March 28, 2016

This is Vienna (a Photo Essay): 15 photos from behind Vienna’s open doors

I’m often walking the streets of Vienna. While doing this, I’m always a little nosy, and walk into places I shouldn’t. Whenever there’s an open door I see from the street, I’m through it.

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Each entrance and hallway of the old buildings have their own character, and some are surprisingly grand, like little palaces. However, often you’ll find quite the opposite –houses that look (and sometimes smell) like they’ve been neglected for 100 years.

Walking on the street, it’s easy to forget that there is a second city hidden behind the buildings facades.

If you’re nosy like me, you’re already well aware of this. You’ve found the many seemingly endless passageways leading through various apartment house courtyards, which finally spit you out onto some street a block later.

Or you’ve peeked into those buildings with grey facades to find courtyards lit up green with vines.

And you’ll find the strangest of sights sometimes. For example, believe it or not, the oldest Jewish cemetery lies hidden in the middle of an apartment block.

Then there’s the old workshops, or small factories that closed many years ago and have been left in a deep slumber.

However, sometimes, they’ve been given a completely new and different life, like this hip loftlike office space in what once was a pony stable.

So I recommend being nosy and risking the chance of being kicked out of a place you shouldn’t be. The glance you’ll get of what’s behind the open door is well worth it.