Bad Ischl: heaven and heartache in the hills of Austria

The mountainous lake-filled region of Austria with the slightly unwieldy name of the Salzkammergut is an area of such outstanding beauty that for almost all of the 68 years he was on the Habsburg throne, Emperor Franz Joseph chose to come here for his summer holidays.

It is not hard to see why. With its range of Alpine peaks (the highest capped in snow), 70 lakes, myriad vistas, invigorating air and a tradition of salt mining (hence “Salzkammergut”) that stretches back more than 7,000 years, this is a region which, even by Austrian standards, is spectacularly rich in culture, history and scenic splendour.

Franz Joseph was not the first to recognise that. As far back as 1150, in one of the earliest recorded instances of tourism, pilgrims began flocking to the lakeside settlement of St Wolfgang to pay homage to the man who had retreated to this spot to live the life of a hermit and who, after his death, was made a patron saint of the poor and needy. (For their efforts, they were enjoined to forgo the pleasures – and perils – of wine and beer and to stick to water.)

The longest-serving Habsburg emperor could hardly be called poor and needy, but his mother, Princess Sophie of Bavaria, had been drawn to the Salzkammergut region because, after many years of failing to produce children (and an heir), she believed the healing properties of the salts to be found in the mineral brine baths on offer here could in some way help her to conceive.

Whatever it was (and maybe there was just something very special in the air), the trick worked and Sophie went on to give birth to four healthy sons – the “salt princes” – the oldest of whom was Franz Joseph.

Whether he acquired his love of the region while still in his mother’s womb, or out of gratitude for the “miracle” of his birth, or whether, like anyone clapping eyes on it for the first time, he simply found it made his spirits soar, Franz Joseph became a lifelong devotee of the Salzkammergut, and in particular of Bad Ischl, the picturesque town on the Traun river to which he and his courtly retinue journeyed every summer for more than 60 years.

What an extraordinary place Bad Ischl is. With its riverside location, wonderful Wilhelmine architecture and proximity to the beautifully formed Mount Katrin, it is of course very pretty. Lots of towns in Austria are. What is different here is that, although it is now almost 100 years since the emperor was last here, his presence is still very real. You feel as though at any moment you could bump into him, complete with trademark bushy sideburns and moustache – or, indeed, his strikingly beautiful wife Eli sabeth (known by all as “Sisi”).

Reminders of the two of them are to be found almost everywhere you turn. There are portraits adorning public buildings; there is a statue of the emperor dressed in shorts, long socks and the felt jacket favoured by the hunter (he was a keen one); there is the exquisite Café Siss y, where you can sample Zauner chocolate cake (by appointment to the House of Habsburg) and drink coffee Viennese-style in sumptuous surroundings . Photographs and drawings on the walls depict the royal couple at various stages of their lives – Franz Joseph actually proposed to his 16-year-old Bavarian cousin in the town – as well as members of Europe’s other royal families who came to visit (including our own Edward VII).

^{Kaiservilla, now a museum, preserved almost exactly as it was in Franz Joseph’s time}

The annual visit of the emperor and empress inspired others to follow suit. Bad Ischl became “Vienna by the lakes” in the summer, with all manner of the great and the good following where Franz Joseph and Sisi led. Artists, philosophers and musicians came too: Johann Strauss had a holiday home in Bad Ischl; Franz Lehár wrote operettas (most notably The Merry Widow) here; Sigmund Freud and Alfred Nobel both tested its waters (though not necessarily at the same time); and on the auspicious occasion of the emperor’s birthday (August 18), the organist in the town’s main church for many years was none other than Anton Bruckner.

Bad Ischl thrived on the strength of the royal connection – and still does. Rather like parts of Vienna, in its ambience and architecture (classical and colourful, grand and graceful), it evokes an imperial age of grand balls and silk gowns that for most has long gone, but which lives on here, albeit in an idealised, almost theme-park-like way.

For all the rose-tinted perspectives offered in Bad Ischl, however, all was not always well in the Habsburg holiday home and no amount of Disneyfication can entirely paper over the cracks.

There are hints of the dissonance that hung over the family (and the vast empire it ruled) in the very house in which Franz Joseph spent all those summers: the beautiful, ochre-coloured “Kaiservilla”, which (fittingly) occupies a slightly elevated position in the town surrounded by the beautifully manicured “Kaiserpark” gardens containing the English Elizabethan-style “marble palace” to which Sisi would retire for afternoon tea.

While part of the E-shaped villa is still occupied by the family (Archduke Markus Habsburg-Lothringen), the bulk of it today is open as a museum. It is preserved almost exactly as it was at the time and on one level serves as a wonderful period piece. Here you see how one of Europe’s most powerful ruling dynasties lived – and worked – when on holiday.

Unlike the royal residences in Vienna, it is not overly ornate or ostentatious. There are fine pieces of furniture and a grand dining room (with places laid as though Queen Victoria herself were about to partake); there are paintings and parquet floors; beautiful heirlooms and costumes (including a cushion belonging to Sisi and a copy of the dress she wore on the day before her wedding). But overall the feel is more cosy hunting lodge than high-baroque palace – and there are no fewer than 21,000 hunting trophies including stuffed deer, stag and chamois heads adorning its walls.

^{A baroque church in Bad Ischl}

There were undoubtedly happy times here – Franz Joseph described it as “heaven on earth” for him and his family, a wonderful spot from which he could contemplate the many challenges facing the dominions over which his word held sway.

But there were less happy times, too, intimations of which can be felt here. The royal couple suffered the trauma of losing their first child, Sophie, who died of scarlet fever aged just two. They received another blow when Franz Joseph’s brother, Maximilian, briefly emperor of Mexico, was executed. There was the mysterious death of “Mad” King Ludwig of Bavaria (one of Sisi’s very few close personal friends). Worst of all was the horror of the suicide in January 1889 of their only son, Rudolf, who is the subject of a large melancholy portrait in a room specifically dedicated to him in the Kaiservilla.

Not many marriages could sustain all that, and theirs was no exception. Despite all the appearances of togetherness (and what was undoubtedly Franz Joseph’s deep love for his wife), the two drifted apart, leading by the end almost entirely separate lives. He took solace in his work and the tender attentions of a long-term “soulmate”, Katharina Schratt (the relationship was common knowledge in Bad Ischl); she retreated into a world of almost excessive dieting and exercise (in many ways she was the Diana, Princess of Wales, of her day) as well as travel (she was a great fan of spa towns). Indeed her final trip, in 1898, was to Geneva , where she in turn was stabbed to death by a deranged Italian anarchist.

“I am spared nothing,” Franz Joseph declared, reflecting on the extraordinary run of personal tragedies to afflict his family.

^{Franz Joseph, a devotee of Bad Ischl}

There was, of course, another waiting in the wings. In the summer of 1914, the emperor’s nephew, and the heir to the Habsburg throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was shot dead in a street in Sarajevo.

In the month that followed the assassination on June 28, Europe was plunged into diplomatic frenzy as Austria-Hungary, coming under pressure from all sides, weighed up how to respond. Ministerial delegations from Vienna travelled to Bad Ischl to confer with the by now clearly wearying 83-year-old emperor and to convey the urgency of the situation.

Visitors to the Kaiservilla today can see the rooms in which ministers and diplomats seeking an audience with the emperor would have had to wait; they can then step into Franz Joseph’s private study and take a long, hard look at the solid wooden desk, complete with quill pen stand, at which, on July 28, 1914 – 100 years ago on Monday – the emperor signed the declaration of war on Serbia, which in turn triggered the set of alliances that led to the outbreak of the First World War.

That piece of paper – entitled “An Meine Völker” (“To My People”) is preserved under glass on Franz Joseph’s desk. It is almost impossible to comprehend that from a place of such beauty, such carnage ensued. But it did.

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Getting there

In the early years of Franz Joseph’s reign, the 170-mile journey from Vienna to Bad Ischl by horse-drawn carriage and boat took four days; today it takes three hours by train, half that from the nearer airport of Salzburg (see oebb.at for Austrian rail timings and fares). Austrian Airlines (austrian.com), British Airways (ba.com) and easyJet (easyjet.com) fly to Vienna; Salzburg is served by BA, easyJet and Ryanair (ryanair.co.uk).

Where to stay

In Bad Ischl itself, the Villa Seilern (villaseilern.at) is a grand old villa with late 19th-century credentials and flashes of 21st-century cool. On nearby Lake Wolfgang (see below), the Romantik Hotel Im Weissen Rössl (White Horse Inn) right on the lake is a place of extraordinary charm and tradition (weissesroessl.at).

Where to eat

Franz Joseph’s idea of culinary bliss was a meal consisting of soup (consommé or beef), Tafelspitz (boiled beef) and Kaiserschmarrn (shredded pieces of sugared pancake served with plum compôte). One or all of these dishes can be sampled in Bad Ischl (see badischl.at for details). Other must-tries include Zauner cake (zauner.at) and coffee at Café Sissy (cafe-sissy.at).

What to see

In addition to the Kaiservilla (kaiservilla.at), other attractions in Bad Ischl include Sisi’s Marble Palace (landesmuseum.at), the Bad Ischl Museum (stadtmuseum.at), currently hosting a special exhibition dedicated to the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards (now 1st the Queen’s Dragoon Guards), of which Franz Joseph was made Colonel-in-Chief in 1896 and the elegant “Trinkhalle” building hosting an exhibition dedicated to the First World War from the Austrian perspective (badischl.at). Those seeking the town’s famous salt-based treatments should head to the Salzkammergut Thermal Spa (eurothermen.at); those wanting to swim outdoors should seek out the “Parkbad” swimming pool (erlebnisbad@inode.at).

Happy 184th birthday

As every year, on August 18, there will be a special service commemorating the emperor’s birthday in the St Nicholas Church, which still contains the pews in which the Habsburgs sat. The service will be followed by a marching display by re-enactors dressed in the uniforms of the time; this year’s participants will include representatives of 1st the Queen’s Dragoon Guards.

Beyond Bad Ischl

To discover what lies beyond Bad Ischl, take the cable car to the top of Mount Katrin for a view of both the town and seven surrounding lakes and valleys.

Lake Wolfgang

Franz Joseph and Sisi made a day trip to the lake at Wolfgangsee just after they got engaged. The pretty pilgrimage town of St Wolfgang is famous for the astonishing Gothic altarpiece crafted by the 15th-century master Michael Pacher. Farther east St Gilgen, the home town of Mozart’s mother, contains a museum dedicated to the composer’s works. For more information, see wolfgangsee.at.

Hallstatt

Another spot much loved by the royal couple – this one on the shores of the Hallstätter See. Salt has been mined here for some 7,000 years. Don’t miss the “bone house” – an extraordinary collection of painted skulls.