Austria

The Capital of Austria, and home to 2 million people.  The metro area holds 30% of Austria's population. It sits on the Danube and has been a hub for art and history for centuries.  

The likes of Mozart, Beethoven and Freud have all walked these streets.  

It seems like you could spend days just touring the palaces of this city.

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Schönbrunn Palace

18th century summer palace of the Hapsburg rulers, with Rococo design and a garden maze.  This palace has 1,441 rooms...certainly enough space to spread out! You can take a tour through the private apartments of Franz Joseph as well as reception rooms and state rooms.

In 1569, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II bought this land to make it a hunting lodge. In the 1630's, Eleonora Gonzaga began adding an additional mansion on the property and called it "Schonbrunn".  The present form of the palace was built in the 1740's and 1750's.  The longest serving Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph, spent much time there and the current palace highlights his time there. 

www.schoenbrunn.at/en/

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The Hofburg

Hapsburg Palace with baroque Interior.  Built in the 13th century, this was the winter residence for the Hapsburg rulers and is still used today as the office and home of the Austrian president. Enjoy the history and grandeur of the Imperial apartments, the Sisi Museum, and the lavish silver collections. The Sisi Museum takes the nickname of Empress Elisabeth, the wife of Franz Joseph.  Located at Heidenplatz, it is situated between the fine art museums of Kunsthistorisches and Albertina as well as the Imperial Treasury.  You could spend a whole day without leaving this area. Just pick up a quick lunch and enjoy it in the Burggarten or Volksgarten parks. 

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Belvedere Palace

When, you think you couldn't continue to be impressed by palaces, just a half hour walk from The Hofburg is this 18th century baroque palace housing an art collection back to the middle ages, including works by Klimt, Schiele, Funke, Messerschmidt and Van Gogh.  Between 1712 and 1728, the Austrian general Prince Eugene of Savoy commissioned this summer residence which is actually 2 palaces, the upper and lower. After the death of her husband in 1752, Empress Maria Theresa acquired the entire complex and transformed the Upper Belvedere into an exhibition venue for the imperial collections – making it one of the first public museums in the world. The museum status lasted from 1776 to 1888 when the collection was moved to the newly built Kunsthistorisches Museum.  After a brief period where the palaces were used as a residence for Franz Ferdinand; in the early 20th century, the lower, then upper were returned to museum status.

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St. Stephen's Cathedral

14th century Roman Catholic church with spires reaching 447 feet high. 

I love this church as a great example of a house of worship that evolves for centuries to take its present form. The first church here is believed to have been built starting in 1137 with completion 10 years later. In the early 13th century, a second church was built and in the 14th century, the choir was expanded. In the 15th century, the south tower is completed, and the north tower is started. 

At times, there have been reconstructions such as the 1860's due to damage from French bombardment and 1940's after WW2. 

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