Belvedere Palace

This palace was more beautiful than the Hapsburg's two palaces. It was located up a hill and looked down on Vienna downtown. The views were improved as there were these large gardens surrounding the palace so nothing obscured the views. The palace was built by Prince Eugene of Savoy, an Austrian general who successfully defeated the Ottomans around 1700. He was actually French but had been rejected by the French as they thought he was too short and too ugly. He was rewarded by the Hapsburg's with great wealth allowing him to build this castle. After his death the palace was converted to an art gallery. It now houses a very good art collection of Austrian artists other than for the famous Gustov Klimt. Gustov was a contemporary of the impressions and painting in somewhat of a similar style. I think he was best known for The kiss. The Belvedere was air conditioned which made for an even more enjoyable experience. We hit the very pretty coffee shop afterwards and had our lunches in the garden before taking the sauna, I mean the non-air conditioned tram back to the apartment.Read more