Metropole - October 2017

CITY LIFE

“B

limey!” exclaimed Iain, a seasoned hill

runner from Scotland. “Incredible that

there are such steep hills so close to

Vienna,” he said as we scrambled up a

merciless shortcut. Starting out from

Mödling, just a few stops on the S-Bahn commuter

train from the city center, we had walked past the rock

climbing area, where a young family was testing their

skills, up the unspoiled, serene valley of Kiental in the

Wienerwald (Vienna Woods).

At last our reward was in sight: the hut on Mount

Anninger (675 m), where affable staff awaited with

homemade pumpkin soup and other hearty fare.

Since its embrace by the public in the mid-19th

century, hiking in the Wienerwald has become a tradi-

tional favorite of the Viennese – a chance to enjoy the

good life in the green hills – and a long line waited pa-

tiently at the Waldhütte. In his delightful book, The

Spell of the Vienna Woods, Austrian émigré journalist PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: SHUTTERSTOCK; WIENMUSEUM; SHUTTERSTOCK.

Vienna’s

famed forest

brings the

pleasures of

the wild

within reach

BY ROXANNE POWELL

Into the Woods