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LinzAustria
Linz, is a large, old established city in northern Austria and capital of Upper Austria Province. The first settlement dates back to at least the 2nd century AD, when it was a Roman fortress settlement called Lentia. In the 14th-15th centuries, it developed into a busy market town, and was well known for its great fairs. From 1489 till1493 Linz was the residence of the emperor Frederick the 3rd. Large iron and steel and chemical plants were built here after Germany occupied Austria in 1938. The city was Adolf Hitler's favorite town. A cake, Linzer Torte, is also named after the city. Today Linz is a major industrial centre and an important Danube port, producing iron and steel, chemicals, machinery, electrical appliances, beer, textiles and shipbuilding. Urfahr, a formerly independent town on the north bank of the Danube, is now part of Linz. The Hauptplatz, dating from the 13th-century, is the main square in Old Linz on the south bank of the river is dominated by Trinity Column (1723). The 17th century Alter Dom (Cathedral), where the composer Anton Bruckner was organist from 1856 to 1868. The 15th century Imperial Castle is a museum now. Population is around 250,000. I asked a young man walking towards us and he, seeing us being visitors, quickly told us, he is an university student, with time on his hand and he'll show us some of the town and we don't have to worry, he wants to do it and he wants to do it free of charge. Now that's some kind of hospitality. Thank you young man, if you happen to read these pages. But wait there's more. To our surprise many similar acts of expression of help, hospitality and generosity was shown to us during this trip. (Excepting the "gutter-slime", that pinched Hui Chin's purse, with a lot of our savings in Lisbon). Sorry, I've wondered off here, back to Linz. Our young man shown us most of the town, walking down the main street to the beautiful Baroque styled Cathedral, the Old Town Square, Danube Bridge, the Ars Electronica Center (With its 'Cave' virtual world, where you are travelling through time and space.) in North Linz, and the Imperial Palace museum. We did some more walking and exploring after our young friend said good bye and went back to his studies. Terrific place, even though we missed our train to Györ (Hungary). This wasn't the only time we've missed important trains, more on other pages.
You can click on these photos for an enlargement.
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