After my recent city trips to Prague, Bratislava and Budapest, I started feeling bad about having seen so little of Austria (next to Graz, Salzburg and ofcourse Vienna). After all… it has been my ‘Heimat’ for over a year. Last saturday I went to Linz. Which was, just as a sidenote, the European Capital of Culture in 2009.
“It may not have old-world architecture to rival the giddy heights of Vienna or Salzburg, but it comes up trumps in the modern art and new technology stakes, with crystalline venues like Lentos and the Ars Electronica Center.”
After arriving at Linz Hauptbahnhof, we walked through the Volksgarten, passed the Musiktheater in-process-of-construction, towards Landstrasse. Following this main street to Taubenmarkt (Pigeonmarket) near the main square, where we found a little market ‘happening’. In the middle of the Hauptplatz you’ll find the so-called Pestsäule, built to remember the people who died in the plague epidemics. The Alter Dom is also a quite impressive sight on this square.
My travelbuddy of choice and I met up with an old friend of his over lunch at veggie restaurant P’aa. And coffee at Jindrak, the epicentrum of Linzer Torte, or so I’ve heard. A pretty interesting place anyway, with a smokers room in authentic design and a non-smokers room that is way more modern and ‘Starbucksy’. It goes without saying that we endured the smoke, just to get a hint of nostalgia.
Next up: the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), a museum and research facility, across the river from the Hauptplatz. The AEC is a world center for new media arts, attracting a large gathering of technologically-oriented artists every year for the Ars Electronica festival. I greatly enjoyed the museum, wore a tail (really) and interacted with robots. And I tried to ignore one of the guides who gave a very negative (and vocal) lecture on Facebook, afraid of being lured into a discussion defending my hero ;)
After all those experiments, tricks and technological novelties we needed a drink. Enter Strom Cafe, where we met the guys from DMVA, who were to play at Stadtwerkstatt later that evening (/night) and were waiting for their sound-check.
Walking towards the OÖ Kulturquartier (make sure to check out the exhibition on the rooftops before it gets to windy and rainy!) we passed by some cute sights. There, we went for dinner (chickpea vegetable curry!) at the Gelbes Krokodil before heading back to the train station to catch our train.
Did you know that…
– The Nibelungen bridge that spans the Danube river from the Hauptplatz (main square) was Linz’s version of Checkpoint Charlie?
It’s the only architectural plan Hitler ever carried out in Linz.
– Linz’ railway has crept into the Guinness Book of Records?
– The oldest Austrian church is located near the Schloss: Sankt Martins church?
It was built during early medieval Carolingian times.
Although people warned me for the boredom-factor of Linz, I had a good time exploring. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to visit modern art gallery Lentos (2003) on the south banks of the Danube. A good enough reason to come back someday soon.
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