The most beautiful love stories...
2016/01/09
A romantic getaway at Hotel Winzer
Is your love still fresh? Or has it lasted for many years and is already deeply rooted? Whatever the case, a romantic holiday in the Salzkammergut will strengthen your love even more. For this is where the most beautiful of all emotions has been at home for centuries.
A romantic hotel on Lake Attersee, near the Salzkammergut. It is in this very region of Austria that monarchs once met and fell in love. But the people of the Salzkammergut have also witnessed scandals, such as secret loves that went unrequited.
Imperial and royal love
Once upon a time, this was the holiday home of the passionate hunter and Emperor of Austria, Franz Josef I. In August 1853, the ruler was left speechless: whilst on his summer retreat in Bad Ischl, he met the lively, pretty Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, daughter of Duke Max Joseph and Princess Ludovika Wilhelmine of Bavaria. Her carefree nature captivated him. Elisabeth’s sister Néné had actually been promised to the young Emperor, but the love between the two was stronger than the Empress Dowager’s wedding plans.
They were married in 1854 at St Augustine’s Church in Vienna. Two daughters were born, Sophie and Gisela, and finally the long-awaited heir to the throne in 1858: Crown Prince Rudolf. Yet the imperial family was not granted a happy life. Daughter Sophie died at the age of two, and Crown Prince Rudolf took his own life in 1889 together with his confidante, Baroness Maria von Vetsera.
When the Emperor learnt on 10 September 1898 that his beloved Sisi had fallen victim to an assassination, the man plagued by fate is said to have remarked: ‘Nothing is spared me. You have no idea how much I loved that woman.’
The dairymaid and the court councillor’s son
Yet the Salzkammergut has also seen mismatched couples. Picturesque Hallstatt was particularly popular with the Viennese middle classes during the golden 1920s. As a passionate hiker, Heinrich Bochenek was also drawn time and again to the mountains and Lake Hallstatt.
On one of his many hikes – he always wore a tie – he met the smartly dressed Fanny at the Biergartenhütte in Hallstatt. A dairymaid from Hallstatt. The two, from different social classes, fell in love; they married, and the young woman from Hallstatt moved to Vienna with the middle-class ‘Heinerl’.
In her letters, Fanny repeatedly described the hard life of a girl from the Salzkammergut in the big city. Nevertheless, this love lasted until death.
The Salzkammergut – more space for romance
Have these two love stories inspired you? A romantic weekend brings deep feelings to life. Enjoy some time together at the Hotel Winzer on Lake Attersee.
written by Markus Winzer