Planned Gondola Ride Will Give Bird’s Eye View of Nudist Beach

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Cities that host tourists are always looking for the “next best thing” to keep the tourists coming and get more of their money. They run the gamut from those huge Ferris wheels you see in London, Orlando, Dubai, etc., to potential casinos in New York City, to disappointing, overrated tourist traps that you’ll find all over the world (these are the worst ones).

You’d think that Vienna is a good example of a city that already has enough to do to entice visitors. Home to Imperial Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens, the Hofberg, Belvedere Palace, the Vienna Zoo, and places for creative arts galore, just to name a few, you’d think the capital of Austria, with history going back about 2500 years, would have enough, right? There’s more than enough to keep tourists busy for a good 3 to 5 days, right?

But no…the local Chamber of Commerce is considering building a gondola attraction over the northern edge of the city. If it goes according to plans, it would run from the Heiligenstadt transit station across the Danube river and then back over to the Kahlenberg, a small mountain in the north of the capital. 115 gondolas with panoramic windows would offer a “breathtaking view across Vienna.” It’s also being promoted as a potential form of modern mobility for all Viennese.

Here’s a promo video for the attraction:

Ultimately, the Kahlenberg cable car will offer a breathtaking panoramic view in the future. Floating above the Vienna Woods Biosphere Park, below the Leopoldsberg church, passengers can experience a view of Vienna – and if visibility is good even as far as Schneeberg and Bratislava.

It sounds lovely. However the most breathtaking view might not be the scenery as much as the nudist beach on Danube Island that would be within sight of the planned cable car.

The Chamber of Commerce was aware of the situation while it was being planned.

“We knew that,” said COC tourism chairman Josef Bitzinger, “But we assume that something like this will not be a problem. This section is sparsely frequented, nudists are still more in to find the Lobau” (another nudist area, about a 10-minute drive away).

Michael Bitterl is a cable car expert and is the person who penned the feasibility study for the attraction. He downplayed gondola’s ability to see naked people from above. “It will be a few moments 40 meters above the nudist beach.” However even he couldn’t say how much would be able to be seen from that angle when, “The gondola travels over the naked people for about ten seconds at six meters per second.”

I think Mr. Bitterl isn’t aware of how well and quickly still and video cameras can zoom nowadays. 😉

The nudists are, not surprisingly, not happy.

“How quickly do you think word of this gets around among tourists all over the world? We can do without that!” said nudist Walter F.

Nudist Barbara Hausjell agreed. She said she was concerned about her privacy if cable car users with cellphone cameras are allowed to swoop across the area.

“I don’t want to end up on the internet,” the 72-year-old told the Austria Press Agency.

No word on whether or not the gondola ride is a “sure thing” yet or if it’s still only in the stages of “it’s possible it could happen.”

H/T: MeinBezirk.at

Feature photo: Lyndi & Jason / flickr / CC BY SA-2.0

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