A short story about a coincidence and logic and two tourist attractions.
It was July 2012. And later it was August 2017. In July 2012 I came to Grinzing for the first time, by tram from Schottentor. In about 25 minutes I was somehow teleported from the center of Vienna to Tirol. At least that’s what I thought when I arrived in Grinzing. Charming little houses, flowers on window sills, restaurants and a road which leads uphill. A little bit rural, a little bit folksy, definitely like in the mountains. In August 2017 my impressions were the same.
In July 2012 I read that Grinzing means wineries and wine. Ok, so I had to find them. But how? I still can’t figure out why I went to the right when I left the tram. But I did and I found a little street going up the gill. I think that maybe there was some kind of logic in my way of thinking. “Wineries are on the hills, so I have to find a hill first”. The same logic helped me find the same street 5 years later. The street is quite steep and instead of charming houses, you’ll find expensive villas. I figured out that it had to lead to the top of the hill. And it did. But I didn’t expect to find myself in Tuscany. Yep, Tuscany.
Let me explain it: the hill goes down, it’s covered with grapevines. At the bottom of a tiny valley there’s a road and another hill going up. And a villa. Tuscany. Simply Tuscany.
Ok, there’s a vineyard and a villa, so they have to have wine there. They did. In July 2012 I was greeted by a man, who could have been Italian. If my memory serves me right, he was Croatian. My German was far from perfect and so was his English. When I told him I was from Poland he said “Polska? Babcia jest z Polska! BAAAAABCIAAAA!” Translation: Poland? Grandma is from Poland! GRANDMAAAA!”. Grandma came. She was from Poland. And the villa belongs to a plastic surgeon. She claimed he’s the best in town. Judging by his house, he has to be good. Croatian guy served wine, grandma was telling how good the surgeon is and a cat joined us by the table. And I thought that it couldn’t be a coincidence that in my search for wine I ended up in a place with the best view.
In August 2017 I walked the same path. Uphill, passed a house with a funny, “artistic” gate, everything was the same. Tuscany was the same. Funny names of grapevines were the same. Plastic surgeon’s villa was the same. Unfortunately he was on holidays and it was closed. Bad, bad news. But come on, he has to have neighbours! He does. And it’s a totally different world. More like holidays in the countryside. A tiny “restaurant” made in an orchard. Tables underneath trees. A mug of wine for 3 euros. Hammocks, even a small apiary. Portable toilet instead of a villa. I can’t stop thinking about the view from the surgeon’s garden. And about a cat.
If I had to give one advice to someone, who goes to Vienna, I’d say “go to Grinzing, on the main street go to the right, turn left in the street which at first looks like it doesn’t lead anywhere”.
And now two tourist attractions. In Grinzing take a bus (there’s just one), direction Leopoldsberg (it goes to different stops on different hours). Go to the final stop. Go uphill and enjoy the view. Go back to the bus, leave at the stop Kahlenberg. From here Polish king Jan III Sobieski was defending Vienna. There’s a church, a restaurant, a hotel, so much more than on Leopoldsberg. Enjoy the view over Vienna, come to the conclusion that Leopoldsberg is less crowded and simply better. Go back to Grinzing.
View from Leopoldsberg:
You made it till the end of this post, so I’ll share a little secret with you: plastic surgeon’s winery – Buschenschank Worseg. His neighbour – Buschenschank Andreas Wagner.3
