House of travel Northern, Central & Eastern Europe Brochure 2017 | Page 22

Experience
Austria
A ustria
Fast Facts
Country Name: Austria
Population: 8.5 Million
Capital: Vienna
Currency: Euro
Time Zone: 10 hours behind New Zealand
(except during daylight saving)
Electricity: Current is 230V, 50HZ
Plug is a 2 point round-pin adaptor
Festivals and Events 2017
18
17-22 Jan Hahnenkamm-Rennen, Kitzbuhel
26 Jan-05 Feb Mozart Week, Salzburg
May Franz Schubert Choir Competition
& Festival. Vienna
02-05 Jun Salzburg Whitsun Festival
19 Jul-20 Aug Bregenz Festival, Lake Constance
20-22 Jul Pflasterspektakel, Linz
blends alpine scenery with an atmosphere of lost empires and past
grandeur. Nowhere is the sense of history stronger than in the capital Vienna, the
seat of wealth and power for the Hapsburg royal dynasty. Hear it in the angelic
voices of the Vienna Boys’ Choir and see it in the rippling muscles of the Spanish
Riding School’s beautiful stallions. It’s even tangible in the waft of coffee aromas and
the sinful richness of a slice of Sacher-Torte in a Viennese Kaffehaus.
Vienna’s modern face offers treats like the quirky and colourful Hundertwasserhaus,
a unique building designed by the eccentric architectural genius Hundertwasser,
featuring undulating floors, trees growing inside and a grass-covered roof.
Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart, has music in its very soul, and also boasts
Baroque architectural masterpieces including one of Europe’s largest castles, the
Hohensalzburg Fortress. Further to the west, nestled among the mountainous
Austrian Tyrol, lies Innsbruck. Venture beyond its medieval alleyways and
glittering 15th century Golden Roof for your own “Climb Every Mountain” moment
as you wander through a flower-filled alpine meadow and past chalets bedecked
with cascades of geraniums. Austria shares borders with nine countries, from tiny
Liechtenstein to Hungary, linked to Austria by the mighty Danube. This makes it the
perfect launch pad: board a boat in Vienna and cruise upstream into Germany, or
head south all the way to the Black Sea.