A local's guide to Vienna: actor Matthew Beard's six must-see spots
The Austrian capital means everything to Matthew Beard — but he is the star of Vienna Blood
Amanda Hyde - 30 July 2024
You’d expect Max Liebermann to notice things others don’t, wouldn’t you? So it’s no surprise that actor Matthew Beard – who plays the crime-solving doctor, alongside Juergen Maurer’s Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt, in Vienna Blood – has discovered a few secrets about the Austrian city where the drama series is set and filmed. Here are six of Beard’s most intriguing finds…
A SURPRISINGLY SUMMERY CITY
The Danube splits into the Donaukanal, which goes through Vienna, and within that there are little islands that you can get the train to, and you can swim off them. Try the Badeschiff – or “bath boat” – which is a boat with a swimming pool on it. It feels quite confusing: you’re in a body of water floating on a body of water. It’s like a party boat, where you can get food and go for a swim and sit in the sunshine [badeschiff.at]. It’s a very holiday vibe.
MUSEUM VISITS ARE EASY
Handily, Vienna has stuck all its museums pretty much in one place – the MuseumsQuartier [mqw.at], which means you can just bounce from one to the next. I always go to the Leopold Museum [leopoldmuseum.org/en], where they’ve laid out – chronologically, I think – Schiele, Klimt and all that gang. My new favourite is Richard Gerstl. What’s brilliant about Vienna Blood is that, in each series, it moves forward a little bit in time. Now we’re in 1909. It means I get to progress one year of the culture, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but the speed stuff is happening around that period is incredible.
STAY IN THE 5th DISTRICT
I’ve never stayed in the same place twice because I want to see as much of the city as possible, but the 5th District is great if you’re a tourist: it’s near the Naschmarkt, which is a must-see. At this huge, permanent food market, you could walk up and down all day getting free samples – people will just keep feeding you! On Saturdays, it extends even further, into a massive antiques and vintage market. But Vienna is so condensed and walkable that wherever you stay, you’ll probably be fine.
POIGNANT REMINDERS
My favourite park in Vienna is called Augarten and in the middle of it is a Nazi flak tower. They were left after the war as no one really knew what to do with them – they’re humongous. What’s strange is that this park is so green, with beautiful trees and a little café and families and picnickers… then, in the middle of all this beauty, is a monstrous concrete thing. It’s got a piece of graffiti at the bottom that says, ‘Never again’.
Image: Cave System The Seegrotte Hinterbrühl
GOING UNDERGROUND
One of the locations that I’m still giddy about is the Seegrotte Hinterbrühl [seegrotte.at] just outside Vienna. In 1912, there was an explosion and this underground mine flooded with millions of litres of water, leaving behind Europe’s biggest underground lake. You descend and descend and descend to get there, and suddenly it’s chilly and dark and you feel very claustrophobic, but then you’re into this glittering lake. It isn’t just one vast expanse, either. It separates off into loads of tiny little rivers and streams and the only way to navigate it is by boat. When I got there, I thought, “This feels really familiar”. It turns out the lake was used in The Three Musketeers – the 1993 version with Kiefer Sutherland and Tim Curry – which was a landmark film for me when I was growing up. I was obsessed, I had it on VHS. There was a little museum down there with props and stuff, and I saw the actual boat that Tim Curry was on.
AUSTRIANS LOVE TO PARTY
I love the way they work in the Austrian film industry. The first thing they do is throw a party the night before you do your first day of work. I was very sceptical of the idea of turning up hungover on day one, but the genius of it is that most people are very nervous on their first day and they spend half of it meeting people and tentatively getting to know them. With this, you’ve already embarrassed yourself the night before and met everyone. They also throw one called Bergfest (Berg is mountain in German) halfway through – the idea being that you’ve climbed the mountain and now you’re going to go back down. Then there’s the Schnappsclapper – you know the clapperboard, where they go, ‘Take one, take two’ etc… When that reaches a certain number, someone will shout out “Schnappsclapper!” and that means that one of the production’s departments has to throw a party for everyone. There are a lot of departments in a film crew, so that means a lot of parties…
The Danube splits into the Donaukanal, which goes through Vienna, and within that there are little islands that you can get the train to, and you can swim off them. Try the Badeschiff – or “bath boat” – which is a boat with a swimming pool on it. It feels quite confusing: you’re in a body of water floating on a body of water. It’s like a party boat, where you can get food and go for a swim and sit in the sunshine [badeschiff.at]. It’s a very holiday vibe.
Handily, Vienna has stuck all its museums pretty much in one place – the MuseumsQuartier [mqw.at], which means you can just bounce from one to the next. I always go to the Leopold Museum [leopoldmuseum.org/en], where they’ve laid out – chronologically, I think – Schiele, Klimt and all that gang. My new favourite is Richard Gerstl. What’s brilliant about Vienna Blood is that, in each series, it moves forward a little bit in time. Now we’re in 1909. It means I get to progress one year of the culture, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but the speed stuff is happening around that period is incredible.
I’ve never stayed in the same place twice because I want to see as much of the city as possible, but the 5th District is great if you’re a tourist: it’s near the Naschmarkt, which is a must-see. At this huge, permanent food market, you could walk up and down all day getting free samples – people will just keep feeding you! On Saturdays, it extends even further, into a massive antiques and vintage market. But Vienna is so condensed and walkable that wherever you stay, you’ll probably be fine.
My favourite park in Vienna is called Augarten and in the middle of it is a Nazi flak tower. They were left after the war as no one really knew what to do with them – they’re humongous. What’s strange is that this park is so green, with beautiful trees and a little café and families and picnickers… then, in the middle of all this beauty, is a monstrous concrete thing. It’s got a piece of graffiti at the bottom that says, ‘Never again’.
Image: Cave System The Seegrotte Hinterbrühl
One of the locations that I’m still giddy about is the Seegrotte Hinterbrühl [seegrotte.at] just outside Vienna. In 1912, there was an explosion and this underground mine flooded with millions of litres of water, leaving behind Europe’s biggest underground lake. You descend and descend and descend to get there, and suddenly it’s chilly and dark and you feel very claustrophobic, but then you’re into this glittering lake. It isn’t just one vast expanse, either. It separates off into loads of tiny little rivers and streams and the only way to navigate it is by boat. When I got there, I thought, “This feels really familiar”. It turns out the lake was used in The Three Musketeers – the 1993 version with Kiefer Sutherland and Tim Curry – which was a landmark film for me when I was growing up. I was obsessed, I had it on VHS. There was a little museum down there with props and stuff, and I saw the actual boat that Tim Curry was on.
I love the way they work in the Austrian film industry. The first thing they do is throw a party the night before you do your first day of work. I was very sceptical of the idea of turning up hungover on day one, but the genius of it is that most people are very nervous on their first day and they spend half of it meeting people and tentatively getting to know them. With this, you’ve already embarrassed yourself the night before and met everyone. They also throw one called Bergfest (Berg is mountain in German) halfway through – the idea being that you’ve climbed the mountain and now you’re going to go back down. Then there’s the Schnappsclapper – you know the clapperboard, where they go, ‘Take one, take two’ etc… When that reaches a certain number, someone will shout out “Schnappsclapper!” and that means that one of the production’s departments has to throw a party for everyone. There are a lot of departments in a film crew, so that means a lot of parties…