Europe - Linz - The Home of Linzer Torte

Remaining in Austria, we moored at the town of Linz - originally known as Lentia when it was a Roman castle settlement. Today it’s the 3rd largest city in Austria with a big harbour located on the Danube.

In the old town narrow streets lead to the Haupt Platz, once the largest town square in Austria, lined with cafes and yet again elegant buildings.

It was a damp start to our walking tour, a great excuse to settle into a coffeehouse for coffee and Linz torte, the cake of choice in Linz and said to be the oldest cake in the world!

The weather cleared in the afternoon and we rode the Pöstlingbergbahn, the steepest adhesion railway^ in Europe - rising 519m in 20 mins to visit the little church at the top and take in sweeping views across the city.

^^{frictional resistance prevents a cable car's driving wheels from slipping on the rail.}

Although it’s an industrial town, with a large steel works a stone’s throw from the old town, it is also rich in culture and innovation, named the cultural capital of Europe in 2009 and known as the Silicon Valley of Austria, embracing constant change and pioneering new technologies.

Linz's museum of the future, Ars Electronica Center is a striking building at the edge of the Danube housing exhibitions on art, technology and society. It’s possible to watch artificial intelligence think, train self-drive cars, program robots, print in 3D or process your own DNA with gene scissors.

We didn’t have a chance to visit the museum but we did attend a free concert in the 3D Deep Space Theatre in 8K resolution (I’d only ever heard of 4K).

It’s hard to explain - the website comments:

One becomes part of the orchestra itself, redesigning the various instrument groups of the Bruckner orchestra Linz to experience the musical and compositional aspects of Bruckner’s music as impressive 3d visualizations. The application “Playing Anton” was developed to mark Bruckner’s anniversary this year.

Starry bars of light rose from the floor, activated by the audience’s footsteps, quite mesmerising. This 30 sec video, is not 3D but gives you some idea.

By night the exterior is a changing light show on the LED facade, simply operated by a smartphone.

This is a city for those wanting to explore more of what is in store for us in the future.

A thrill to set sail past sparkling colours across the waters of the Danube, on our way to our last port - Passau - this post will be featured soon.