Hungary to Austria Great Continental Railway Journeys

I'm embarking on a new railway adventure

that will take me across the heart of Europe.

I'll be using this, my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, dated 1913,

which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel

for the British tourist.

It told travellers where to go, what to see

and how to navigate the thousands of miles of tracks

criss-crossing the Continent.

Now, a century later, I'm using my copy

to reveal an era of great optimism and energy

where technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing.

I want to rediscover that lost Europe

that in 1913, couldn't know that its way of life

would shortly be swept aside by the advent of war.

My 1913 Bradshaw's in hand,

I'm making a series of journeys across Europe,

seeking out a lost pre-war world.

Today, I'm exploring the once-great empire of Austria-Hungary,

domain of the pre-eminent Habsburg monarchs.

The Habsburgs were one of the most dynamic

and powerful European families.

In the empire's elegant cities...

We get this magnificent view of the Chain Bridge.

..I'll immerse myself in pre-war decadence.

-What a beautiful cafe!

-Isn't it!

And experience Edwardian tourist attractions.

Raar!

Before heading for the hills.

I never expected anything as grand and as magnificent as this.

And the emperor's summer home, from where, in 1914,

Europe departed along the track to disaster.

I think he knew even then that this was going to mean war.

My international itinerary begins in the Hungarian capital Budapest,

then takes me west to Bratislava in Slovakia.

Travelling along the Danube, I'll cross into Austria,

where I'll taste the opulent glamour of Imperial-era Vienna

before continuing on to Salzburg.

Finally, I'll explore the stunning Salzkammergut,

finishing at the spot where a fateful decision sparked a global war

and the end of this extensive European empire.

I'm in Hungary, which, in 1913

formed one half of a vast empire alongside Austria.

My Bradshaw's Guide hints that the Hungarian capital

had historically been two distinct cities.

"Budapest is situated on both banks of the River Danube.

"The part on the left bank of the river is by far the larger,

"though down to the 15th century, it was inferior in size

"and importance to the part on the right bank."

It was the unification of those two parts of the city in the 1870s

that made Budapest the second capital of the empire

and one of Europe's great cities in terms of elegance and power.

The railways also played their part in Budapest's fin-de-siecle boom.

By 1900, Hungary had almost 6,000 kilometres of tracks

fanning out from the capital.

And money was poured into the grand city centre termini.

This is Budapest's Nyugati station, one of three major stations in the city,

built just after Budapest was unified.

And what a statement of confidence it is.

Built by the French engineering firm Eiffel, as in the Eiffel Tower.

I find it absolutely gorgeous,

but it is, these days, rather faded grandeur.

Opened in 1877, this vast, elegant railway palace

told visitors they'd arrived in a city of consequence.

So it's hard to believe that Budapest as we know it

was then just four years old.

To trace the story of its birth,

I'm following my 1913 guidebook

to the west, or Buda side of the Danube,

where I'm meeting historian Laszlo Muntean.

Lazlo.

-Hello.

-Hello, Michael.

-Very good to see you.

And from here, you get such a strong impression

that this was once two distinct cities.

Exactly. We are in the Buda side right now

and we are overlooking the Pest side,

which had been completely separated from the Buda side

by the River Danube.

For centuries, the only way from the west bank,

home to the settlements of Buda and Obuda,

to Pest was by ferry.

In the mid 19th century, the best of British engineering changed that.

It was in 1849 that the two sides were connected

by a permanent suspension bridge, the Chain Bridge.

That would be the one mentioned in my Bradshaw's Guide,

"One of the longest in Europe," it says,

-"and the work of British engineers Tierney and Clark."

-Exactly.

The Chain Bridge is amongst Budapest's iconic landmarks.

And Lazlo's showing me one of the best ways to admire it.

Lazlo, you're absolutely right. As soon as the funicular set off,

-we get this magnificent view of the Chain Bridge.

-Exactly.

The story of this remarkable bridge

began in Industrial Revolution Britain,

then impressing the world with its pioneering constructions

in iron and steel.

Why did the Hungarians turn to British engineers for this bridge?

Well, Hungarian constructors back then,

they didn't have the engineering expertise

to construct a bridge like this.

Just look at the metalwork and the cables and all the suspension rods.

It was the great Hungarian statesman Istvan Szechenyi

who decided to import British technological know-how.

He paid several visits to England.

First in 1815 and then in 1832.

And he was particularly impressed

by William Tierney Clark's

suspension bridges over the River Thames.

Two bridges in particular.

Hammersmith Bridge and Marlow Bridge.

Szechenyi challenged Tierney Clark

to apply his skill to spanning the majestic Danube.

The result was a 202-metre-long suspension bridge,

then amongst the largest in the world.

This was the first bridge that brought the two sides together.

It had, of course, a functional relevance.

It made transportation and commerce much easier,

but also, it had symbolic importance.

The Chain Bridge, the construction of the Chain Bridge

was basically the first step towards the unification

of the cities on the two sides of the river.

While William Tierney Clark designed this engineering triumph,

Scottish engineer Adam Clark was called in to supervise construction.

And his role in the bridge's history

won him a permanent place in Hungarian hearts.

Hungary was part of the Habsburg Empire

and there was a revolution against the Habsburgs in 1848.

Now, the construction of the bridge came to an end in 1849,

which was the year when the revolution was defeated.

During the revolution, the Austrians, not surprisingly,

they wanted to blow up the bridge, which was almost ready.

Adam Clark flooded the chain chambers

and prevented the bridge from being blown up.

All of a sudden, he became a Hungarian national hero,

although he was a Scotsman.

-A canny Scot and a Hungarian hero.

-Exactly.

The bridge helped ignite an economic boom

that ushered in a golden age in Budapest's history.

In 1873, Buda, Obuda and Pest were formally united

and Budapest became the Hungarian capital.

Around the same time, Hungary was granted

a degree of autonomy within the empire,

winning the right to govern its own internal affairs.

In 1904, a new home for the national parliament was completed,

and was still dazzling readers of my guide in 1913.

"The Parliament House," says my Bradshaw's,

"is an immense Gothic pile by the architect Steindl,

"with a splendid facade to the river."

Steindl was greatly influenced by the parliament in London.

And whereas ours looks more like a palace,

his came out looking more like a cathedral.

Inside, it's much more ornate and highly decorated than ours.

I was once here in 1989, the year that communism was crumbling,

and I heard a brave young politician making a speech here,

and I thought to myself,

if ever there's a parliament that deserves a democracy, this is it.

I'm now leaving the west bank of the Danube

and crossing the river to Pest.

At the time of my 1913 guidebook, this part of town

was the beating heart of commercial Budapest.

And places like this vast indoor market, opened in 1897,

would have heaved with customers.

If the city owes some of its engineering and buildings to the west

you have to remember that nonetheless, Budapest

was occupied by the Ottoman Turks for nearly 150 years.

And therefore, as Bradshaw's says, has a semi-Oriental influence,

to which I would add only that that is nowhere to be seen more

than in the food, which is typified by cumin and paprika

and sweet pastries and strudels,

all to be found in this marvellous market,

which seems to owe its architectural influence to a railway station.

These days, Budapest's Great Market Hall

is a magnet for fans of traditional cuisine.

And there's one local speciality I have to try.

-This is langos?

-Yes, this is the langos.

-What is it?

It's a traditional Hungarian bread. It's deep fried.

We have sweet and salty, too.

This deep-fried snack is eaten all over Hungary,

and apparently grew up as a way of satisfying workers

during the bitterly cold winter.

The traditional savoury option is sour cream and cheese,

but these days, you can have it topped with whatever you fancy.

-Thank you very much.

-Enjoy it.

It's lovely and warm, it's just come out of the fat.

He must have put on to it a dozen different ingredients.

I really don't know where to begin. It's absolutely piled high.

How do you like this?

Well, I'm just beginning it at the moment. Do you eat langos?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Many times.

This is to satisfy many tastes from many countries of the world.

It's got a mixture of everything.

As we say in English, everything except the kitchen sink.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Are you enjoying your langos?

-Yes.

-Is it first time you've had it?

-Yes.

-Would you have it again?

Yes. If I will, next time in Budapest, perhaps.

-And you had one, too?

-Yes.

-Were you pleased or disappointed?

I liked it. It was good.

I'm not sure that it's exactly slimming. What do you think?

No, it's definitely not.

The langos ought really to come with a manual on how to eat it

because it's very, very tricky.

Wow! Good, though.

Energised by my lunch, I'm seeking out more of belle epoque Budapest.

One ticket, please.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

Edwardian railway tourists could explore the city

on its state-of-the-art transport system.

I was rather surprised by this entry in my Bradshaw's Guide.

"Underground electric railway between Gellert Ter, which is near the river

"and Varosliget, which is the city park."

In fact, the railway wasn't even new in 1913.

The first line had been built in 1896,

making Budapest the second European city after London

to have an underground railway.

The ambitious project was approved seven years

after London's first underground line opened in 1863.

And 2,000 workers were drafted in to build the tunnels.

I get the impression that the 70 years

before my Bradshaw's Guide was published

was an extraordinary period for Budapest.

The city acquired a new bridge, a new name.

It became a capital, built new railway stations,

a new parliament and a new underground railway.

After a long day marvelling at this thoroughly modern metropolis,

Edwardian tourists would have craved a little rest and relaxation.

And this magnificent complex of baroque buildings

was the perfect place to find it.

The famous Szechenyi baths, one of Budapest's many mineral spas,

opened in the same year my guidebook was published.

Bradshaw's tells me Budapest has bathing establishments

supplied by warm sulphur springs.

If you weren't sufficiently attracted by the boulevards,

by the cafes, by the goulash,

by the ballrooms or by the opera,

then you might come here to take the cure,

or to allow your body to float in the water.

By the late 19th century,

a fashion for water cures had swept the Continent.

And soon, Budapest's bathing culture entered its heyday.

City local Naomi Csondor

is an aficionado of the city's hot-water springs.

-Hello, Naomi.

-Hello. Great to see you.

-Great to see you.

What were these waters supposed to do to you?

This is very good for osteoporosis and for rheumatism.

And it's excellent as a natural multivitamin, as well.

What do the waters contain?

First of all, the sulphur, that we can smell, as well.

And if you taste it, you don't like it

because it's like a bad eggs taste.

We have some magnesium, some calcium, ferrum.

For centuries, the area's mineral springs

were found only on the Buda side of the river.

But in the late 1800s, engineers drilled down beneath Pest city park.

By 1913, the first permanent bath had opened its doors here,

allowing the growing Pest bourgeoisie

access to the hot, healing waters.

The temperature we're in is quite like a bath.

It's a very comfortable warm water.

Is that the natural temperature that it comes from the ground?

It's hard to believe, but the temperature is 79 degrees centigrade, how they find it.

This is still today. But they cool it down.

And so we can bath in it and swim in it and enjoy it.

79 degrees. That's very hot.

-Is that one of the hottest natural waters?

-In Budapest, yes.

But not in the country.

In the 1920s, the medical spa expanded

to include a mixed bathing area.

Today, people hoping to improve their health

mingle with tourists and pleasure seekers

in this extraordinary temple to Budapest's healing springs.

-What are you enjoying about the baths?

-It's nice and relaxing.

-How long have you been in the water?

-Too long, probably.

LAUGHTER

-You should wallow for about three hours minimum.

-No!

-Yes.

If you're talking about taking the water,

it means spending time just relaxing, taking it in.

-So, would you do it again?

-ALL: Definitely!

-I'm going to come back tomorrow.

-Back tomorrow?

-Yeah.

What about all the sights of Budapest?

What about the Parliament Building?

-No.

-Yeah.

-THEY LAUGH

-But the baths is the top thing for you?

-ALL: Definitely!

I certainly understand why they'd want to come back again and again.

A wallow in these waters is the ideal way to end a day

soaking up Budapest's golden age.

Sadly, with the dawning of a new day,

it's time for me to leave this elegant city.

Today, my journey in the footsteps of Edwardian railway tourists

is taking me west.

Following the course of the Danube,

I'm pushing deeper into the heart of early 20th-century Austria-Hungary.

I'm on my way to Bratislava, which is the capital of Slovakia.

But in 1913, it was a part of Hungary

and an historically important city within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

That realm covered many territories and many nationalities.

And I'm anxious to discover more

about the power and the decline of that empire.

I'm travelling along one of the empire's main railway arteries.

And with almost 150 miles to cover,

I'm whiling away the journey with historian Mark Cornwall.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire is often described as the Habsburg Empire.

Who were these Habsburgs?

The Habsburgs were one of the most dynamic

and powerful European families in European history, I suppose.

Um...and they started life

as a small aristocratic family in Switzerland,

but by the 14th century, they were dukes of Austria

and were dukes of Austria for the next 600 years.

By the turn of the 20th century,

the Habsburg lands covered almost half the Continent,

taking in 11 states of present-day Europe,

from Romania in the east

to Switzerland in the west.

The ruler of this vast territory was Emperor Franz Josef,

whose 68-year-reign was longer even than that of our own Queen Victoria.

The rapidly-expanding railway network

was a vital tool for controlling his multinational realm.

This line was opened in 1850.

It was the quickest way to get from Vienna to Budapest

or Budapest to Vienna.

It was also the route that the Orient Express went on.

So for tourists, rich tourists, this was a key line.

But for the Habsburg Empire, what was important,

I suppose for the emperor was that he needed go Budapest regularly.

One alternative was to go by steamer down the Danube,

but that took 12 hours. This took about five hours.

So this was by far the quickest route.

Within the sprawling empire, a dozen languages were spoken,

and a multitude of ethnic groups lived side by side.

But by the time my guidebook was written, growing nationalist

feeling was beginning to loosen the Habsburgs' grip.

Certain nationalities felt that others were more privileged

than them and that caused these tensions in the empire.

Many commentators at the time, in 1913, were very optimistic

and said these tensions are crises of growth, but there were

also certainly pessimistic types who thought that the empire was doomed.

By 1913, Franz Josef was an elderly man, and it was

anticipated his nephew Franz Ferdinand would soon succeed him.

By then, Austria-Hungary was feeling increasingly

threatened by the neighbouring Kingdom of Serbia.

In 1913, Serbia doubled in size, due to various wars in the south east,

and therefore when the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand

was murdered in Sarajevo, Serbia was thought to be behind this

from the point of view of the Habsburgs,

and there was no question about it,

the Habsburg rulers were determined to just go in and crush Serbia.

-And that was the beginning of World War One.

-Exactly.

The First World War would spell the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

But for readers of my 1913 railway guide

that was all in the unimaginable future.

I'm leaving the train at what is today Bratislava,

the capital of Slovakia.

But in my guidebook, it appears under Hungary

and goes by the Hungarian name of Pozsony.

Bradshaw's recommends a visit to what he calls the ancient "Dom,"

dating from 1204.

And here at the main altar is the fantastic history of this cathedral.

19 kings and queens of Hungary who were crowned here,

set out here in Latin,

from Maximilian in 1503 down to Ferdinand V in 1830.

And what they were crowned with...

Is the crown with its distinctive bent cross

that was set upon their heads. No wonder the Hungarians have an

extraordinary sense of national identity and of national destiny.

From the 16th century, the kings and queens of Hungary

were members of the House of Habsburg.

And even after the 1860s, when Hungary won home rule,

Franz Josef reigned in the western half of his realm

as Emperor of Austria, and the east as King of Hungary.

Flowing through the heart of both territories was Europe's

second longest river,

where Edwardian tourists could swap the rails for a leisurely cruise.

Thank you.

My Bradshaw's helpfully reminds me

that Bratislava is beautifully situated on the Danube,

and the river seems the best way to reach my next destination.

Sadly, the paddle steamers that my 1913 guide describes

are no longer in service,

but this modern catamaran is a worthy substitute.

-Hello.

-Tickets and passports, please.

-Oh, passport?

When you live in the United Kingdom, it's perhaps easy to forget

how important for communication and transport were and are

the great waterways of Europe,

the Rhine, the Rhone and the Danube,

and, even today, a really viable way

of travelling from one capital city to another.

It takes just 90 minutes to speed along the Danube to my next stop.

I'm now approaching what was in 1913 the political

and cultural centre of the powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire.

What a wonderful way to arrive in Vienna,

my Bradshaw says the capital of Austria lies on the Danube canal,

"It is regarded as one of the brightest and healthiest of

"the large continental cities, with cheerful and courteous inhabitants."

Certainly in 1913 the Viennese aristocracy knew how to enjoy

itself, but could have no idea that the Habsburg empire was

enjoying its last waltz.

Arriving here in 1913, the British tourist would have plunged

head first into an intoxicating world of ostentatious glamour.

And the best place to capture the flavour of imperial Vienna

was the famous Ringstrasse.

My guidebook writes, "A fine broad thoroughfare,

"it extends in a crescent two miles long

"round three sides of the Inner Town."

Still today, tourists flock to this iconic avenue

to admire the best of Viennese architecture.

-Hello, Diane.

-Good afternoon, Michael.

Welcome aboard.

In 1913, this road would have bustled

with trams and horse-drawn carriages.

I'm taking a ride with tour guide Diane Naar.

Why was the Ringstrasse created in the first place?

The city was suffocating. Vienna, a medieval city,

was surrounded by huge fortifications.

The fortifications had served their purpose well,

but they were now suffocating the old city.

And the emperor himself decided to allow the razing of the fortifications.

This happened in 1858.

The emperor Franz Josef wanted to make Vienna a modern and beautiful

city to rival Paris, which had been remodelled under Napoleon III.

Franz Josef's vision for Vienna was to replace the old city walls

with a magnificent boulevard,

lined with monumental public buildings and grand mansions.

So, how long was the construction - both of the roadway

and of the palaces on either side?

The Ringstrasse was officially inaugurated

on the first of May, 1865.

-But construction work continued for at least another 40 years.

-Good Lord,

right up to eve of the First World War.

Right up to 1913, in fact.

Vienna, after the industrial revolution, was home to

a moneyed class of bankers, lawyers and merchants, who queued up

to build grand palaces on the city's newest and most prestigious avenue.

Give me some idea of the palaces and the people who lived in them.

The richest were the ones who were able to afford the largest plots.

And they hired the most expensive architects

and the most prominent artists.

And these buildings were four storeys high and would cover four blocks

and they were filled with marble, and carved wood,

and it was a matter of showing off.

The tourists who came here following my 1913 guidebook

were among the last witnesses to imperial era Vienna.

And no pre-war visit would be complete without sampling the nightlife.

To rest my head for the night, and of course to change for the evening,

I need what Bradshaw's calls, "A modern first class hotel

"in a central position," and an advertisement informs me

that the Hotel Imperial,

"Since 1913 renovated and fitted with every modern comfort."

And since it looks like a palace, it will do very nicely.

The Grand Imperial hotel, right on the Ringstrasse,

certainly makes a striking first impression.

Everywhere you look there's marble, crystal and gold.

It's the perfect place to don my best bib and tucker

before heading out into the city.

My destination is a ballroom,

which once belonged to the wealthy Rothschild family.

Here, dance teachers Heinz Grossmann and Peter Benek are going

explain the intricacies of the classic Viennese waltz.

What is the Vienna waltz?

Er... The Viennese waltz is the famous dance the world...

But...the famous music also.

But the basic is very simple. The basic is we have six steps,

we can dance six steps and we can dance the Viennese waltz.

It is very, very simple.

Invented in the 18th century,

the Viennese waltz was the first dance in which couples held

each other close as they whirled around the floor.

At first it scandalized polite society,

but by the time my railway guide was published, tourists were

flocking here to waltz at the city's glamorous public balls.

Vienna still hosts hundreds of such events every year

during the glittering winter season,

but I'm sure that I would fail to make the grade.

I don't know whether you know the expression in English,

but I have two left feet.

This is no problem. Normally we have 90 per cent success.

You've just met the 10 per cent.

I don't like... I don't believe. No.

-OK, you are the gentleman?

-Please, yes.

-OK, OK. I'm the lady.

-Yes, please.

This position.

There opening, yes, there.

That is OK. One, two, three, four, five.

One, two...

Oh, lost it. OK.

Six simple steps they may be, but for me they're hard.

And look on the 11 o'clock....

Yes. Good.

You are a very good student.

LAUGHTER

One, slide, close, back. Slide, close. Yes!

You're perfect.

I don't think so, but thank you.

I think it's time to step aside for the experts.

MUSIC: Viennese Waltz

Watching them glide across this belle epoque ballroom

perfectly ends a day that's evoked Vienna's golden age.

A beautiful morning, and I'm continuing my search

for traces of the Vienna that Edwardian railway tourists saw.

They would have been struck by the flowing lines

and natural forms of Art Nouveau - a new style of art

and architecture then transforming the city.

It first found favour in Paris,

but by the time my guidebook was published,

the railways had helped to spread its influence across the continent.

"The gallery of modern pictures at the Belvedere,"

says my Bradshaw's guide, "was formerly the residence

"of Prince Eugene of Savoy."

I'm here to explore one painter in particular,

because behind the prim facade of the empire,

artists were pursuing more sensual ideas.

Vienna's most famous Art Nouveau painter, Gustav Klimt,

horrified the establishment with his interpretation of the genre.

And one work shows why especially well.

This is Gustav Klimt's the Kiss,

painted in 1908, and at the time it was thought very shocking.

The man is hungry for the woman

and she has gone limp in a sort of trance of passion.

In the years since,

a lot of people have regarded this painting as merely pretty.

But I understand completely why this picture appalled the public,

and why Vienna at the time was considered a very racy place.

The Kiss reveals an edgier

and subversive spirit that inhabited turn of the century Vienna.

And I'm bound now for its habitual haunt.

I'm in the old city and my Bradshaw's says,

"Within this district are the most interesting phases of Vienna life."

Which I take to be a reference to cafe society,

which reached its high point when my Bradshaw's guide was published.

Vienna's coffee houses are famous around the world,

and one of the most evocative of the city's heyday is

the Cafe Central, which opened its doors in 1876.

Hello, Margarete.

-Hello Michael, nice to meet you.

-Lovely to see you.

What a beautiful cafe.

Isn't it?

Local, Margarete Stickler, is going to help me

to navigate coffee house etiquette.

-Um, what are you having, Margarete, what is that?

-This a melange.

A melange. And what is that?

A melange is a strong coffee, black coffee, with kind of...whipped milk.

A melange please, thank you very much, indeed.

-And we never say just "coffee."

-No?

-"A cup of coffee." No.

Either melange, or cappuccino, or grosse schwartze.

-A big black coffee.

-A big black coffee.

It's an unwritten rule that a single cup buys you the right to linger

as long as you like.

And around the turn of the 20th century, British visitors could

have rubbed shoulders with thinkers who came to exchange radical ideas.

Tell me about some of the well-known people that I might have

bumped into in the coffee houses at the beginning of the 20th Century?

All sorts of people,

but of course mainly intellectuals, artists, writers.

And as a former politican I would like to know,

were there any people of my trade here?

Oh, yes, very much so, but just before they became famous! LAUGHTER

-Who are you talking about?

-Trotsky, Leo Trotsky.

Lenin.

Stalin.

All here in Vienna?

They used to meet at the Cafe Central for playing chess!

Not so much reds under the bed as reds in the coffee house!

Quite so.

Alongside Russian revolutionaries, Cafe Central

regulars included Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis.

Nowadays, no trip to Vienna is complete without visiting

a cafe, for a drink and of course a slice of something sweet.

There is such a variety of cakes here.

With my Bradshaw's in one hand

it feels like a metaphor for the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1913.

You've got Albanians and Slovenes and Slovaks and Bosnians

Hungarians and Bohemians, all mixed together in one Empire...

But very crumbly.

Vienna was the cultural, military and political heart of the Empire.

But there was another side to early 20th century Austria.

I'm now doing as the Viennese elite did in the summer months, and taking

the Western mainline, completed in 1860, out to the mountains.

Having used my 1913 Bradshaw's to explore the Empire's two

biggest cities, I'm now heading over 180 miles west to Salzburg,

the birthplace of Mozart.

From there, I'll trace my guidebook's recommended route

through the stunning Salzkammergut mountains,

finishing up at Bad Ischl, home to the Emperor's summer retreat.

This Austrian express is whisking me

across the country at 120 miles per hour.

Edwardian tourists would have travelled at a more leisurely pace,

but one custom that hasn't changed

is the civilised tradition of the dining car.

-Guten Abend.

-Guten abend!

Bitte schon, er...eine Wienerschnitzel vom schwein, bitte.

-Ja.

-Und, um, ein Grune Veltsiner wein bitte.

-Grune Veltliner.

Ja, kleine, kleine.

Sonst noch etwas?

-Do you have any other wishes?

-Oh, you speak English!

-No other wishes, thank you very much.

-You are welcome!

-Thank you.

A traditional Viennese dish is a perfect way to put

the Austrian capital behind me, and set myself up for the stunning

scenery awaiting me on the next leg of my trip.

Ah, that looks very good!

-Schon, schon danke.

-Enjoy it, I hope it tastes good.

Thank you.

As the sun sets, the train arrives in Salzburg

which my Bradshaw's tells me is "1,350 feet above sea

"on both banks of the river Zalzac, below some lofty hills,"

and is "regarded as one of the most beautifully situated places of Europe."

What a tantalising invitation to explore this city.

I'm leaving the train here and going off in search of my bed.

My exploration of stunning Salzburg will have to wait till the morning.

MUSIC: "Symphony No. 40" by Mozart

First thing in sunny Salzburg

and the streets are already buzzing with tourists.

And none of them can have missed this city's biggest attraction.

Some places are best known for being the birthplace

of a famous person, like Stratford Upon Avon with William Shakespeare,

and Salzburg is celebrated for its most famous son,

one of the most important composers in the history of music.

Salzburg's homegrown musical genius is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

And by 1913, railway tourists were flocking here to honour his memory.

My guidebook directs fans to

"Getreidegasse, where, at number seven, Mozart was born'.

Director of the museum, Gabriele Ramsauer is showing me round.

Well, this is a lovely, big room, and here I think I see Mozart

and these are the portraits of the family.

Yes. This was the living room of the Mozart family.

They were living here,

they were playing music, they were meeting friends.

And I think this room has a really great and wonderful atmosphere.

It is indeed very atmospheric.

MUSIC: "Rondo Alla Turca" by Mozart

This building is where, aged five, Mozart began his composing career.

And it's also the birthplace of the thriving Mozart heritage industry,

thanks to a pair of British fans.

It started in 1829, there a British couple came here to see

the location of Mozart and it was the couple Vincent and Mary Novello.

The travel diaries of Vincent and Mary Novello in the year 1829.

"Vin and I made a pilgrimage to the house where the divine Mozart

"first drew breath. I cannot describe my feelings.

"We are both in a complete trance." That's beautiful!

The Novellos' published diaries helped inspire

the official Mozart tourist trail.

And in the late 19th century,

special railway tours began bringing Britons to see this house

and to attend many music festivals held in the city.

"Cook's personally conducted tour." Belgium, The Rhine, Nuremburg,

Salzburg and the Grand Mozart Festival.

Departing apparently from Holborn Station in London,

crossing the continent and spending about four days here

at the Salzburg Mozart Festival. That's fantastic.

Thomas Cook had organised his first railway excursions in the 1840s,

and soon took advantage of

the rapidly expanding international network

to launch continental tours. These "Mozart trains"

continued to be popular into the 20th century, and by 1913,

rail travellers had a new way to experience their favourite composer.

Even on a glorious afternoon like this, I feel I should find time

to hear some Mozart opera, and I'm on my way

to a little gem of a theatre.

I've come to this bijou playhouse in the heart of Salzburg,

to see a performance of The Magic Flute with a difference.

OPERA SINGING IN GERMAN

Today, the Marionette Theatre is one of Salzburg's best-loved tourist attractions,

and it all began in the era of my 1913 railway guide.

I'm going behind the scenes with puppeteer Philippe Brunner.

How long has opera been performed with these marionettes?

Since 1913 the theatre started with a very small opera

by Mozart Bastien und Bastienne and since then has done many

of Mozart's operas and also other composers.

With ever more tourists visiting Salzburg by rail,

the puppet theatre found a ready-made audience.

And while these days the puppeteers perform to recorded music,

Edwardian readers of my guidebook would have watched the marionettes

miming to live singers.

Do any of the puppets from 1913 survive?

Yes, they do. We have a lot of them in a museum but we have some here

I can show you.

This is father Mozart. He also dates from 1913.

-Hello, nice to meet you.

-How do you do?

-Very well.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

-He's beautiful.

-Yes, and you see, he is a much smaller scale

than the puppets we use today.

These must be very splendid people to work with.

-Oh, absolutely. They don't fuss around.

-No prima donnas!

No, not at all.

It takes up to eight years to learn how to work these remarkable

marionettes, but Philippe's going to see what he can teach me

in ten minutes.

You move from left to right and the puppet is walking.

And with your other hand you use the front and then you move the head

from left to right. And then you push here

-and then he opens his mouth.

-Raargh!

Great. You're doing very well.

My lion is taking a walk through the forest...when he meets a...

-Ooh!

-Very tall person. Raargh!

Raargh!

-Raargh!

-I'm not afraid of you.

-You may have a long neck,

I have a very long tail.

Raargh!

Ah! I scared him off.

Well, I've pulled some political strings in my time

but I think I'd better leave the puppets to the pros.

It's time for me to swap historic Salzburg for the pure air

of the Austrian mountains. Now my Bradshaw's urges me

to head for the country to the Saltkammergut,

"A beautiful district of lake and mountain east of Salzburg,

"easily accessible by rail and steamer.

"Though a day may suffice for a hasty visit,

"the attractions of two or three favoured spots will hardly

"be appreciated unless a stay of a few days be made at each."

Oh, for the leisure of a 1913 traveller.

In the 1900s, only the wealthy middle and upper classes

could afford to explore this remarkable region,

but it's not hard to see why, once here, they wanted to linger.

With limestone mountains, glacial lakes and unspoilt villages,

it's a picture postcard landscape of breath-taking beauty.

I'm picking up my next form of transport in pretty St Gilgen,

to the east of Salzburg.

My Bradshaw's says that the steamer may be taken in preference

to the train, which is fortunate because some of the railway lines

that existed at the time of my guide have been axed.

So I will proceed by water.

My authentic paddle steamer's route hasn't changed since 1913.

Back then, this lovely scenery was already a firm favourite

with tourists. But in the 1960s,

the region was shot to international fame

as the setting for one of the most successful movies of all time...

The Sound Of Music.

# BOTH: My heart will be blessed with the sound of music

# And I'll sing once more. #

APPLAUSE

Wolfgang, do you find that the tourists who arrive,

they're coming in large numbers?

Yes. They join in, the sing and they dance and they clap their hands.

There are sometimes choruses of 50 people

and everybody is singing with us and that is a very high feeling.

Are they word perfect?

Yes, they know it by heart.

# BOTH: Doe, a deer, a female deer

# Ray, a drop of golden sun...

MICHAEL JOINS IN: # Me, a name I call myself

# Fa, a long, long way to run

# Sew, a needle pulling thread

# La, a note to follow so

# Tea, a drink with jam and bread

# That will bring us back to doe

# Doe, ray, me, fa, so, la, tea, doe

# So, doe... #

Luckily for my fellow tourists, there's no more time for singing.

My paddle steamer has carried me across the Wolfgansee Lake

to St Wolfgang Station.

From here, Edwardian travellers could experience the railway ride

of a lifetime.

HE SPEAKS IN GERMAN

My Bradshaw's is very clear about the next stage of my journey.

"From St Wolfgang a climbing rail ascends the Schafberg, 5,840 feet.

"The panorama from the top is very extensive."

And fortunately the climbing rail is still here.

I'm taking a trip on this beautiful tourist line with its director,

Gunther Mackinger.

-How very kind of you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

-Take a seat.

WHISTLE BLARES

TRAIN WHISTLES

Built in 1893, it's one of Austria's most vertiginous stretches of track.

This is a lovely railway. What sort of gradient does it reach?

This is the steepest railway with 26%.

That's what we would call one in four, that's very steep indeed.

The line was built so that tourists could admire the stunning views.

To cope with the gradient, cogs were used for traction

and a rather unusual engine was designed.

Your locomotive is very distinctive

because it's kind of built at an angle.

Because the railway is so steep and the water in the boiler

must always fill the boiler complete,

otherwise there would be the danger of a boiler explosion.

It's absolutely obvious when you say it, but it had never occurred to me.

Although the railway does still run original locomotives

from the 1890s, this engine is a modern copy.

And powered by steam climbing the Shafberg is an unforgettable ascent.

My Bradshaw's promised me a panorama

but I never expected anything as grand and as magnificent as this.

Danke. Auf wiedersehen.

Fortunately for me, as I leave the train,

it's not the last I'll see of the vista.

Because amazingly, the cog train has brought me

to my bed for the night.

After one of the most remarkable train journeys in the world,

I am now going to be staying in an extraordinary place...

on top of a mountain.

There's been a hotel perched atop the Shafberg ever since 1862.

It must surely be one of the most spectacular places in Europe

to break a railway journey.

Having woken at my hotel in the clouds, it's time for me to descend

the mountain and continue my exploration of the Salzkammergut.

From medieval times, this region fuelled the wealth and power

of the Habsburg dynasty, who had a monopoly

on the valuable salt deposits hidden in the mountains.

But by the early 20th century,

the family was coming here by rail on holiday.

Their favourite bolt hole was Bad Ischl,

described in my 1913 guide as "a very fashionable resort."

To get there, my Bradshaw's outlines "a comparatively tame train ride

"of half an hour" on the Salzkammergut Local Railway.

But that service was closed in 1957, so I'm taking a very scenic route

to my final destination.

At Bad Ischl, my Bradshaw's tells me that the park of Imperial Villa

may be visited during absences of the family.

I'm headed for the place where, with a few strokes of the pen,

a Habsburg Emperor consigned his dynasty to history.

Just a year after my guidebook was published, the spa town of Bad Ischl

played a pivotal role in the events which led to the First World War.

But the story began half a century earlier, when this grand villa was

given to the Emperor Franz Josef by his mother, as a wedding present.

Nice to see you.

I'm taking a tour with historian Lothar Hobelt.

Now, Franz Josef was not necessarily a very happy man

during his life, was he happy here?

I think this is where, the part of the world he found easiest to relax.

So he came here almost every summer.

I mean, Franz Joseph was not a great man to relax, anyway.

A great pastime he enjoyed most was hunting.

One's of course got remember that that was the pastime for aristocrats

or the elite in general, just like golfing today.

And it was also a place where he could meet people informally,

you know? I mean, everything else is at a court like Franz Josef's

and he's a stickler for detail. Everything else is arranged

according to ceremonial, but with hunting

it gets a little more relaxed.

But soon after my guidebook was written,

events caught up with the Emperor even in his private paradise.

By the summer of 1914, simmering tensions with the neighbouring

Kingdom of Serbia had reached boiling point.

In June of that year, Franz Josef's nephew and heir,

Franz Ferdinand, was visiting the Empire's Balkan territories

when a Serbian nationalist took drastic action.

And he receives news here, does he,

of the assassination of the heir Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo?

Yes. And I think he knew even then that this was going to mean war.

By 1914, Franz Josef was increasingly worried

about Serbia's aggressive nationalist ambitions,

and the assassination of the heir apparent was the final straw.

On 28th July, here in Bad Ischl, the Emperor declared war

on his troublesome neighbour.

Once the Emperor had signed the declaration of war at Bad Ischl,

does he go back to Vienna?

Yes, he does, and he leaves by train, of course,

and it seems he never came back to this house, because during wartime

it simply wasn't thought appropriate to take summer holidays.

Thanks to complex alliances, other powers were soon drawn into the conflict.

Germany sided with Austria-Hungary,

while Russia, allied to France, backed Serbia.

The Emperor's show of strength quickly snowballed

into a global war.

Franz Josef died in 1916.

And when German and Austro-Hungarian forces were defeated

two years later, his successor abdicated

as the empire crumbled around him.

But the Habsburg family didn't die out.

Amazingly, this villa is still family home to Markus Habsburg.

-Wilkommen.

-How very nice to see you. Michael Portillo.

-Come here.

So, I am addressing the great grandson of the Emperor Franz Josef.

-Ja.

-What a great pleasure.

Having made his fateful decision, Franz Josef wrote to his peoples,

making the case for war.

And the manifesto that he produced was signed in this very room.

Yes, these are the four sheets of paper typewritten,

and it bears a signature of Franz Josef

and it was signed on 28 July 1914.

It was finally printed in all the newspapers

and in all the languages of the monarchy.

There were 13 languages in his empire.

The most important decision of Franz Josef's life?

It was heavy decision for him personally,

but an important decision in European history, unfortunately.

A very historic document and a very historic piece furniture.

On this journey, I've discovered the rich complexity of pre-war

Austria-Hungary.

An patchwork of nationalities, it was held together by one family

and its historic power.

But by the time my guidebook was published,

the seeds of its demise had already been sown.

When Franz Josef left here by train in 1914, he had unknowingly

sealed the fate of the Habsburg Empire.

The First World War destroyed it and Austria, Hungary

and the other countries went their separate ways.

My Bradshaw's has guided me through the Empire's twilight years

of extravagance and sensuality. Compared with the horrors

that were to befall those countries in the rest of the 20th Century,

it was an age of innocence.

Next time, I'll take to the tracks in the former German Empire,

Europe's industrial powerhouse...

I can actually see into everybody's window,

I can see into everybody's house.

..in its most scenic spots.

When on the Rhine, eat as Rhinelanders do.

I'll learn what attracted Edwardian tourists...

-Hello, my beauties!

-Nice to meet you!

..and discover how its close ties with Britain were soon to be shattered.

So the two countries that went to war

-were ruled over by first cousins?

-Yes, first cousins.

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