Zoos don't get too hot a press these days, but visitors to Vienna's Tiergarten (Animalgarden) will be hard pushed not to be won over. Vienna's zoo seems to be a model of how to get it right. The calibre and spaciousness of the enclosures are exemplary, coupled with a setting that's second to none. For this is the world's oldest functioning zoo (f.1752), occupying a gracious stretch alongside Schonbrunn Palace. Several of the animal houses themselves are beautiful period pieces, and you can pop in for tea at a splendid baroque pavilion. But what of the animals themselves? Amongst creatures great and small you'll find anteaters, crocs, monkeys, koalas, elephants and a pair of pandas - and that's just the tip of the ice-berg. All in all a top Vienna attraction.
| |
