Vienna was founded as a Celtic settlement around the year 500 BC on the banks of the Danube and later became one of the Roman's most important central European bases. During the Middle Ages, Vienna was the capital of the Babenberg Dynasty. In 1440 the dazzling Habsburg Dynasty took the power and Vienna became their residence. In 1804, during the Napoleonic wars, Vienna became the capital of the Austrian Empire and continued to play a major role in European and world politics.

At the end of the 19th century the golden age of Empire began to decline as Vienna's coffee houses filled with radical intellectuals like Freud, Klimt and Mahler. The Second World War Nazi occupation left scars, but Vienna survived it all to remain a captivating capital that blends Italian romanticism with a Germanic orderliness.

Nowadays Vienna has around 1.8 million and is known to have one of the highest qualities of living worldwide (see Mercer Quality of Living Survey). It is mainly because of the big numbers of green parks, even in the heart of the city, where people can relax. Vienna is also  often said to be „The City of Dreams“ because it was home to one of the world’s greatest interpreter of dreams, psycho-analyst and neurologist professor Sigmund Freud.

Most of the city's tourist attractions are within the largely pedestrianised inner city area, which was once enclosed by the city walls. The walls have been replaced with the Ringstrasse, a wide ring road. Further out in the suburbs is the thrilling  Wiener Prater amusement park with its Giant Ferris Wheel, and the opulent Schönbrunn summer Palace.

Some interesting facts about Vienna:

• The famous Wiener Schnitzel is made only from veal and no other meat (it is protected by Austrian law). Other types of schnitzel are free to be made from pork or turkey, but they may not call themselves a Weiner Schnitzel.

• Vienna is home of the oldest ZOO garden in the world (Tiergarten Schönbrunn was build 1752).
• Vienna is considered to be the birthplace of the modern science of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. You can visit museums dedicated to the work of Sigmund Freud.
• The oldest of the current ball dances - the Viennese Waltz - was emerged in the 2nd half of the 18th century.  There are over 200 balls each year in Vienna held in many beautiful palaces (e.g. in the Hofburg Palace at Heldenplatz). The ball season lasts three months during winter. The internationally best known, the Opera Ball, has been held at the elegant Vienna State Opera since 1877.
• Vienna's most beloved park, the Wiener Prater, is home to the world's oldest wheel, and one of Europe's largest, and offers a great scenic view of Vienna.
• One of the largest cemetery in the world the Zentralfriedhof, located in Vienna, has over 2.5 million tombs and graves, which is almost double the city’s living population. It is the final resting place of some of the most famous music personalities of the world such as Beethoven, Brahms, Gluck, Schubert, Schoenberg, and Strauss.

TIP for a trip out of Vienna:

• Austria can boasts by the highest waterfalls in Europe. They are called the Krimml Waterfalls (380 metres/1,250 feet high) and are located near Salzburg, about 430 km out of Vienna.

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