The Home of the Linzer Torte

Linz is the second largest city in Austria and a very important location for industry. It is situated on the river Danube and has three bridges connecting Linz with the suburb of Urfahr, on the left bank of the river.

The city is still, at present, an important industrial and transport hub serving the whole area from Upper Austria to Bohemia.

Over the last 30 years, the town has made an effort to counteract its image as a rather grimy industrial town. Cleanliness and safety are key policymaking issues in the City of Linz. The Sauber Linz workshop series being staged on the first four days in October will provide a framework for discussions of these topics from somewhat novel perspectives.

The Landstrasse is the place to shop. This pedestrianzed thorough fare is home to many shops, agencies, bakeries and restaurants

Near the town-square is this small street in the old part of town, where there are plenty of discos and pubs and is called the Bermuda Triangle of Linz.

The main square in the historic old town quarter stretches 13,000 metres and is considered Austria's largest town square. The city also is a city of churches.

The square is dominated by the Plague Column Trinity Column, but also boasts fine examples of Baroque and Biedermeier facades like the Old Town Hall. There is an flea market on Saturday's in the square and it also hosts various exhibitions some as traditional as the annual Christkindlmarkt Christmas Markets.

Bruckner Festival draws well over 100,000 participants to celebrate the best of classical music, with the added attraction of sound and light displays.

For a week every year the city becomes the most futuristic city in the world as Ars Electronic provides a fascinating fusion of art and science, which is an open meeting place for artists and cyber enthusiasts. The festival is a strange affair, a trade show for technological companies, a forum for international debate and a chance to see the cleverest art around.

The Linzer Torte is considered the oldest known cake in the world. The cake is made with nuts in the dough and might be rather dry.

Wolfgang Amadeus composed his Linz Symphony in 1783 in the three storey Mozart House.

The Postlingbergbahn is Europes steepest tram, it carries passengers over a distance of 2.9 km in 16 minutes. It was built in 1898, and the tram still operates with romantic cars from the turn of the century.