There's been more heat to escape this weekend. And so like many other Wieners, we fled the concrete jungle of the city and headed for the piney, shady (and indeed much cooler) hills of the southern Wienerwald, just as Beethoven used to do 200 years ago.
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, but lived most of his professional life in Vienna. During his summers, he would beat the heat by sojourning in the southern villages of Baden and Mödling. At that time, the trip to Mödling alone took three hours. Today it's a mere 15 minutes by train. For those interested, it's now possible to retrace Beethoven's steps through the forest on what is called the
Beethoven-Wanderweg, a hiking trail of light difficulty but immense charm (and lots of shade!).
We actually hiked only a portion of the Beethoven-Wanderweg on Saturday. We started from the
Badener Bahn station in Guntramsdorf, walked up the hill past
Thallern and through the vineyards to the Richardhof, and finally headed north to Mödling where we eventually caught the train back to Vienna.
Enjoying our packed lunches at a pleasant spot under the pines.
We stumbled upon the 800-year-old ruins of the Mödling castle along the way.
Soaking our feet in the Mödlingbach toward the end of the hike. Very refreshing!
2 comments:
How surreal to be retracing the steps of someone so inspiring. Well, you're pretty inspiring too.
Can we go here when I come.... it looks delightful... esp in your heat. BUT,,, to walk his steps....wow!
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