Sep 7, 2026 - Monday - Brandstatt, Austria to Linz, Austria

Short day today at 24 km. Did I mention that the weather gods have been very kind. So far on the bike days the forecast is for cooler, dry days which has been perfect these first two days.

Buffet breakfast again and we grabbed the free sandwiches for our lunch. The ride was great with only one short section with cars zooming by and one detour where we had to backtrack a bit. Ralph and Teri stopped at a bike shop to find water bottles and Deb and I found a nice shady park near the river where some other folks from the boat had stopped. Our plan was to eat lunch at a beach near the end of today's ride and then take the rest of the day to explore Linz. The beach was not all that great but we found some steps to sit on and eat lunch. We shortly got to the boat, which we had seen pass us on the river earlier, dropped the bikes off, changed into street clothes and walked into Linz. Linz is another beautiful old city with big churches and cobblestone streets. We took the tram to Postlingberg, the top of a mountain across the river where you can get a nice view of the city. Our new table mates, Dana and Nancy, also were on the tram so we all stuck together for our visit. We’d been told about the  Dragon Ride (Grottenbahn) which is a 120 year old amusement ride in an old castle featuring Grimm Fairy Tales. It’s been modernized but it was very cute. Makes me want to go back and read those fairy tales again.

After our Dragon ride we headed back into the city on the tram and walked around. Deb was on a mission to find a slice of Linzer Torte, the oldest Austrian Cake recipe. We went to the K.U.K. Hofbackerei for shared slices of Linzer Torte and coffee/tea. Very nice but we all agreed it wasn’t our favorite dessert. After this we searched out the New Cathedral, a church built in the mid-1800’s that is now Austria’s largest church, with seating for 20,000. Downtown Linz was really nice and much less touristy than some of the other European cities we’ve visited.

The boat left at 7 p.m. so we had to be back on board by 6:30. We made the 6:45 debriefing for tomorrow's ride as the boat started down river and then straight to dinner.