An Outdoor Parlour - Traveling like in Imperial Times

Story

In the Habsburg monarchy, people didn’t just go on holiday, they went for summer refreshment. This often week-long recreation in the countryside, by the lake or by the sea, was a speciality of old Austria. Noble and wealthy citizens traveled to the countryside with the amenities of the city, combining the benefits of well-maintained nature with urban conviviality. The Salzkammergut, Wörthersee, Trieste and Abbazia are just some of the old Austrian dream destinations.
New means of transport made faster travel possible.
The multi-ethnic empire of the Habsburgs represented a culturally and socially unique cosmos. The nostalgic transformation of this era began before the end of the Habsburg Empire and continues to this day, especially in places associated with one of the most beautiful achievements of the Danube Monarchy – summer freshness. The predominantly aristocratic and middle-class summer pleasures, whose roots lie in the Biedermeier period and which – albeit in a more modest way – were indulged in the interwar period, are shown in this documentary in all its facets: from the most popular destinations of bygone days to the special travel culture or the means and routes of transport.

The “Fin de siècle” became the height of summer freshness. People traveled to the countryside with the amenities of the city to combine the benefits of well-maintained nature and urban conviviality like in an open-air salon. People raved about Trieste, the Riva in Pola and the mild climate of Abbazia. At that time they discovered Lake Garda, Lake Wörthersee and conquered the peaks of the Alps. Travelling in old Austria was inextricably linked with the transport development of the Great Empire.
The Salzkammergut is considered the cradle of summer freshness. The spa at Traunsee was deeply connected with the Austrian Imperial House and the proximity to Ischl, where Emperor Franz Joseph spent his summers. To this day, places like Gmunden have preserved much of the flair of these sunken days. While the Traunsee was dominated by members of the national and international aristocracy, the rest of the Salzkammergut was soon developed by the upper middle class.