Austria

Visited: continuously since 1985

Duration of visit: 60 days

Capital city: Vienna

Population: 8.8 million (2022)

Austria travel blog reading time: 8 minutes

• Shopping in Graz, especially before Ikea was established in Slovenia.
• Attending a concert of my favorite band, Dire Straits, at the largest stadium in Vienna.
• The capital Vienna – one of the best cities to live in Europe. The place where I meet friends, do business or go for a concert.
• Superb skiing slopes, where I improved my skiing skills through the years.
• Business meetings in different factories around Austria: Vienna, Graz, Wiener Neustadt.
• Salzburg – the Old Town with medieval and baroque buildings and Mozart legacy.

Austria is my neighboring country, for that reason I have considered it as a place where I would go shopping, working, visiting a friend, skiing or flying out from its airports in Vienna, Klagenfurt or Graz. I have never been focused on sightseeing, visiting museums, or exploring Austria’s many landmarks and places to visit.

Still, my journey through its diverse regions showed me why one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe all year round.

In the 19^th century, Austria was one of the most powerful countries in the world. The total area of this multinational hegemon was 698,700 km², which is almost 8 times the size of today’s Austria.

Despite being a much smaller country these days, Austria is still a role model for my homeland Slovenia, especially in areas of economy, nature protection, winter tourism promotion and the quality of life standards. Even more famous than Austria as a country are probably the most recognized Austrians, who have left their mark across politics, art, science, and sport.

From Sigmund Freud, father of modern psychology and the founder of psychoanalysis to the great composer – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, formula 1 title holder multiple times – Niki Lauda, German dictator Adolf Hitler and Arnold Schwarzenegger – actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician.

My first memories of Austria go back to my second or third grade, when we were skiing on Petzen mountain next to Bleiburg, just across the Slovenian border. I was already a good skier at that time, but most in Slovenia most of the lifts were in poor condition and the ski tracks were short.

Petzen doesn’t have so many lifts, but the ski track from the top of the mountain down to the valley is really long and it can be very demanding at some sections. The ride up on a lift was so long that we got covered with a blanket while seated in a chairlift. Many years later, when I also visited other ski slopes in Saalbach, Kitzbühel, Flachau, Obertauern and Nassfeld, I realized that Petzen was a very basic ski center according to Austrian standards.

Vienna is one of the places with the highest quality of life index in Europe and also worldwide. High purchasing power, low rents, good health care, many green areas, pedestrians and cyclist friendly city. The blend of Baroque architecture from the 17^th and 18^th century with modern buildings, along with a variety of things to do, has made the city very attractive to me during my occasional visits.

I never visited Vienna purely as a visitor to explore museums, castles, parks or other highlights. It was either on a business trip, visiting friends, going to a concert, shopping, in transit or formalities at various embassies. I enjoyed more a specific event or meeting than a historical tour, opera house or paying a visit to one of the museums.

I was only 18 years old, a big fan of Dire Straits and tempted to see the rock band live on a concert. When they were playing at Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna, I joined a group of like-minded fans in Ljubljana and fell into delirium when seeing Mark Knopfler and his band for the first time live in my life. It was a good concert with nice atmosphere. I was full of energy and excited to enjoy my favorite band for almost three hours.

More than twenty years later, the same stadium, similar atmosphere, but much further from the stage, I was entertained by Bruce Springsteen. Even though I arrived late to the concert and the view was not the best, the Boss was still in great shape. I was not a teenager any more, but feeling almost as one, while surrounded with pretty older crowd of Mamas and Papas. The Boss really gave a show and after almost three and a half hours the fans look more tired than him.

A list of the main landmarks and tourist attractions in Vienna is long: Schönbrunn Palace, Historic Center of Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Belvedere Museum, The Hofburg, Schonbrunner Gardens, State Opera and more.

Due to my limited interest in museums and historic places to visit, I have only entered Schönbrunn Palace and St. Stephen’s Cathedral in the Old Town, for me, the most charismatic buildings in all Vienna.

During the Grand Tour around Schönbrunn Palace, one of the highlights of Vienna, I walked through. Grand apartments were occupied by Franz Joseph, Elisabeth and Maria Theresa. The self-guided audio tour took me through their private apartments, terminating in glorious Hall of Ceremonies. It’s maybe not as fancy or decorative as other royal palaces in Europe, but it’s well preserved and decorated with style.

Franz Joseph, the longest-reigning emperor of Austria, was born here and spent most of his life there, until his death in 1916.

After the downfall of Habsburg monarchy in 1918 the palace became the property of the newly founded Austrian Republic and was preserved as a museum.

In Vienna, you can’t go without visiting one of the cafés or tasting the famous Austrian cakes or Kaiserschmarrn – a true highlight named after Kaiser Franz Josef, who was a big fan of it. A lightly sweetened pancake cut in small pieces is served as a dessert or as a light lunch alongside apple sauce. It contains raisins or dried cranberries. It is sold at restaurants, cafeterias or specialized street stands.

One of the more famous pastry shops is Demel cafeteria, which is proud of its tradition since 1888, serving specialties such as cream cakes, scones & strudels. I walked around nicely decorated saloons, where all kind of chocolates, sweets, Kaiserschmarrn and cakes are exhibited.

The most popular cakes are the Original Sacher-Torte (a chocolate cake with apricot jam filling, traditionally eaten with whipped cream), Mozart cake with marzipan and pistachios, and of course Apfelstrudel (apple strudel).

Shopping connected me to Austria even before skiing. When Slovenia was still part of ex-Yugoslavia and Tito’s economic policy orientated the country to self-sufficiency, people were forced to buy most of non-essential product across the border.

I remember travelling with my mum and dad to the town of Bleiburg in the south Austrian state of Carinthia. We were buying from chocolate, bananas and pineapples to coffee, detergent, toilet paper and grass mowers. We brought it all over the heavily guarded and supervised Austrian border.

It depended on the goodwill of the customs officers whether we would pay any import duties while crossing the border or not. Usually, we were lucky and avoided taxes or duties, since the government employees understood our desperation.

Years later, when Slovenia became an independent country in the 1990s, it was much easier to cross the border and we were going all the way to Graz to specialized store chains, such as Metro and Kika. Metro store was full of Slovenes and they even hired staff to speak Slovenian language.

Doing business in Austria has never been easy. Professionalism, punctuality and very high standards are the most important assets needed to be successful. I was even recruiting a local salesman to cover the market for commercial printing products, while working as a Commercial Director in the biggest printing company in Slovenia.

Austrian people are knowledgeable about all parameters of doing business, very well paid and aware of their strong points. They are always on time, polite, dress neatly and speak respectfully, being rather conservative.

Even though Germans and Austrians speak the same language, they are nonidentical. Austrians prefer straightforward communication and direct questions. All of this reflects in doing business. Long-term relationship is more important than a one-time opportunity for profit. Customers are very loyal to their brands or suppliers.

Salzburg is Austria’s second biggest city and arguably as famous as Vienna for its historical role and numerous places to visit. The most famous citizen, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is a synonym of the city.

A genius composer, classical music master, who is considered one of the most important figures in the history, was born in the center of today’s historical old town. His birth house and an apartment, where he grew up, are converted to museums with detailed description of his life, family environment and his legacy.

Beside talent, performance and incredible achievements at a very young age, one of the most impressive facts about his life is the amount of time, he spent traveling around Europe. One-third of his life was dedicated to travel in harsh conditions to visit opera houses and royal families in Italy, France, Eastern Europe and especially Vienna, where he settled down after his talent was not appreciated accordingly in Salzburg any more. No wonder why his mum died during a trip to Paris and why he passed away so young at the age of 35.

If any of Mozart’s descendants were still alive today, they could easily sustain themselves from royalties of Mozartkugeln chocolate and liquors, opera performance, museum tickets or commission from many Mozart branded products on sale around Salzburg and Vienna.

Austria is not only one of the best places to live and work, but also offers many places to visit and things to do, making it a great destination for vacations all year round. From winter sports to summer music festivals, cycling and camping opportunities to historical monuments, museums and famous personalities stories.

It is not cheap, but the service is good and people know, how to treat visitors. I will eventually return to Austria and complete the list of sights with museums and some beautiful outdoor places. However due to proximity and unique connection with my homeland, Austria will never be a typical tourist destination for me.