Of Pill Makers and Celtic Graves
The capital city of Upper Austria, Linz, tempts you with a range of attractive sights for an extensive sightseeing route: through the old town including the main square and Landstraße to the Castle Museum, Botanical Garden, Mariendom Cathedral, Music Theatre at Volksgarten, Lentos Museum and Ars Electronica Center – to name just a few of the most important. Certainly, as you leave, the Pöstlingberg, also a city landmark, waves to you down towards the Danube Cycle Path.
The route soon passes Steyregg with its magnificent castle. Its history dates back to the 11th/12th century, but it only opens its doors for events.
A little away from the Danube you continue on to Mauthausen. The "toll station", founded by the Babenbergs and giving the town its name, gained sad notoriety as the site of the largest Austrian Nazi concentration camp (memorial site!). In the Mauthausen Pragstein Castle, by the way, you can find out everything you ever wanted to know about pill making and ointment mixing. Austria’s only pharmacy museum is housed here.
At Au an der Donau you have the opportunity to take a detour into the lively town centre of the district capital Perg, where restaurants or cafés invite you to take a break. (Tip: Shopping in Perg.) A detour along the R30 Aist-Naarntal Cycle Path is worth it. This stretches from Au/Donau to Schwertberg and Perg and back to Au.
The next resting opportunity can be combined with a visit to the Celtic village of Mitterkirchen, an open-air museum that brings daily life around 700 BC vividly to life. Not far away, by the way, is the Baumgartenberg Monastery, whose monastery church with its magnificent stucco work is considered a jewel of Baroque architecture. From here the river gently leads you to Grein, the "Pearl of the Strudengau". Known in the Middle Ages as the "golden little town", Grein charms today with its nostalgic character. The Grein City Theatre, with its much-admired curiosities, and Austria’s oldest residential castle, Greinburg Castle, welcome you.
