Travel Tuesday - Week 3 - The Austrian National Library - Vienna, Austria

TRAVEL TUESDAY

This week for Travel Tuesday, we are heading back to Vienna, and the Austrian National Library. I visited during my holiday in April (I also visited a really cute and quirky bookstore, you can see my review by clicking the link). 

Vienna is the Capital City of Austria and this means that it is a great all-around tourist city. Perfect for a weekend city break, we spent 2 nights there and had plenty to see, do, and explore. We went on riverside walks and had a delightful brunch at a riverside cafe, called Kylo, which had a lovely terrace overlooking the peaceful riverside. Here's the link to Kylo, if you're visiting Vienna and can make time for brunch here, I'd recommend it! 

It also wouldn't be right to visit Vienna without coffee and beer. Of which there were plenty. Magic Mike, my other (and occasionally better) half, is a craft beer lover and this was a haven for him! So many great places for whatever mood you may be in. Google Maps never got it wrong for us :). The travel options are great and it's a good city for walking (or hiring a bike, it's very cycle friendly). 

Anyway, the National Library! It's in a great, easily accessible location - only a few minutes walk from St Stephen's Cathedral (we didn't go inside here but regret that decision a little, as it looked incredible from the outside). 

The library is set in multiple buildings around a square, very regal looking, and the entrance fee set us back about 15 Euros. They do have student prices but beware, if you're an old student (like me, at 37!) you won't be eligible for student prices, as they are only valid for students under 25. This might be different elsewhere in Vienna/Austria but it was certainly the case here. Let's just pretend I didn't think the cashier was complimenting me on my complexion when she incredulously asked my age, and move swiftly on.  

What to say about the library itself? The State Hall to be more specific. 200,000 books are held here and the setting is absolutely beautiful, ornate, and really, quite humbling. Given the age and provenance of the books, there's no touching or roaming the stacks allowed, so it's more like a museum (though there is a reference library here too, which we didn't visit). 

The library also showcases art/music/literature at different times throughout the year. When we visited, State Hall was also home to an exhibit celebrating 200 years since the birth of the composer, Anton Bruckner. One word of advice, follow the exhibit in the correct order, we ended up playing out a Benjamin Button-style visit on the poor guy and learned about his life and achievements from death to birth. It was unique but a little confusing (and once we had started, we felt obliged to continue!). 

We were there for around 90 minutes in total, which was plenty of time to soak in the ambiance and explore the exhibits at an easy pace. There were no queues either, which is always a pleasant surprise for tourist locations. This was in April though, so I would expect it to be more busy during peak season. 

If you enjoy sprinkling a little culture in your city breaks, the Austrian National Library is well worth a visit. Here's the link to their website for tickets, pricing, and information. 

Have you visited? What exhibits did you see? Any great Vienna recommendations for my next visit?

If, by some stroke of luck, you made it to the end of this and thought "Wow, what a great post, I'd love to read more!" you can FOLLOW MY BLOG by clicking the link and subscribing :) I also post bookish content on Instagram. Happy reading!

Travel Tuesday - Week 1 - Vienna, Austria - Shakespeare & Company Booksellers

TRAVEL TUESDAY

Time for the first installment of Travel Tuesday! 

What a way to start, with beautiful Vienna. I visited the city in April 2024 as part of a jaunt around some European gems. Vienna is the capital city of Austria and sits on the river Danube. Vienna is famous for its ties to the arts, especially music, with Mozart and Brahms being just a snippet from a long list of famous resident composers and musicians. 

Our visit consisted of copious Weiner Schnitzel and visits to microbreweries, sampling the local beers, in addition to fuelling my literary obsession. I made it my mission to visit some unique and unusual bookstores while traveling, and boy does Shakespeare & Company tick all of my boxes. I also visited the Austrian National Library, which was incredible and will be the subject of a future installment of Travel Tuesday.

It's in a really accessible part of the old town of Vienna and gives old-style English pub vibes (with the hanging Shakespeare placard outside). After a brief celebratory jump up and down, clapping, I couldn't wait to go inside!

This bookstore specialises in English language books and what I loved about it was the absolute lack of order in the books. They're in stacks, on bookshelves, in boxes, wherever you look there are more books. This is great if, like me, you pick books based on cover art/title, read a bit of the blurb, and then buy if it takes your fancy. If you want a specific author or title, their staff are very knowledgeable and helpful. 

There are little rooms to wander through and get lost in the stacks and although quite small, the store is packed to the ceiling with volume after volume. I spent a good half hour simply running my fingers across spines (not as creepy as it sounds!) and made my way to the only section of the store that had signage - English translations of Austrian books. 

To give myself some boundaries while travelling, I limited myself to one book buy per city (a good decision, that I regularly cursed myself for!). I also wanted to find authors from that country rather than picking up books I could easily find closer to home. My choice of book from Shakespeare&Co. was A Game of Chess and Other Stories - Stefan Zweig which now has pride of place on my bookshelf. I loved this book and all of the stories, happily rating it 5*. I'll do a full review and post a link here when it's available. 

This is one of my favourite bookstores, no razzle-dazzle, just a good, old-fashioned hotch-potch of books. Having organised chaos allows readers to discover books they didn't know they needed and the vibe was relaxed and peaceful. No sales tactics, just readers quietly perusing and the familiar muted hum of bookish conversation. 

Shakespeare and Company has a website with maps and public transport information to help you find your way there. 

If, by some stroke of luck, you made it to the end of this and thought "Wow what a great post, I'd love to read more!" you can FOLLOW MY BLOG by clicking the link and subscribing :) I also post bookish content on Instagram. Happy reading!