Mauthausen - Kefermarkt - Freistadt - Freistadter Brewery

Route: Linz - Mauthausen - Kefermarkt - Freistadt - Freistadter Brewery - Linz
Duration: 6 h
Our firs stop we will make at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp which was one of the largest labor camp complexes in the Third Reich. Between 1938 and 1945, the Mauthausen concentration camp and its 40 sub-camps were the main site of political, social and racist persecution by the National Socialist Regime. People from across Europe were deported to Mauthausen and its interconnecting camps – facing most brutal conditions and highest mortality rate. During the seven years about 200.000 people were imprisoned; at least half of them were murdered. Upon arrival, explore with audio guides the preserved historic premises of the Mauthausen Memorial. See the Wiener-Graben quarry, the „Stairway of Death“, the SS-Quarters, the Camp Prison as well as the Gas Chamber. Visit the Mauthausen Museum with its changing exhibitions as well as the „Room of names“. It is a significant memorial for the present and future generations. Our next short stop will be at the small Mühlviertel municipality of Kefermarkt where Zelking who donated the impressive Gothic winged altar in the parish church and among the Thuringians and build the original castle from the 13th century received its present form as a residential palace, characterized by the architectural style of the late Renaissance and early Baroque. The Kefermark parish church shines with the world-famous winged altar carved from linden wood. Alongside the Pacher Altar in St. Wolfgang and the Marien Altar in Kraków, it is one of the three largest Gothic altars at the end of the 15th century. Adalbert Stifter, who headed the restoration of the treasure as a school board in 1852, wrote: "It is not a work of art good for a time, a place or good for its kind, but a work of art of the highest order". Next we will drive to the charm city of Freistadt in northern Austria where  well-preserved historic town centre is surrounded by the original fortification walls. Freistadt was a hub for salt trade from the Salzkammergut, connecting Austria with Bohemia and the lands beyond. With the people in the region of Bohemia as a traditional thread, the Babenberg and later Habsburg rulers of Austria made the city a centre for the border defence. Founded in 1220, the city was endowed with loads of privileges in order to make it bloom and flourish, including rights in taxation, holding markets and regulating through fare. Get to know the seven towers, two main gates and the moat around the historic town centre. Enter the old town through one of the six different openings in the wall and head for the central square where you will find banks, shops and eateries. At the south end of the square you can see the town’s main church Stadtpfarrkirche with its 67-meter-high church tower. In the northwest corner of the old town the castle has found its strategic location. It is difficult to pin-point special sights in Freistadt’s historic centre, as there are 163 listed buildings within the town walls. Next we will visit to Freistädter Bierwhich is one of the most famous beers in Upper Austria . One of the rights given to the independent Freistadt was the right to brew beer.  Starting in 1383, any citizen could brew their own beer although this was determined by property value.   Although there were 12 breweries in the 1500s, there were only two breweries at a later point in history.  In 1770, the community decided to draw up a contract to create a united brewery with high quality beer.  All the residents of the town became the “investors” of the Braucommune and this has remained the same today.   In 1780, the brewery was officially opened! The people of Freistadt in Upper Austria have been brewing beer since 1363. Water from the local bedrock, hops from the Mühlviertel region, malt from the Weinviertel region, and a well-guarded strain of local yeast make for the high and consistent quality of the Freistädter beers. After the short excursion  you can test the original old beer of Austria. After we will return to Linz.
Price: Per person