The great trips of Sissi the Empress · Wanderlix

"I always want to go further and move. Every boat that leaves makes me want to be on board. Anywhere only to not stay in the same place too long. »

Thinking of Sissi is imagined by Romy Schneider who devalues the steps of a great Viennese castle in a sumptuous dress. For the famous trilogy of films, having made Sissi an icon, shows on the screen a pugnace Empress who marked the History of the Austro-Hungrois Empire. But from his personal life, however, we do not know much.

Because Sissi loved fashion and riding. She loved writing poems and doing long walks in nature. Nevertheless, what was most animating the empress was to take the sea, to become a seagull, as she liked to nickname herself. The journeys were the great love of Sissi, a passion she inherited from her father.

Beyond a need for adventures, the journeys were also a way for the Empress to escape the carcan of the Viennese court and a “love” marriage, yet unhappy. From Portugal to Greece, to France, Italy and Hungary: Sissi’s great expeditions allow him to escape a role that he does not want, to flee the responsibilities that deprive him of his freedom.

We wanted to trace some of his most beautiful journeys by showing you another unknown facet of Sissi. And, perhaps, you want to discover in your turn these wonderful places that still keep, today, a well anchored trace of the passage of the Empress.

Vienna, the golden prison

In 1854, the young Duchess of Bavaria Elizabeth of Wittelsbach ("Sissi"), then 16, married Emperor Austro-Hongrois, François-Joseph I. Their union is celebrated in the church of Augustines, located in the heart of Vienna. Now open to the visit, the latter was the place of predilection for each marriage of the famous Habsourg Dynasty.

Young married to the court of Vienna, Sissi tries to comply with the label, under the yoke of a tyrannical and invasive mother-in-law. Quickly, her husband abandons the marital cocoon, concerned about her duties and responsibilities in full Crimean war .

It is in this context that this singular pilgrimage around Sissi begins. The Austrian capital represents the beginning of the popularity of the empress and the appearance of the first symptoms of a physical and mental ill-being that will lead her to escape regularly. For the time being, two places in Vienna can better understand the life of Sissi: Schönbrunn and Hofburg. We'll take you there for a walk...

The castle of Schönbrunn is the imperial summer home of the Habsburg over several generations, and has therefore been the residence of Sissi for many years. Schönbrunn, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has also become one of the most visited tourist sites in Austria!

If you decide to go to this huge building today, you will have the leisure to visit more than 50 rooms with rococo decor and to discover the wonderful gardens where the empress loved to take the air and do sports. Overlooking the site, the Gloriette also allows a breathtaking view.

And every winter, Sissi and his family move into the huge Hofburg Palace, in the heart of Viennese city centre. As in Schönbrunn, the Sissi passage left many traces in this unmissable building to be discovered in Vienna. And despite the unpopularity of Sissi in the court of Vienna, causing a “austrophobia”, the city repented by setting up the museum Sissi.

Far from glorifying an icon, it is the depressed Sissi, stuck in a life that she hates, which appears here. Moreover, her apartments are not the same as her husband’s apartments, so she must “announced” to see him. The Sissi Museum remains the opportunity to discover the love of Sissi for fine arts, for his silhouette (there is a gym!) and for the dress fashion of the time. And, of course, the place offers a first interview of Sissi’s trips abroad.

Finally, Vienna will remain the eternal city of Sissi since it is in the Austrian capital that the Empress was founded after his assassination in 1898 in Geneva. The imperial crypt, open to the public, also allows to discover the extraordinary Viennese funeral art.

Salzburg and Tyrol, to breathe

Apart from his Viennese life, where luxury is close to loneliness, Sissi’s life is marked by many trips within the Empire itself. These escapades allow him to escape while being close to Vienna, and thus remain under high protection.

Located at 2:30 am on the road to the capital, the city of Salzburg and its surroundings are important in the life of the Empress since she met her husband, François-Joseph, in the 1850s. In Bad Ischl, precisely, Sissi reinvents herself poetic in the imperial villa, while her husband leaves hunting.

His poems, allowing to kiss his melancholy, are to be found in The Poetic Journal of Sissi . Thus, the spa of Bad Ischl is an oasis where Sissi can rest and enjoy a magnificent setting in the heart of a mountainous region.

In addition, Sissi regularly travels to the Austrian Tyrol region, particularly in Innsbruck where she enjoys a sumptuous imperial palace in an idyllic setting. Close to nature, the city allows the Empress obsessed with sport and his physics to make his 30 kilometers daily.

Further south, in what represents the Italian part of Tyrol today, Sissi organizes many stays to enjoy the Mediterranean climate of Merano. There he was set up a sort of path, the “Sissi-Weg”, surrounded by one of the most beautiful gardens in Europe.

This path to the final destination of the castle of Trauttmansdorff, where Sissi stayed for two winters in the 1870s. She also decided to spend a good time in the baths of Trente, rich in arsenic and iron, to redo a health.

Madeira, the escape

In the late 1850s, Sissi fell seriously ill, or at least pretended to be. She says she's exhausted, and she's coughing a lot. The doctors encourage her to do a cure in South Dalmatia, which she refuses. Indeed, what Sissi hopes is to leave the Empire where it is hated, regardless of its security.

Pushed by this need for freedom, the Empress leaves for Madeira, a Portuguese island located in an archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean, off the northwest coast of Africa. Queen of England, Queen Victoria, lends her a yacht for a departure on November 17, 1860 from Trieste.

The so-called “island of flowers” represents an open-air clinic for Sissi. It is the ideal place to treat your physical health, but also and especially the depression that gnaws it. Several studies prove that Sissi is not only depressed, but also anorexic and addicted to certain substances.

His condition worsens with the premature loss of his 2-year-old daughter a few years earlier. Marked by the event, it sinks into a deep melancholy that only Madeira seems to be able to calm at that time.

On the island, Sissi discovers the Quinta Vigia, traditional Madrid accommodation where she puts her suitcases the time of a convalescence that will last five months. This magnificent residence, with stunning views of the sea and the harbour, is located in the heart of Funchal, the capital of the island. You can easily imagine the Empress strolling into the garden of his residence, which you can discover today.

Far from the obligations relating to its status, Sissi spends his days in this oasis of vegetation, where the flora is luxuriant, to the sound of the wigs and parrots of which it deals. To pay tribute to him, a statue of Sissi was erected in the garden of Funchal, thus recalling the passage of the Empress in this little paradise.

Today, Funchal is still a high place of tourism where it makes good living. Although urbanized, the city has kept an ancient cachet, such as old buildings, paved streets or balconies in ironwork.

The markets are essential to discover in Funchal, as well as the cellars, since Madeira wine is particularly famous! Walking around the city, it is easy to understand why Sissi made his eldorado.

The island is particularly wild, which allows the Empress to continue his long walks outside Funchal. Indeed, Madeira is full of more beautiful views than others! We imagine Sissi climbing the famous Cap Girão, a 600-metre high cliff that offers a breathtaking view of the Mediterranean. There is the Pico Ruivo, which makes “fly over the clouds” and represents the highest point of the island.

If you visit Madeira, you can also test the canyoning in the Ribeira das Cales. There, there is a splendid valley that allows you to discover another facet of Madeira, where the cascades cleave the rocks.

This temporary exile in Madeira allows Sissi to take the air, but not only. In memory, one learns that the Empress plays mandolin and makes parts of cards with men, as an insult to the label of the time.

Corfu, rebirths

After his stay in Madeira, Sissi returned to Vienna in April 1860. The return to the court, where it is always hated, plunges it again into a terrible evil. Worse still, her mother-in-law never ceases to want to control her life, which arouses her daily life.

Sissi decided to move away again from Vienna in May 1861 to discover Corfu, a Greek island in the middle of the Ionian Sea. With many small rivers, three large lagoons, and a nature as rich as peaceful, the place is again idyllic for the suffering empress. Also, the climate is mild as in Madeira.

After a first trip to Corfu in 1861, Sissi fell in love with the island. She therefore decided to go back there on many occasions. Passionate by Homère and L’ Odyssey , Sissi wishes to follow the traces of Ulysses. She then began studies of ancient and modern Greek and settled on the eastern coast of Corfu, in Villa Vraila, which she bought in 1888 to make it a palace.

The Italian architect Raffaele Caritto transforms the place that becomes the Achillesion, an imperial palace in tribute to the work of Homer. Sissi decides to install Greek statues in the garden, as well as sculptures of centaurs, and columns. Because with Achilleion, Sissi pays first tribute to mythology.

At the death of Sissi, Emperor William II of Germany bought the Achilleion. Finally, the building becomes successively a museum, a school, a casino, and a diplomatic palace from the interwar period. Today, the Achilleion is open to the visit, and allows to have a nice glimpse of the Hellenophilia of Sissi. The palace is large enough to make the visit particularly dense.

First, the Empress’s Hall allows time to go back to a period of time. There is a traditional 19th century furniture and important paintings for Sissi: that of the Miramare castle of Trieste, where Sissi has resided, and some Italian porcelain.

In the dining room in the rococo style, the theme of L’Odyssée d’Homère is well present. On the wall there is a painting of the encounter between Ulysses and Princess Nausicaa for example. After the inner visit, it is the Jardin des Muses, the peristyle of the Muses and the wood that must be discovered. The exterior is indeed faithful to the love of Sissi for lush gardens, for nature, and for animals. Finally, take the time to admire the sea view from the viewpoint of Achilleion.

Corfu will therefore have the magic necessary to rekindle the flame of life of a tormented Empress. Today, the Greek island is especially popular with curious tourists and lovers of mythology.

It also welcomes all those who, like Sissi, need sweetness of life and rest. Rich in a cultural blend and full of legends, Corfu has become a must-see destination. In the footsteps of the Empress, stroll through the alleys of the old town or on the beaches of the island, Mirtiotissa or Nissaki and drown with possible sorrows in the turquoise water.

In addition, if you are interested in mythology, organize a discovery of the rock of Ulysses on almost Kanoni Island. This small islet would be the place where the Greek hero had failed after fleeing the Calypso nymph. Other legends, including that of Homer, tell us that the rock was the boat of Ulysses, transformed by the God of the sea and the Poséidon oceans, angry with Ulysses.

Hungary, royal escapades

Between her trips to Madeira and Corfu, and a few trips to Italy, it is finally a less exotic country that attracts Sissi: Hungary. Then attached to the Empire, Hungary is a new playground for the Empress who uses his power for the benefit of the Hungarian people (the magyars) with whom it has a lot of success. Motivated by this popular momentum, she decided to defend their freedom.

In 1867 she was crowned in Budapest and joined in her new missions, such as the Austro-Hungrois compromise, which made Budapest the second capital of the Empire with Vienna. The queen of Hungary quickly learns the language and finds her new oasis of peace: the castle of Gödöllö.

The wonderful baroque building of the 18th century is located 35 kilometres east of Budapest. Sissi went to take refuge there many times while his situation in Vienna would worsen with depression, anorexia, unpopularity and marital debris.

It is therefore in Gödöllö that it is possible, today, to get involved in the life of the Empress and to discover his thousand and ones of passions. A visit to this “Hungarian Cup” takes you to the majestic reception room, testifying to a time of teddy and festins. All rooms and rooms have antique furniture and impressive works of art.

For you have understood it by reading us so far: Sissi was a big fan of paintings. The Empress also had a weak porcelain, as one of the castle’s exhibitions shows. With a little luck, your visit to Gödöllö will make you discover the love of Sissi for horseback riding, practiced since his earliest age. Indeed, the castle organizes equestrian shows in the sumptuous gardens of ginkgos and sequoias.

In Hungary, the aura of the “reine Erzsébet” floods the capital, Budapest. It frequents a few key places in the city, such as the Ruszwurm tea room, now two centuries old. The empress, a fan of “beautiful things”, also likes to attend the literary café New York, among the most beautiful cafés in the world.

It is close to this establishment, in the Pest district, that Sissi was strolling. A part of the neighborhood has also been renamed “Elizabeth-ville”.

Thus, Budapest is full of tributes to their queen. For example, the hills of Buda, offering a breathtaking view, were decorated with a Sissi viewpoint. This massif is located west of Budapest and allows to discover another facet of the Hungarian capital.

France, in hiding

During the summer of 1875, on the advice of her doctor, she decided to take the air in the northwest of France, in Normandy. It settles in the castle of Sassetot-le-Mauconduit near Fécamp with the archduchesse Valérie, her daughter. She goes there by train, trying to stay “incognito”, despite the presence of her guard (of 70 people still).

In this village in the middle of nature, overlooking the woods, and close to the sea, Sissi enjoys to continue his holiday routine: walks, poetry, horse riding and rest. It also enjoys many private baths, and sometimes sails on a luxurious yacht, sometimes on a modest fishing boat. The legend says that the Empress also liked to visit the local farmers and farms to watch the cows’ milking and share a moment. Pretty rare, for a woman of her rank.

In all cases, Sassetot-le-Mauconduit recalls the passage of the Empress. Today known as the Château de Sissi, the building has become a charming hotel-restaurant where you can spend an absolutely royal stay.

At the end of the 19th century, and at the approach of his premature death, Sissi discovered Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in the south of France, between Menton and Monaco. From his passage, the witnesses of the time held that Sissi rose to the aurora and took an incalculable number of thalasso baths. In Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, in the gardens of the Grand Hotel where she resides, she especially mourns the death of her son, the archduke Rodolph.

If you are strolling around Roquebrune-Cap-Martin today, take a tour of the Sissi Square, in tribute to the Empress’s passage in the city, inaugurated in 1899. A walk also allows to build a historic circuit of about 45 minutes in the footsteps of the Sissi passages in the city.

Switzerland, the last trip

The journey to the “Mouette des mers” ends brutally in Swiss lands. While visiting the Baroness of Rothschild at the Beau Rivage Hotel, she decided to return to Montreux. In front of the Geneva boat which has to bring it back to good port, it is stabbed by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni. On board the boat, the empress agonizes and dies in the hotel. She is then 61 years old.

It is possible to see personal effects marking the last hours of the empress, like a blood-stuffed ribbon at the Beau Rivage Hotel. In the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Genève, the characteristics of the Empress are given to the portrait of Saint Elisabeth to pay him a new tribute.

This ultimate journey of Sissi finally reflects all its existence: the sea marrow dies dramatically, traveling, and especially far from the court. But the soul of the Empress continues to live on the heights of Madeira, in the gardens of Corfu, in the heart of Normandy or in the cafes of Budapest. The Empress, a “influent travel” of another time, gives us a constant desire to leave the routine to discover the wonders of the world.