Top 8 Things to do in Grinzing, Vienna Region

Reviewed By 476jael - Long Island, United States

Kahlenberg has been a very popular destination for many visitors to Vienna, especially those who associate Vienna Woods (Wienerwald) with Beethoven’s “Pastorale Symphony”, Johann Strauss’ “Tales from Vienna Woods” walz, and Schubert’s “Lindenbaum” song. Kahlenberg can be easily reached from Vienna’s city center by public transportation. For example, you can take U-Bahn Line 1: Red line (Oberlaa direction) from Stephansplatz to Karlsplatz Station (1st stop)  Transfer to U-Bahn Line 4: Green line (Heiligenstadt direction)  Get off at the last stop (Heiligenstadt Station)  Take “Bus 38A” (Kahlenberg) waiting just outside the U-Bahn station.  Go all the way to the last stop (Kahlenberg) [caution: Don’t get off the bus until the hilltop stop where everyone gets off the bus, because there is an earlier hilltop bus stop which resembles Kahlenberg stop]  Walk along a path (rightward direction) to the small church on the left side (St. Joseph on Kahlenberg)  Pass the church, and follow the path hugging along the church on your left side until the observation area shows up. When we visited Kahlenberg last September, we used the above combination of U-Bahn and bus rides. Breathtaking vista of the beautiful and peaceful Vienna Woods and Danube River from the observation area was priceless, especially when we associated the scenes with beautiful music of Beethoven, Schubert, and Strauss. After admiring the spectacular scenery for a whild, we decided to rest at a café there over ice cream. There were 2 cafe/restaurants at the observation area facing each other. We chose the café on the left hand side, facing the Vienna Woods, which seemed to be better than the othere café for light deserts. When we sat down at the table, waiters simply passed by our table without trying to take our order. We were a bit puzzled. Then, we noticed a small sign in the middle of our table; “Self Service”, That meant that we were sitting at the Self-Service table, not a full service table. So we simply went into the café and bought our ice cream from the counter, and returned to our table with the ice cream. After our ice cream break, we went back to the observation area to view the Vienna Woods again in a different light this time. The peaceful wooded field surrounding us was the critical battle field to determine the fate of Hapsburg Dynasty. On September 12, 1683, Polish King Jan III Sobieski’s light cavalry emerged on Kahlenberg hilltop, and launched a massive attack on Ottoman Turkish forces holding Vienna under prolonged seize. Polish cavalry, fighting along with forces of Holy Roman Empire & Hapsburg Dynasty, defeated the dazed Ottoman Turkish forces, and saved Vienna and Hapsburg Dynasty. This battle has been known as the Battle of Vienna, and there has been annual commemorative ceremony held on this Kahlenberg hilltop in mid-September. To our luck, we happened to witness such a ceremony unfolding right in front of us on the way back to the Kahlenberg bus stop. A large group of people in traditional Polish and Austrian costumes were conducting the ceremony. While watching the ceremony, we wondered what would have happened if Vienna could not be saved from the firm grip of Ottoman forces then. There would have been no 18th-19th century musical and cultural Golden Age in Austria, which would have been tremendous loss not only to Austria and Europe but also to the entire world. I would highly recommend everyone to visit Kahlenberg during their visit to Vienna.