Auf dem Bisamberg

Travel one stop outside Vienna on the S-bahn to the Northeast and (if you got the right line) you arrive in Langenzersdorf. As always, the transition from central Vienna to the edges causes one to pause briefly. Just a few kilometres outside the city limits and everything really does seem to be a village. If it is a suburb, it is not a suburb of any kind that the British would recognise. To be honest, several areas of Vienna inside the city boundaries are also villages in all but fact, so maybe one could conclude that whoever drew the boundary of 'Vienna' was being a bit generous.

 Above, Wolfersgrunweg, a 'street' in Vienna's 21st district found in the course of this hike :-)

Langenzersdorf lies at the foot of the Bisamberg. In many ways this small hill is the little brother of the Kahlenberg and Leopoldsberg to the southwest across the river, in fact geologically it is exactly the same. The danube flows through the gap between the two groups of hills, the gap bearing the name of the 'Donaupforte', or Danube gate.

 Looking from the Leopoldsberg across the 'Donapforte' to the low hump of the Bisamberg, taken by me on a much less pleasant day.

The Bisamberg may have the same rocks underfoot as the Kahlenberg and Leopoldsberg, but in many ways it is subtly different. The flora and fauna of the Bisamberg belong not to the Wienerwald and alps, but to the Pannonian basin, the warmer and more southerly climate zone of the low lying land which stretches from Vienna across the whole of Hungary. There are more conifers here, and the soil seems very sandy. In fact in the past the whole place was a managed landscape, maintained by grazing as a grassland much like the Chiltern hills of my home county.

Once you have climbed up the hill, enjoyed the view over the Danube and travelled through the woods you come to the tree-free areas of the Bisamberg, a long shallow slope back down to the outskirts of Vienna. Here you can find earthworks thrown up in defence of Vienna during Austria-Hungary's war with the Prussians in 1866. The atmosphere here is again very different to hikes in the Wienerwald as you are completely exposed to the wind walking through rolling fields, with the towers of the newer parts of Vienna hanging in the distance.

 Austro-hungarian ruins

The area is also (according to one of the many informative nature signs) recognised for its Hohlwege (hollow ways, just like we have in the UK) as the older tracks cut deep into the sediments forming the uppermost, most recent layer of the local geology. These sediments are loess, dust-fine grains formed by the grinding and pulverising action of glaciers in the last ice age, transported and deposited first by milky melt water streams and then blown into their current locations by the wind.

The whole walk is best topped off with a visit to one of the many wine establishments or 'Heuriger' that can be found on the outer edge of Vienna.

Hope you enjoy the photos! Don't forget to press the magnifying glass if you want to see them at high resolution.

Der Tom