Wednesday 1 July 2015

Vienna: The Royal City of Austria with Dynamic Public Transport

Vienna, the capital city of Austria, formally known as the Republic of Austria, is situated at the east side of Danube River. The city is famous for its world class artistic and intellectual legacies that shaped the current face of Austria. There are many historical names who had contributed substantially in making Vienna an imperial city. With 1.7 million population, Vienna is also the biggest city of Austria. After huge development and progress, Vienna has become a focal center of country’s economic, culture and political activities. The city still persevered the colossal imperial places that have been listed in UNESCO world Heritage list.

To explore this mega imperial city, one ought to select an efficient transport system and if you have ample time in Vienna, public transport is the most suitable option to travel around the city. Vienna is equipped with well-developed transport network that includes buses, trains, trams and underground lines. All these excellent modes of traveling are quite efficient to take their traveler almost anywhere in the city with no time limit.

Wiener Linien is the public transport company in Vienna which is officially operating 5 undergrounds, 29 trams, and 90 bus lines. Among 90 bus lines, 24 lines, used for night lines which only operate between 12:30 am to 5:00 am.  The underground line has remained operational even at holidays and weekends for passengers 24/7. The fleet of Wiener Linien totally consists of over 500 tram carts and 500 buses. Vienna public transport is also part of transport association in the eastern region of Austria which split eight zones of this region and made one full zone for travelling in Vienna. To travel around this zone, a single ticket is valid in one way.

Tickets are available at ticket machines at different spots at underground stations and also at the shops of tobacco and cigars items. After boarding into bus or tram, you can also purchase tickets at bit increased rate. Besides tickets, passes are also available for long traveling and anyone can avail them at weekly, monthly and annual basis, round the clock. You can also book for Vienna airport transfers for roaming the streets.
In the nutshell, Vienna is the city of historical emperors and imperial tourist places and if you are not in a rush, public transport is the ultimate option to travel around this royal city.

Tuesday 5 May 2015

World Famous Museums of Austria

The Republic of Austria is a European country bounded by land on all sides. It has Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia and Switzerland as its neighbors. Austria is rich in its history and hence it is a country dotted with many museums. There are numerous world renowned museums that continue to draw thousands of tourists to Austria each year. Below is given a list of the top museums in terms of importance and tourist gathering.


Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna)

Located near the Hofburg Palace, it is a very famous art gallery which houses famous paintings by Rubens, Durer, Tintoretto, Van Dyck, Veronese and many others. It is primarily the collection of the Hapsburg Dynasty. This museum has an impressive collection of many well-known Spanish, Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German and French artists.

MuseumsQuartier (Vienna) 




Museums Quartier consists of a complex of museums which houses stunning pieces of art and architecture. There are three major museums, namely Kunsthalle Wien, Leopold Museum, and MUMOK (Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation). It is mainly a storehouse of modern art and architecture. A visit to Vienna is not considered complete without visiting this spectacular complex of museums.

Mozart’s Geburtshaus (Salzburg)

This is the house where the musical great Mozart was born and spent his early childhood. This is specially the area of interest of music lovers and all fans and followers of Mozart. His clothes, belongings, items of personal use, books, musical instruments, even his first viola is displayed here. Even a strand of his hair has been put on display here. Geburtshaus in Salzburg is considered to be the pilgrimage center for music lovers and fans of Mozart.

Mauthausen (Upper Austria)

This museum unlike all the others mentioned above, evokes fear and disgust, for it was the site during World War 2, where 2,00,000 Austrian Jews were heartlessly murdered by the Germans. Mauthausen was a concentration camp by the river Danube which has been preserved for the modern generation to see for themselves the torture and inhuman behaviour that were meted out to the Austrian Jews at the time of the  Holocaust.


Tiroler Volkskunst-Museum (Innsbruck)

 
This museum houses the most impressive collection of Tyrolean artifacts. It is located in an abbey which dated back to the sixteenth century. The Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque era are quite evident in these priceless artifacts.