Hiking tour to Mödling and Baden from Vienna
Esperienza internazionale : Austria
Mödling is a beautiful, small, historic town with old buildings and castles and Baden is the famous spa town where Austrian Emperors used to spend their summers enjoying hot springs. Ludwig van Beethoven loved Baden so much that he lived there for a couple of summers.
The hike take us from Mödling over hills and through woods, with stunning views of wine villages and the surrounding landscape, and parts of the legendary Wienerwald or Vienna Woods. 4.5 hours of walking and some parts going uphill (about 400m difference in altitude). But, all along the way, we can pause for refreshment and food, in small pubs or Heurigers (typical Austrian wine pubs), all of them serving scrumptious traditional Austrian food, pastry, wine and beer! We go by train from Vienna, which takes approx. half an hour (one direction) and costs only about 10.- Euros per Person (for both directions).
Included in the sites we enjoy in Mödling's well-preserved old town are the pedestrian-only Schrannenplatz and Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Strasse. Once we begin the hike, the Mödling area of the Vienna Woods contains many old castles, including the mammoth Castle Liechtenstein, once owned by the wealthy family who later founded the country of the same name. On foot we also pass by the oldest castle ruins in the area, the hoary Burgruine Mödling, dating all the way back to the 11th century! In still another direction, we can admire the Black Tower (Schwarzer Turm) hovering over Mödling from the Calendar mountains. It was built over 200 years ago and is still privately occupied to this day. Lastly, on the walk between Black Tower and Castle Liechtenstein, one will come across a 200-year-old amphitheatre nearly buried in the woods.
Reaching Baden, we discover a town that was largely destroyed by a fire in 1812 but was excellently rebuilt in a Biedermeier style according to plans by architect Joseph Kornhäusel. Major sites that fill in our triumphant arrival in Baden include The City Theater (Stadttheater) built in 1909 by Ferdinand Fellner. By the time of the First World War, Baden was Vienna's principal resort: where 20 000 came each year, double the town's local population.. In addition to a modern "Curehouse" (Kurhaus), there were 15 separate bathing establishments and several parks. Your guide will fill you in on the strange rituals of Central European spa town experience and on the legendary personalities who came to Baden to recover their health and to enjoy leisure and entertainment, such as the ornate Casino in 1934 and which helped to make Baden the premier resort throughout Austria.
