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Linz, Austria

Today we started our day in Linz, Austria. It originated as a Celtic and then Roman town. At one point in the 1400s it was the center of the Holy German Roman Empire. Historically this is an industrial and trading city. Because of this it was bombed repeatedly in WWII, leaving few “old” buildings around. It is also known as where Johannes Kepler lived and taught math. Hitler spent some of his childhood years here, as well. They do have a small medieval area of town and a town square. They have a museum of modern art (not my thing) that has a nice, big glass building.

We had a late brunch on the ship and then headed to Salzburg by bus. On the way up we made a stop in Mondsee, which is a town on a lake. It is also known as the location of the church from The Sound of Music. The lake was beautiful. Altogether it was a nearly 2 hour drive each way with about 3 hours in town, but it was well worth it. Salzburg has a good-sized, old town with multiple churches and a castle built on the rocky hill above. It is recognized as one of the best-preserved city centers north of the Alps. This city has been continuously occupied since the 5th century BC. It was important northern city in the Roman empire, but was abandoned by them and was largely in ruins by the 7th century. It was revitalized by Rupert of Salzburg, a catholic bishop

We went off on our own to see as much as we could. We managed to get to a number of churches and also took the funicular up to the castle, where we not only got to explore the 900 year old castle, but also had great views of the city. The castle dates back to 1077, initially a fort established by an archbishop. The ring walls and towers were built in 1462 under Prince-Archbishop Burk*********** Weißpriach.

We definitely need to go back to Salzburg but were glad to get a whirlwind tour!

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