A capital route through history
Most impressive, is a 300-year-old iron chest whose 14 bolts still glide smoothly into position today.
We hear how the abbey had to sell a Gutenberg Bible to Harvard University to fund the restoration in 1996 and we try to fathom how columns painted below the fresco ceiling in the Marble Hall seem to lean as you move through the room.
Overnight we sail towards Linz. It’s a pretty town which Hitler took rather a liking to, declaring it to be his favourite city and where he attended school. It was from here, during the Second World War while standing on a balcony overlooking the 13th-century Hauptplatz, that Hitler announced the country’s annexation to Germany.
Two austere granite buildings which sit on the Danube and one of the city’s two bridges were also built under his orders.
Thirty years ago, the capital of Upper Austria was a nondescript, industrial city but it’s now moved on considerably. Art installations are dotted along the waterfront and the modern Lentos Art Museum features a range of contemporary art. Residents commute on bikes, the traffic can be overwhelming as there are only two bridges crossing the Danube. In fact, as late as 1955, a checkpoint on the Nibelungen Bridge was still in use and known as Linz’s Checkpoint Charlie separating the occupying Russian and American forces. Infinitely more charming is the historical Pöstlingbergbahn railway, scaling Linz’s highest mountain to the Basilica of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady for sweeping views across the city.
Below, we wandered the tiny cobblestone streets of the Old Town, dotted with stylish cafes and contemporary boutiques and explored the cathedral designed by the same architect as Cologne’s gothic centrepiece.
It’s a charming place and one which warrants a longer stay but Vienna, undoubtedly the jewel in Austria’s crown, awaited. This is one of Europe’s most spectacular cities and has just been voted the World’s Most Liveable City.
Most of its grand architecture sits on the Ringstrasse which encircles