Bars and Heurigen
Although some cafes stay open quite late in the evening, most night-time drinking centres on a growing number of bars and late-night cafes , where there might be a live DJ though not necessarily any dancing. Most stay open until 1-2am; in cities and alpine resorts opening hours may extend further, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. An alternative place to do your drinking is in one of Austria's many Heurigen , the wine taverns found predominantly in the former villages of Vienna's outer suburbs, on the slopes of the Wienerwald, and in the many wine regions of Lower Austria, Burgenland and Styria. The word heurig means "this year's", as it was here that the vintner would encourage tastings in order to try and sell a few bottles of his (exclusively white) wine. In the good old days, people used to bring their own picnics to consume and sat on wooden benches in the vintner's garden whilst sampling the wine, but nowadays most Heurigen provide a self-service (usually, but not exclusively, cold) buffet of traditional peasant fare. Traditionally, a visit to a Heuriger is accompanied by Schrammel musik , sentimental fiddle, guitar and accordion music, though today such music only features at the more touristy ventures in Vienna. Real Heurigen are only permitted to open for 300 days in any one year, and may only sell wine and food produced on the premises. If the Heuriger is open, the custom is to display a Buschen , or bunch of evergreen boughs, over the entrance, with a sign telling you it's ausg'stekt ("hung out"). Those that still abide by the strict Heurigen laws generally have a sign saying Buschenschank , though it has to be said that some have now attained restaurant licences in order to open all year round. A display board at the centre of the smaller villages lists those Heurigen that are currently open; otherwise the local tourist office will have the details.
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" Mathematician of the Phillipineserrol gumagay says "this is a good country and should be the very best i have ever traveled once in my own life
" Boogeymanjared dutosme says "Want some good country to travel? Austria is there!!!
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