Walhalla memorial, high above the Danube River

10 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Ingo Steinbach/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Ingo Steinbach/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Walhalla is a hall of fame that honors laudable and distinguished people, famous personalities in German history – politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists of the “German tongue“. The hall is housed in a neo-classical building above the Danube River, east of Regensburg, in Bavaria. The Walhalla is named for Valhalla of Norse mythology. It was conceived in 1807 by Crown Prince Ludwig, who built it upon ascending the throne of Bavaria as King Ludwig I. Construction took place between 1830 and 1842, under the supervision of architect Leo von Klenze. The memorial displays some 65 plaques and 130 busts of persons, covering 2,000 years of history – the earliest person honored is Arminius, victor at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD).   read more…

Theme Week Vienna – Donau City

15 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

DC Tower in 2013 © Rftblr/cc-by-sa-3.0

DC Tower in 2013 © Rftblr/cc-by-sa-3.0

Donau City, or Vienna DC, is a new part of Vienna‘s 22nd District Donaustadt, next to both the Reichsbrücke and the left bank of the Danube‘s 21.1 km new channel, Neue Donau. Construction work for the first building on this site, the Andromeda Tower, started in 1996. Although the Danube river has been inextricably connected with Vienna, for centuries, it had played only a subordinate role in the city of Vienna. Unlike in many other cities, the Danube River, because of the numerous floods it regularly caused, was omitted from the urban area. Buildings grew up in Vienna on both sides of the Danube – but not up to the Danube. Only after extensive flood-control engineering and the creation of the New Danube relief channel, with Danube Island, in the 1970s, was the surrounding cityscape of the Danube of interest to builders.   read more…

The Benedictine abbey Stift Melk in Lower Austria

2 March 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  4 minutes

Park © Veleius

Park © Veleius

Melk Abbey is an Austrian Benedictine abbey, and one of the world’s most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Danube in Lower Austria, adjoining the Wachau valley.   read more…

Belgrade, the capital of Serbia

3 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Railway Museum © Uncle buddha

Railway Museum © Uncle buddha

Belgrade is the capital of Serbia. As the largest city of Serbia, it is the country’s principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. It has an urban population of 1.2 million, while the metropolitan area has more than 1.7 million people, making it one of the largest cities of Southeast Europe. The city lies at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. Its name in English translates to White City.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top