It’s easy to come to Vienna and fixate on the grandeur of it all, at least that was our lasting impression from a visit in the late 90s. Admittedly we were there in the depths of winter, for just a couple of nights stopover on an epic 700 kilometre road trip, and as a result didn’t get much beyond a sugar-rich, costumed whirl of Sachertorte and Staatsoper, so I’m forgiving our younger selves for our myopia.
This time we are here in early Summer and have taken the impressively modern Intercity train from Warsaw to Katowice, before abruptly travelling back in time to the Cold War. Boarding a Čzeské drahy (Czech railways) diesel train that was comfortably in its third or even fourth decade, we slowly creaked and belched our way southwards to the border crossing at the coal mining town of Ostrava in Eastern Czechia. Stopping every few minutes, as black storm clouds raced past and horizontal rain streaked the compartment’s window, we could scarcely believe our eyes at the ugliness of it all, as we hugged the alarmingly rusty and decaying Druzhba (Friendship) Russian oil pipeline, which coils its way above ground some 2,500 miles from the Urals through Ukraine to Hungary and the Czech Republic (and whose flows were halted for a time by the Russian invasion).
Our talkative German travelling companion, Alex is more than happy to share his impressions of Vienna, a city where he has lived on and off for several years and we have him to thank for the insight that Vienna’s true crowning glory lies not its Imperial Habsburg architecture, highbrow culture and extravagant fin de siècle coffee houses, but in its liveability (the city regularly tops international polls on this metric) and less obviously for its egalitarian beating heart.
The grandeur is real enough, but it is to be found almost exclusively within the Ringstrasse, Emperor Franz Joseph’s ambitious fifty year urban renewal project to connect the city’s suburbs to its centre and which contains on and within its five kilometre circumference all of the city’s Imperial edifices and formal green spaces, from the Hofburg Palace, Staatsoper & Burgtheater to Parliament, City Hall and the University.
Fortunately, this concentration of ‘must see’ sights also has the beneficial effect of coralling the vast majority of the city’s tourists, leaving the real city to be enjoyed by the rest of us, more curious souls.
Our hotel is in Josefstadt, literally a couple of blocks from the neoclassical Parliament building, but even at this close proximity there’s a cosy neighbourhood atmosphere centred on Café Eiles, a low key establishment which Sabrina and I are frequenting at all hours for breakfast, a hibiscus or lavender juice, or a pre-dinner aperitif and where we have never once seen anyone ‘working’ on a laptop or fixated on their mobile (such a contrast to the Instagram hell the glorious gothic interior of Café Central has sadly become).
Just a few blocks in the other direction, the bohemian district of Mariahilf where narrow cobbled streets are clustered with vegan restaurants, pot shops, dive bars and LGBTQ hangouts looks out over the monumental Baroque and Contemporary architecture of the glossy ‘MuseumsQuartier’ from its hilltop location. It’s almost as if the Emperor’s great project has created a beautiful goldfish bowl for the real city to stare into.
Talking of resolutely old-fashioned coffee houses, we especially love Café Leopold Hawelka which looks like it has barely changed since it first opened its doors in 1939, and where (as we were) you’ll more than likely be greeted at the door by a gracious elderly gentlemen, who is none other than the son of Leopold and Josefine Hawelka, the establishment’s founders. Like the restaurant La Colombe d’Or in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the café’s walls are clustered with art works donated to settle out of control bar tabs, although Andy Warhol who apparently loved this place, was no doubt able to pay his way.
Vienna’s treasure trove of small, family-owned specialty shops is another clue that the city is so much more than pomp and circumstance and it’s wonderful to explore these emporia which are dotted all over the city, but especially so in the lovely tangle of narrow streets close to Schwedenplatz in the 1st district, where haberdashers and hardware stores rub shoulders with glovers, hand made confectioners and apothecaries, in a charming and characterful contrast to the Imperial centre. Many of these establishments are remarkably beautiful and if you look up you’ll notice that a fair few of them signal their trade to passers by with wittily executed signage.
Hats off to the city council too for prioritising access to pristine alpine drinking water for all its citizens over its impressive architectural backdrops, as even within the Ringstrasse you will see the pipes that pump fresh water from the Styrian Alps to every household popping up on street corners and pavements. There’s also a remarkably robust cash-only insistence pretty much everywhere you go here (after all, who wants to pay those annoying commissions to the banks, especially if you’re a family-run business).
Above all else you get the feeling that this city is open to be enjoyed to the full by all who live here, whatever their background or origins, whether it’s the daily allocation of remarkably cheap tickets at the Staatsoper, or simply the freedom to use the city’s most beautiful locations for any pastime you wish. We watched a group of elderly Chinese women performing a a Tai Chi Kung Fu fan dance by the Art Nouveau conservatory in the formal gardens of the Imperial Palace, this morning.
It’s easy in today’s multicultural Vienna to graze the world’s cuisines, and indeed we had one of the best Vietnamese meals in ages around the corner from our hotel. Finding good gluten free options of Viennese classics on the other hand has not been easy in this city, that is until we dined at Führich restaurant which has an impressive selection. Café Mozart (which is just around the corner), has by far and away the best GF cake and pastry selection, by the way.
We shared Wurzelspeck (pork belly smoked in garlic and spices) to start, and followed it with Pork schnitzel with potato and onion salad, which was equally delicious.
Wiener schnitzel mit kartoffel salat: Serves Four
4 veal cutlets or (pork, turkey or chicken)
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup gluten free flour blend
3/4 cup gluten free bread crumbs
Butter and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Pound the veal until thin, season with salt and pepper. Dredge the veal in the flour, dust excess off, then dip into the beaten eggs, then coat with the bread crumbs, pressing lightly so it will stick.
Heat a large frypan with two tablespoons of EVOO and one tablespoon of butter. Add the veal and fry until golden then repeat on the other side. You may need to do this in batches unless you have a very large pan.
Serve with potato salad garnished with raw onions.
You have to love a place which can somehow absorb multiple film and tv shoots while going about its everyday business without even a starstruck murmur, and every day we are here new locations spring up on street corners without any of the fuss or security cordons that you see in other cities.
It’s all of a piece in Vienna, in which beauty and quality of life for all co-exist in a mutual quest for happiness you don’t often find and it’s expressed in high art too as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which was written and first performed here and Gustav Klimt’s iconic ‘Beethoven Frieze’ which is on permanent exhibition in the Art Nouveau masterpiece of the Secession building, are both about that same search.
I like to think that’s no coincidence.
“The yearning for happiness is assuaged in poetry”. Detail from Gustav Klimt’s ‘Beethoven Frieze’.
Thank you, Marco. Claire and I are planning to go to Vienna in the near future and this is a wonderful introduction. We will go in pursuit of happiness - and, thanks to this excellent article, I'm sure we will find it. Hitherto, my knowledge of the city was confined to the recollections of my parents, who lived there when my father was in the Foreign Office, immediately after the war. The highlight of their time there was a trip down the city's sewers, made famous by the epic film The Third Man.
Sounds wonderful!
I haven't made it there yet, but one of my all time favorite Brooklyn places was an Austro-Hungarian bar & restaurant called Cafe Steinhof. Apparently, it's named after a Vienna neighborhood famed for a large mental hospital...Viennese joke about "going to Steinhof" the way generations of New Yorkers talked of "winding up in Bellevue".
Sadly, the business didn't survive the pandemic lock down. I know in the grand scheme of things, one less place to buy beer and goulash is hardly a tragedy. But it still hurts whenever I go by that corner 😢