Austria

Austria is an exceptionally beautiful country, but also an exceptionally expensive country. Because of Austria's Hapsburg roots the country is monumental as it relates to architecture and landscaping. The mountains help to bring out the ascetic beauty as well. We traveled to Austria in 1999 as part of a greater tour of Central Europe. We returned twenty years later to Vienna, on a cooler day in 2019. We also traveled to the stunning cities of Salzburg and Melk in 2019.

Once the center of power for the massive Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was the home of the Hapsburg Kings and Queens that dominated Central Europe for decades. After its defeat in World War I, in 1918 the country was reduced to a small republic. In 1938, it was rejoined into a greater Germany after being annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938. When Germany was defeated in 1945, the country was occupied by the Allies. Austria's cold war status remained unclear for a decade, there after. Finally, in 1955 a treaty was signed that ended the occupation and recognized Austria's independence. A constitutional was signed that same year declaring the country's "perpetual neutrality" in the Cold War, as a condition for Soviet military withdrawal. Following the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 and Austria became a member of the European Union in 1995. Austria entered the European Monetary Union in 1999.






Salzburg 2019


Melk 2019


Vienna 2019


The Hapsburg Castle, Vienna 1999


The Hapsburg Gardens


The Hapsburg Gardens