the centre. We take a walk along Karnter Strasse, the most prestigious pedestrian street in Vienna. It starts where the Staatsoper (Opera) is, at the Karlsplatz metro stop, and goes as far as Stephan Platz, the heart of the city. Along this street there are many shops, including the famous Hotel Sacher, which has an adjoining café and pastry shop where you can buy the cake for which Vienna is famous throughout the world. I must warn you that buying the Sacher in the centre is not cheap, and even less so at the Hotel Sacher. A cake of almost acceptable size (three to four people), about 500 g, costs 34 euros! I advise you to buy it at a pastry shop opposite St. Stephen's Cathedral or far from the centre.

In district 6, where our hotel was, the Sacher of the same size cost 24 euros... a 10-euro difference is not little... don't you think? The same fate applies to the equally famous "Mozart Balls". The price of these chocolates seems to be tied to the Milan stock exchange. You'll find a box of 9 pieces for 5 euros at the Prater, going up to 2.9 euros in district 6. Have a look around before buying anything! Despite the rain, we take a tour of the centre (Innere Stadt). We visit the royal palace (Hofburg) with its adjoining museum housing the crown jewels and the royal treasure (Schatzkammer). I recommend visiting it (Vienna Card discount), especially if it's a bad day. There are truly beautiful things on display, including a display case containing the relic that (it is said) is the nail from the cross on which Jesus Christ was killed.

The Royal Palace is enormous and strolling through it could be a pleasure if it were a nice day... but suddenly, around two o'clock, a patch of sun appears between the clouds. It seems to be improving. We go to eat in Vienna's Jewish quarter at a place called Brezel Gwolb (Lederhof 9). They serve various Austrian specialities and the prices are affordable (about 7-10 euros per person, including the inevitable beer). The place is very nice and perhaps you'll find the classical music in the background a bit cloying... rather relaxing. We continue towards Fleischmarkt to reach the tram 2 stop. There are two trams (1 and 2) that do the whole loop around the centre of Vienna (Innere Stadt), one clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. If you're tired and wet, like us, I recommend taking a ride. You'll be able to see the whole of central Vienna while sitting comfortably and warm.

After the ride we go back to the hotel and get ready. We're on match time. We arrange to meet Oliver, who comes to pick us up by car with a friend of his, and we go to the pub. It's the "Shebeen" (Lerchenfelder Strasse 45, district 7). It's a very large pub run by true-blue Irishmen. They show many Premier League and Italian Serie A matches on giant screens. On the evening of the 6th it's packed. Hundreds of Viennese wearing Roma and Lazio shirts (very few of the latter, fortunately!) We watch the match on British Eurosport and you all know the result... and I'd rather not comment on it! Despite the ill-fated evening, we celebrate because it's Oliver's birthday, who, irony of fate, was born on 7 January. We drink and chat with everyone. It's very easy to make friends; there's a great openness on the part of the Viennese, I'd say almost surprising.

We meet a guy, Stephan, who studies and works in a Heurigen (tavern) outside Vienna. He invites us for Saturday evening, we exchange mobile numbers and e-mails... with the promise to see each other on Saturday. Tired and disappointed, we go and retire to our lodgings.

Enchanting Vienna

The day after the Derby the weather is decidedly nice. And mild. And so we decide to go and visit one of Vienna's main attractions, Schonbrunn Palace. You get there easily by metro and at the entrance we find a bit of a queue. You pay about 9 euros to get access to the palace, the glorious residence of the Habsburgs. Included in the price you will also receive a convenient audio guide in Italian that will describe what you see in each room of the palace. Unfortunately, in winter it isn't possible to visit the garden-maze. But you can't have everything... the visit takes a couple of hours, considering that you may run into barbaric hordes of tour groups with guides in tow who block access to the rooms for several minutes. Once out of the Palace, don't miss the Gloriette Monument that stands on the hillock overlooking the gardens. There's a breathtaking view over the Palace and the city.

It's worth it even though the climb is rather demanding. In the Palace gardens, dozens of little squirrels roam freely, to the delight of children and photographers. They let you come close and the spectacle is (for us, used to seeing dogs and cats in the poorly kept gardens of the Capital) very entertaining. To eat, we head to a Wustelstande, kiosks that cook various types of wustel, very characteristic of Vienna. There's one in particular that's very famous: Wustelstand am Hoher Markt. Among the various types of wustel I recommend the Kasekrainer, filled with cheese. They are served inside a bun or with bread on the side. Be careful if you don't want to go back to the hotel to change, because they have a very substantial filling...

moreover this kiosk is equipped with a multilingual menu explaining what's inside each bun (something often indispensable for understanding what you're ordering). We also take a nice tour (finally without rain) of the centre and stop at the Café Restaurant Mozart, one of the oldest cafés in Vienna. It's behind the Opera (Albertina Platz) and is very rich and well kept. It makes quite an impression to enter a place like that... in Italy it would be destined only for millionaires. The prices are high compared to other places but still acceptable (a slice of Sacher costs about 4.5 euros). With the Vienna Card you're entitled to a discount of 70 cents per person, but mention it to the waiter when the bill comes, otherwise an endless argument breaks out! In the evening we go to eat at Schnitzelwirt Schmidt (Neubaugasse 52), district 7.

They serve enormous breaded cutlets (I guarantee it) that you'll barely manage to finish. The most famous is the "Don Carlos" (8.90 euros): it's a double breaded cutlet with white rice, mushrooms, raw peppers and cooked ham! Enormous!!! If you can't manage it, the waiter will offer to wrap it all up and take it away. Be careful because the place is very crowded and the kitchen closes promptly at 22:00. If you're too late they won't serve you and will ask you (not very politely) to leave. Another observation: unfortunately, it's not open on Sundays.

First binges...

If the weather had been kind to us, on Saturday it gave us a great gift: sunshine and 12°C! For January we can't complain. The Viennese are caught off guard and many of them walk around in shirt sleeves, of course! We take advantage of it to take a nice open-air tour. And so we head for the Naschmarkt. It's an open-air market that stretches for several hundred metres along the Linke Wienzeile. On Saturdays the Flohmarkt (flea market) is also open, a sort of "downmarket" Porta Portese... lots of non-EU immigrants with the usual ethnic merchandise and nothing more. The Naschmarkt, on the other hand, is a historic Viennese market, where the goods are of all kinds but especially food. They sell everything and more, and you'll discover that the prices of fruit and vegetables are even lower than in Rome.

And, believe it or not, the agricultural products are all Italian! Well yes, this is the perverse effect of globalisation: Sicilian oranges brought to Vienna cost less than in Rome, 1000 km closer to their place of origin! We know this for certain because Maurizio works as a waiter right along the market and tells us that he too was very astonished at first when he saw the Italian trucks unloading the goods early in the morning... If you want, you can eat kebab and other merchandise, or have lunch in one of the many small restaurants offering fish, you're spoiled for choice. Be careful, though, that most of the fish on offer is from the lake... We head towards the Karlskirche (Church of St. Charles). It's a beautiful church built in the 18th century as a vow for the end of the plague epidemic.

The name comes from the Italian Carlo Borromeo, who devoted himself to the victims of the plague in Italy. It's possible to visit the church but you pay to use the lift that takes you up to the dome and for the Italian audio guide. I don't remember the exact price (I think 2-3 euros for everything), but for me it was worth it. It's a very beautiful church with enchanting frescoes and an adjoining museum of Carlo Borromeo with various relics. We begin to feel the tiredness but, not yet beaten, we head towards the Schloss Belvedere. This Baroque palace was built for Prince Eugene of Savoy, who in 1718 defeated the Turks and drove them out of Austria. Along the two parts of the Belvedere (lower and upper) there are splendid gardens. One part is subject to a fee (the Alpine Garden) but it is closed during the winter. The walk is pleasant and I recommend it.

Before leaving the area we suggest stopping in front of the Russian monument on Schwindgasse. It commemorates the entry of the Russians into Vienna and the city's liberation from Nazism. In reality our Austrian friends tell us that this side of history is rather controversial. In fact, the (well-known) sympathies of the Viennese towards Nazism seem to have caused great embarrassment to the city at the time of liberation. So this monument seems to serve more as a warning against any future second thoughts rather than to commemorate a historical event. However, these are second-hand opinions and, not living in Vienna and not having a strong Austrian historical background, I would take these statements with a pinch of salt.

After stopping for a bite to eat (mainly to rest our poor feet...), we head towards the western part of the city, where there are important monuments of Vienna: the Rathaus (town hall), the Parliament (where work was being done and it wasn't possible to visit) and the Volksgarten opposite. I also recommend a visit to the Votivkirche, built as a thank-you by Franz Joseph after surviving an assassination attempt by a Hungarian. In the evening we arrange to meet Stephan, who as I said works in a Heurigen. The place is called Bach-Hengel and is in Grinzing (Sandgasse 7), a northern suburb of Vienna. To reach it you have to take tram 38 (to the terminus) from the Ring, at the Schottentor/Universitat metro stop. We arrange with Oliver and go together. He isn't very happy, he says it's "a place for tourists"...

but we stubbornly drag him along by force to discover these incredible Viennese taverns. The journey is rather long and in the end we reach Grinzing. There are several Heurigen, whose sign is dominated by a bunch of grapes. Sandgasse is a long street with many Heurigen. What struck us is the presence of tourist buses parked along the sides of the street. And we could only agree with our trusted friend Oliver... these are true hyper-touristy places intended for group travellers, especially Italians and Spaniards. Inside there's a fake Viennese atmosphere, with violin players striking up "Azzurro"!!! Oliver was right as usual!!! We drink several glasses of young wine, both red and white (at least that's good!) and eat something. Then we wait for Stephan to finish his work shift and go to a good Viennese establishment. Indeed we go to the quintessential Viennese establishment: Fisher Brau.

It's the oldest Viennese brewery (Billrothstrasse 17 - district 17), the atmosphere is very nice and the selection of beers... speaks for itself! We drink a couple of pints, we stay up late and go to two more places in the centre. In short, we make it to 5 in the morning and we're completely drunk!!! Long live Vienna!!!

The departure...very sad!

It's the day of departure and getting rid of the toxins from the night before isn't easy! We get up after 11, pack our bags and skip breakfast, since the kitchen has already closed. We take a walk; the weather isn't exactly nice and it's starting to get cool. Exhausted, we decide to visit a Beisl (small tavern). These are establishments of Yiddish origin whose décor is spartan but the food is genuine and traditional and where the prices are (something always interesting) quite low. Usually the menu is fairly limited and the dishes don't have many variations. You always wait a while from ordering, and this testifies to the genuine nature of the dishes, which are prepared to order. We went to a beisl called "Zu den zwei Lieseln" at Burggasse 63. They serve enormous dishes. I recommend the Feinshmeckerschn (for 8.60 euros)... it's a dish with meat, eggs and potatoes...

enormous!!! They also make an original Hungarian Goulash that's very good. The desserts will leave you open-mouthed... among the many I suggest the "Marillenknodel" (4.50 euros), which are whole apricots fried in potato batter. Or the "Kaiserschmarren" (6.00 euros): a chocolate and chestnut cream dessert of Biblical dimensions that many have as a single dish. Here too the Wiener Schnitzel are enormous and customers often ask to take the leftovers away. Between one chat and another, the moment of goodbyes arrives. Departures are always very sad and this one is no exception. We take the train to the airport and after a few hours we find ourselves at the arrivals of Leonardo da Vinci. One last thing: be careful with the times of the train that goes to the airport. In fact, we hadn't checked beforehand and we were very lucky not to miss the last useful train.

In fact, on Sundays they run every hour and you risk missing your flight. For once, luck didn't turn its back on us, and we miraculously manage to catch the train we need to arrive at the airport in time. Only on the train did we realise how close we had come to the mother of all mistakes... underestimating the time needed to catch a booked flight! We suggest everyone visit Vienna. It's surprising from every point of view. Happy travels to everyone!