Tues 8 May 2018. Scenic boat cruise Passau to Linz

Tues 8 May 2018. Scenic boat cruise Passau to Linz

Up early for breakfast with room full of tradies. Caught 7.02 train to Passau with workers and chattering schoolkids. We were way too early but next train wouldn’t have made boarding. Walked 1.2km to terminal; Donauschifffarht boat took off exactly 9.00am. 

Interesting seat. What does shop sell??

Sat back and enjoyed the peaceful mostly rural scenery stopping at Obernzell, Haus am Strom and Engelhartszell. Great villages, swans, castles on hill etc. Views from top deck were worth the cold generated by driving into head wind. 

There were two lochs throughout, fascinating to see such long boats accommodated by the engineering. 

Quite a few passengers disembarked at the Schloegen scenic curve in river. 

Food and drinks, including alcohol were available throughout. We ordered Vienna sausage from the menu – it sounded so much better than the pale frankfurter that arrived. At least GirlRob’s pina colada was tasty (even if it had kiwi fruit on side instead of pineapple!!)

We arrived in Linz at 2.10pm. In gathering clouds, walked past tempting Art Gallery (daughter Jenni would love the Klimt collection) through town square (Hauptplatz), Trinity Column, fountain, followed tram lines past baroque buildings in bright pastel colours, churches (including Jesuit), glimpsed spire of neo-Gothic MarienDom (largest church in Austria), past Kulturquartier, Lutheran church, Palace, past MusikTheatre, through park Volksgarten, to railway station – and arrived just as the storm broke. Asked about our ticket to Passau, and found next train was an “all stations” which would stop at Andorf on way - bonus! Just time for hot drink before finding our platform. Shared train with very well-behaved young people on their way home from school.

MarienDom