Official language: German
Capital: Vienna
Currency: Euro
Population as % of total EU: 1.73
Joined EU: 1995

Did you know?

• In Austria, a standard alcoholic drink is defined as one containing 20g of pure alcohol. This is twice the amount of alcohol in the World Health Organisation’s definition and more than twice that of the UK’s (8g).
• The Austrian flag varies depending on who is flying it. When flown by a citizen, it is made up of three horizonal stripes (red, white, red). When flown by the government, it has the addition of an eagle and a coat of arms in its centre.
• Iconic energy drink Red Bull was created in Austria.
• The first ever postcard was published in Austria in 1869, although Austria wasn’t the first country to come up with the idea. That honour goes to Germany, who took so long debating it that Austria pipped them to the publishing post by one whole year.
• Swarovski, the glass company arguably most famous for its crystal jewellery, is headquartered in Wattens in the Austrian Tyrol. In 1995, the company opened museum-theme park Crystal Worlds in the town to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of its founding. Visit to see surreal sights such as The Giant, a crouching man built into a hillside that presides over “Chambers of Wonder” that contain work by artists, designers, and architects, all interpreting crystal in different ways.

I spent a few days in Austria as part of an Interrailing adventure when I was 18. Back then, I had no intention of writing about my travels and, in all honesty, no real idea what I was doing. I was a shy teenager struggling to break out of her shell, keen to see whatever and meet whoever my path might cross. Great fun, but not much use for a blog post.

So, while I have vague memories of zipping around Vienna on a tram and holing up in a repurposed school in Salzburg, I thought it might be best to hand the blog’s reins over to someone with more recent and interesting experiences of the country: my boyfriend Matthew, fellow intrepid traveller and all-around lovely person.

Visiting Austria: a guest post

I almost visited Austria in 2009, when I was transiting through Vienna after one of the longest weeks of travelling I’ve ever had (8 flights in 6 days) and was offered the chance to be bumped to a flight the next day, spending the night in Vienna in exchange for some vouchers. I turned the airline down as I was longing to be in my own bed, but I wish I got that kind of offer more frequently.

Instead, the first time I spent any time in the country was in 2017 when I visited some open source software colleagues in Innsbruck to work together for a week. Of the 15 attendees, only three of us were from non-German speaking countries, so I was very much looking forward to practising my German. Of course, understanding is easier than speaking, so sometimes it took a bit of convincing for people not to switch to English for my benefit, if I was too tired to generate convincing German.

Just after lunchtime, I arrived into a beautifully situated airport and made my way into town to drop things off at my Airbnb. A large group of us were sharing, so we were able to find a really wonderful flat, and as a lot of the appeal of these trips is spending time with people you only speak to online, it gave us a lot of time to chat.

That first night we went out to Cafe Central, a traditional coffee shop that opened in 1876 (a mere 96 years after the first in Innsbruck, and 219 after the first European coffee house), where I did not indulge in the bean water it specialises in, choosing instead a beer and some cake. I presumably had a meal too, but the cake is the memorable bit.

After then staying up late programming, drinking, and having a very annoying song played repeatedly on YouTube, we went to work the next day across Innsbruck. We had to get a tram to get to the office, but the tram stop was right by the building we were staying in and, importantly, there was a supermarket en route that included a hot food deli counter. I love a sausage sandwich as a breakfast on the go, and perhaps the only thing that can beat it is a Leberkässemmel, a type of baked and sliced fine sausage on a white bap. Add a fried egg and I’m in heaven…

Our hosts for the week were Jens and Christine, who Joanna didn’t meet until our trip to Ferarra in 2019, but who I’d known for about ten years at this point. Their office is a beautiful glass and wooden affair, very comfortable for getting work done and discussing how to approach problems. Every lunchtime we’d have some food delivered and sit around talking about the problems we were trying to solve.

At the end of the first day we went to a great Bierstube called Rossbräu for Flammkuchen, burgers and lots of delicious local beer. Beer usually plays a big part in these events, and Innsbruck was no exception.

The second day was similar, but on the third we had a group outing planned. We were going to see some proper engineering, and had booked a tour of the Brennerbasistunnel construction site. The Brenner Base Tunnel, as it’s called in English, is a new railway tunnel between North and South Tirol, across the Brenner pass of the Alps. It began construction in 2007 and, when it opens in 2028, it’ll be the second longest railway tunnel in the world (after the Gotthardbasistunnel in the Swiss Alps).

After stopping off at a truly awful apres-ski bar for a beer while waiting for the minibus, we went to a traditional Tirolean restaurant for lunch. Gasthof Lamm opened in 1520, in a building that was already almost 200 years old. It offers a wide range of traditional food, from beef to veal. I had a spectacular tartare and the building was beautiful, but it’s not very accommodating to plant-based diets, Not one we’re likely to revisit together.

The next day we had another exciting trip planned: after the day’s work we travelled by funicular then cable car to the top of the Seegrube for dinner. Sadly, there wasn’t time to visit the Alpine Zoo, but the railway was very fun. Unfortunately, I felt quite ill that evening, so after looking at the view from 6250 ft, I didn’t eat much and went to bed early.

The final day before heading home involved lots of work, but with people gradually disappearing throughout the day as they went to catch trains and planes home. I took some time with my colleague David to explore the city centre, which is full of beautiful streets and buildings.

We spent the last night with a smaller group, talking over burritos and beers, mainly about the EU and Brexit. Not the most light-hearted subject, but one we’ve now all become used to when visiting other countries.

On the way back to the airport I stopped in at a shop to buy a little something for Joanna; a bottle of pine liqueur. We still have it, and she often brings it out to show people the weirdest alcohol that lives in our cabinets. I’m not sure we’ve had more than a sip of it in three years, though.

I’d been very much hoping to return to Innsbruck in 2020 – the same people were putting on the same event and specifically invited me, but the timing wasn’t great. It was the same week the first draft of my book was due, and I was quite stressed about that. I do wish I’d been able to go though, as they had an amazing week planned, including time at an exclusive spa. Although Innsbruck went into a heavy lockdown due to all the people skiing, this would have been early enough to avoid that. It would have been great to have a last trip before COVID got in the way, but there’s always future years.