Luckily, I had seen some brochures for the little riverside town of Kriems and it looked very pretty. It was definitely worth the short visit we paid it, even though, being Sunday, it was rather dead apart from the many American passengers of a visiting cruise ship. We found our way to the older part of town with its fantastically attractive mix of architecture. I just loved this particular corner with its rectangles and curves. It all looked so clean and well cared for compared to Sankt Poelten.
This building below, built into the old city wall was particularly stunning. On the other side of the outer wall was a totally modern arcade. Very beautiful.
From Kriems we headed along the banks of the River Danube towards Linz. What a lovely drive it was through the Wachau wine district of Upper Austria with all its colourful and picturesque villages set amongst the vineyards.
We wanted a tea and coffee and found a really inviting garden with an orchard of cherry trees, heavily laden with fruit. It had a massive restaurant area, but I was surprised to learn that restaurants offering wine tastings needed a special licence for coffee, so we had to go elsewhere. Very strange rules!
The Danube is far from 'blue' but nevertheless is still impressive. It is incredibly wide and even now, after very little rain, very full. I liked this little car ferry taking cars and many bikes across to the other side.
I have never seen so many cyclists. It is, of course, perfect terrain for cycling as it is very flat and there is a special cyclist track running alongside the road. You can hire bikes in one village and drop off at the next. Great idea!
We really had a fantastic drive to Linz, dropped off the car at the airport ( the quietest airport both of us have ever seen) and then headed into Linz. It is apparently Austria's second biggest city and it was rapidly obvious that it was a young people's city, with many different universities. The main square is absolutelymassive and to me a little ostentatious. On the other hand, it was beautifully clean and tidy.
Some of the old city was especially attractive , helped by the unbelievably blue , cloudless sky! We were so lucky with the weather. It was perfect. We went back to this area for our mini pub crawl later that night.
As the sun set, the hills and Danube lit up. It was gorgeous. We took a funny little tram up to the top of the hill for a brilliant view over the city.
As night fell, the lights of the city sprang to life
And the Ars Electronica Centre looked spectacular with its ever changing colours.
We thoroughly enjoyed the city at night, spending quite some hours in the old city at a couple of the local bars. We met some really great young people from Hungary and had a fabulous night out.
I am not sure what this poster was all about! Perhaps people confuse Austria and Australia?
All good things come to an end. Time to head back through The Vorarlberg area where David had worked for a winter season
And back to Russikon. Wow, so hot in the Zurich area!
Thanks Dennis for a really fun five days!
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