Cloud destination: Vienna
Highlights of the cloud tour: coffee
Many people are under the impression that Vienna is the capital of music and attracts many artists, but in fact, it is also a famous city of coffee. According to the Vienna Tourism Bureau, one of the themes of Vienna tourism in 2021 is "Sensing Vienna", allowing people to feel the colorfulness of Vienna through taste, smell, vision and hearing. Among the taste experiences, Viennese coffee is the most representative. It is said that Vienna's café culture dates back to the Habsburg period, and many artists, writers, and musicians have historically liked to gather in Viennese cafés. Today, café get-togethers are still a way of life for Viennese locals, with 2,250 cafes and 3,500 outdoor cafés and restaurants spread around the city. In 2011, UNESCO listed Vienna café culture as a World Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Strolling through the streets of Vienna, the air is filled with the smell of coffee, and you can drink coffee everywhere, including traditional cafes, café restaurants, coffee dessert shops, and many cafes that are integrated with bookstores, bars, video stores, and cabaret theaters. According to statistics, Vienna has 150 traditional cafes, including the famous Sach Café, Central Cafe, Span Café, Landman Cafe, etc., each offering a variety of coffees, newspapers from various countries and exquisite desserts. Mozart, Strauss, Freud, Schiller, Zweig and others have visited these old cafés. Stepping inside, it's as if you can travel back in time, with stitched wooden floors, marble table coffee tables, waiters wearing black uniforms from centuries ago, and each cup of coffee is accompanied by a free glass of water.
The Central Café is located in the Palace of First, a building designed by the artist Heinrich von Velster. Around 1900, the Central Café was considered a literary café, and literary figures such as Kafka and Arthur Schnitzler were regular visitors. The central café is famous for its cakes, where chocolate blends with almonds for a special treat. Café Spen is a representative of Viennese café culture since 1880 and has retained its original interior design to this day. Treat yourself here with a piece of Spel cake with chocolate almond butter for vanilla and cinnamon. The Landman Café is located on the Ring Road, close to the Synod Building, Town Hall and Burgtheater, and is frequented by celebrities including Sigmund Freud, Marlene Deidley, Romei Schneider, and others.
Not long ago, the Vienna Tourist Board also held a Viennese coffee culture experience with Little Red Riding Hood, an Austrian national treasure coffee brand. It is said that in the mid-19th century, when people were still using their own stoves to roast coffee beans, a man opened the first grocery store selling spices and coffee beans in the center of Vienna, and in 1891, the first modern roasting factory was set up, and Little Red Riding Hood Coffee was born. Today, Little Red Riding Hood coffee products are a souvenir for many tourists when they leave Vienna.
Beijing News reporter Qu Xiaoyi
Edited by Li Zheng Proofreader Liu Jun
Photo courtesy of Vienna Tourist Office