Austria
The Place
It was Austria's bad luck that, just as its touristic treasures were finally beginning to be discovered, the place got a bad rap all over again. The world watched the protests, sanctions and boycotts - many of them organised by Austrians - touched off by Jörg Haider and the right-wing Freedom Party's inclusion in Austria's national government. Haider's insensitive comments about the Holocaust had served sharply to remind the world that Hitler was born here, in the "empire of the East".
It's unfortunate that observers rushed to decry the Austrians as a whole, because these are some of the friendliest, most down-to-earth people in Europe. And the land they inhabit is a spectacular, variegated one, containing everything from cowbell-tickled meadows and slim-pointed mountain chapels to deep gorges and ranges of dark high peaks.
But if one feature characterises Austria more than any other it is its towering mountains. The upland pastures, which once made life so difficult for highland farmers, are now criss-crossed by ski lifts and cable-cars, evidence of the booming summer and winter tourist industry that accounts for the largest slice of the national economy.
Nestled amongst the wild Alpine scenery are hundreds of mountain lakes and idyllic watercourses that exercise an attraction of their own, especially in summer.
To the east, the foothills of the Alps gradually peter out in the Vienna Woods, reaching to the very suburbs of the nation's capital. Along the Danube, which crosses northeast Austria for 350 km of its course, stood the outposts of the Roman Empire. It was here, too, that Irish monks brought Christianity to Central Europe. Upper Austria, Lower Austria and eastern Styria have been cultivated by man since time immemorial and have been the scene of many episodes of Central European history.
Vienna, once the seat of the Babenberg dynasty and for over 600 years the centre of the vast Habsburg empire, is today one of the loveliest cities in the world and the repository of a wealth of art treasures.
