Vienna

Passing Palais after identical Palais from Passau to Bratislava, Austria certainly sets the style of architectural design amongst it’s annexed neighbours. The Hapsburgs once monopolised this vast swath of Europe; from Spain to Romania the empire built grandiose stone-hewn structures to celebrate their nobility and dominance, just cycle the Danube and you’ll see what I mean. By European standards the Hapsburgs were the alpha-males of empirical tact, expanding and conquering with all the finesse of professional Risk players.

Wiener Staatsoper

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

OBB Wien West

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

The empire however (as empires so often prove) could not withstand the sands of time, and after brief resurgences in the mid-18th and early-20th centuries effectively withdrew from their sprawling empirical roots to settle in a whimsical bubble of historical reminiscence. With wine. Lots of wine.

The Butterfly Haus

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Smashed to pieces in the still of night

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Forgoing the obvious musical and art references for which Vienna, and indeed Austria, is world renowned, to walk through Vienna is to pass back through time to an era where village ‘curtain-twitcher culture’ exists hand-in-hand with a modern, technological city pulse.

Chair swings

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Just your average midday public pole dance

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

A modern coffee bar

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Behind the Naschmarkt

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Pick any map grid in Vienna and you’re never too far from the shadows of awe-inspiring Cathedral spires or monolithic Romanesque churches, or even the arching doorways of cream-stone governmental structures, each grandiose masterpiece casting imposing scars on the surrounding cityscape.

Stephansdom

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

The Albertina

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

TUC Von Schlossenhauser

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

But turn a corner from these tourist hot spots, away from the hordes of Black Mirror cultists and new-money waist coats, and one discovers a Vienna of antiquated cobble-stoned streets bustling with old-money fur coats, where wooden-decked tabacs and pokey red-leathered wine bars spill cigar smoke and Gemischter Satz from their slightly ajar single windows.

S-Bahn tracks

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Probably Schnaps

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Delve deeper and one discovers archaic antiques stores tucked away up street alleyways harbouring skeletal remains of Austria’s chequered history, where cobwebbed german fairtales share frontage with sparkling crystal glassware.

Karlskirche ceiling detail

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

A Summer Storm

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Vienna is a fascinating European city to explore on foot, but treat yourself to a tram ride in an original 1970s High Floor tramcar (Type E1) and you really have travelled back in time. The #1 to and from Prater Hauptallee is arguably my favourite, whilst other routes to Grinzing and Baden come in a close second.

Praterstern At Night

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Praterstern At Night

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Praterstern In Snow

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

From a social perspective, the daily routine in Vienna is just that; routine. Public transport runs like clockwork, refuse is collected frequently and on-time, the streets are clean, the air is fresh and the water the cleanest in the world. Or so I’m repeatedly told by the locals.

Karlsplatz

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

The city consistently tops-trumps in global leader boards for standards of living, perhaps even offering a lifestyle for which there is no ‘better’ alternative. But dig deeper and one finds an all too familiar elitist conservatism nurturing nationalist idealism, born, no doubt, from historical pride and, indeed, failure. Racism is rife amongst strands of the city hordes, propelled and fuelled by the fear-mongering far-right, spreading their questionable vitriolic monologues throughout Austria’s conservative society.

Neubaugasse

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Under an iron bridge

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Being British, I’m no stranger to this type of political propaganda, our colonial past was arguably built on the manufacture of disinformation, so it comes as no surprise that with Austrian news headlines invariably targeting foreigners and their ‘inherent threat’ to traditional Austrian values, this sickening disease continues to unfold at pace across Europe. I can’t help but think this collective hatred for foreigners is nothing new, that it’s been here all along, lurking in the shadows waiting to be stoked by deluded martyrs. And if this fear and hatred is the social cost of reaching for utopia, I’d settle for somewhere a little less liveable.

A single lit window

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Above The City

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4

Like grapes in the snow

Barnaby Jaco Skinner / Nikon D4
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