Today we had the most amazing ice creams on the edge of the Danube – Pumpkin Seed Sundaes – the silkiest vanilla ice cream, pumpkin seed brittle, pumpkin seed oil and chocolate sauce.

Ice cream to die for – Or at least to cycle far for!

They seem to have been cooking here for some time, their menu told us –

In 1635 our Landgasthof (county hotel) has been mentioned in a document for the first time as “Wirt an der Brücke” (Inn on the bridge). 

Today was a short, flat 63 km cycle from Schlögen to Linz. I would have said flat but Strava begs to differ with its 658 metres elevation gain. Strava, I honestly didn’t feel it!

The scenery as nearly always was breathtakingly beautiful.

We hadn’t been seeing Lime pollen for a couple of weeks but we saw it again today. It really is like a snow shower as the photo shows. One definitely wouldn’t want to have a pollen allergy cycling through this.

Cycling into Linz, we could see the spire of St Mary’s Cathedral in the distance. Linz was our stop for the night. Linz with a population of just over 200,000 is the third largest cities in Austria, (after Vienna and Graz).

We are getting to be very efficient tourists now. Generally the most interesting parts of these towns and cities are the old section so we try to book a hotel in that part. Tonight’s hotel is right beside St Mary’s Cathedral.

St Mary’s Cathedral is a Catholic Cathedral in Gothic-Revival style. According to Wikipedia With a total height of 134,8 meters, the cathedral is the tallest church in Austria. Constructed in the years of 1862 and 1924, it is fully built of sandstone with unfinished front details.

I’ll allow myself two photos!

And

It is currently undergoing big renovations so a lot of the interior was blocked off.

Another beautiful cathedral today but a totally different style compared with yesterday’s. We seem to be cycling between cathedrals these days.

Another beautiful sight was the Plague Column built to built to remember the people who died in the plague epidemics. The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia, peaking in Europe in the years 1346–1353.

And finally, Mozarthaus where Mozart composed his Linz Symphony in 1783.

We had a lovely dinner in Linz and home to bed early, planning another longish cycle tomorrow. Good night Linz!