Vienna

Vienna, a city saturated in music and lavish splendour, a perfect cultural destination. Although renowned for it’s royal elegance, palaces and upper class extravagance, the city has shrugged off any imposing remnants of stuffiness to transform into an extremely vibrant city enjoyed by young and old alike. Vienna is packed with music, exciting nightlife, dazzling architecture and some of the world’s best museums. For culture there is St.Stephen's Cathedral, considered to be Austria`s Gothic masterpiece with stunning architecture and eerie catacombs. A must see, if only to climb up it’s 343 steps to a height of 136.7m for amazing panoramic views of the city. To fully appreciate the beauty of this city however, Vienna is best explored on foot. Drink in the Art Nouveau buildings, such as the Majolikahaus, in the very city where the style was born or stroll through the landscaped park at Schloss Schonbrunn, home to the oldest zoo in the world. Vienna drips with culture. It boasts over 50 museums, including the Kunsthistoriches Museum containing pieces by Dürer, Titian and Breughel. There are grand palaces, the Vienna Boys Choir and the Vienna Philharmonic alongside fine restaurants and traditional Austrian coffee-houses a big part of Austrian culture.

Also not to be missed is the Spanish Riding School in the Hofburg. The school is renowned for it’s white Lipizzaner stallions which carry out complex dressage manoeuvres to the beautiful sounds of Mozart and Strauss. Vienna is also famed for it’s antique markets and shops. For a superb shopping experience, rummage through the Naschmarkt Flea Market. On Saturday’s the stalls are piled high with curios of all shapes and sizes a bargain hunters dream. Everybody knows however, that Vienna is most noted for it’s exquisite balls. The very second New Year chimes in, the balls and festivals begin and during Carnival season, there are over 300 to attend with mysterious masked processions and dances, the most famous being the Opernball. If all those balls generate a hunger, there is always the city’s most famous culinary export to try - sample the Wiener Schnitzel followed by some calorie-laden Sachertorte to top off a cultural if not sensual visit to beautiful Vienna.

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