Romantic Danube: Passau, Germany

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships
Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Narrows
Romantic Danube: Regensburg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Passau, Germany

With no significant rain thus far on our trip, our longship could travel no further than Regenburg so on Tuesday morning we boarded motorcoaches that took us to Passau, which was about two hours away and is the last major city in Germany before reaching Austria.

Passau has something in common with Pittsburgh and that is that both cities are situated at the confluence of three rivers, or Dreiflüssestadt in German.  In Passau's case it's the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz that all meet at the city's peninsula.  Instead of steel, Passau was known for "white gold" as salt was known in medieval times.  It was a hugely valuable commodity in those days before refrigeration.

While people have been living in this area since at least the second century BC, there are not many ancient buildings around due to a fire that struck the city in the 17th century.  Most of what was rebuilt is in the Baroque style, which was popular at the time.

On the highest point of Old Town sits St. Stephan's Cathedral.  While there have been many churches on this site since 730 AD, this version dates to the mid-17th century and major renovation was done on its interior in the 1972-1980 timeframe.

St. Stephan's Cathedral

One of the towers from a different angle

So many of the old churches we visit are very dark inside and a lot of that darkness is simply due to the stone used to construct the church.  But not St. Stephan's.  I loved the light-colored interior and the abundance of natural light.  It was an overcast day with a little light rain when we visited but the interior of the cathedral was nice and bright.

Detail of the ceiling

High Altar area

View to the rear of the sanctuary and the front doors

View to the front of the sanctuary and the altar

The high point of a visit to St. Stephan's is an organ concert and we were treated to one that lasted about a half hour.  Theirs is the largest cathedral organ in the world and it contains over 17,000 pipes!  The songs played during the concert were not familiar works but were pieces designed to show off this organ's incredible range.

The magnificent organ

The pulpit was built in Vienna in 1726.

Pulpit

Behind the altar was this sculpture of the stoning of Stephan.  It's practically new, as it was created by a Munich sculptor in 1952.

The stoning of Stephen

Next door to the church is the bishop's residence.

Over the door of the bishop's residence

Included in the residence is this balcony where in days past the bishop would stand each morning and look over "his" city.  That was find until 1809 when Napoleon's troops invaded and then the little French general would stand over the balcony and look over "his" city.  Today there's not really much of a view from the balcony though there is a nice fountain just below it.

Bishop's Balcony

As we saw with Weltenberg Abbey, buildings built near a river are subject to flooding in the part of the world.  The same holds true in Passau with its three rivers.  The plaza in front of town hall (Rathaus in German - perfect, no?)  may be completely underwater at times.

Rathaus

Clock tower near the river

Just a block away are residences and this particular area is popular with both pensioners and students.  Our guide told us that there was often tension between the two groups as the students tended to make more noise than the pensioners thought acceptable.  During the flood of 2013 water levels reach over 42 feet (the highest such levels since 1501) and the students - whose rooms were often on higher floors - worked tirelessly to help the older folks clean out their homes.  Since that time, relations between the groups have been much better.

Narrow streets

Across the river is a fortress founded in 1219 called Veste Oberhaus.  Today it's been split up and contains a museum, a youth hostel and a restaurant.  We boarded our motor coaches and were whisked up the hill for a lunch with lovely views of the city.

Veste Oberhaus

The view from Das Oberhaus

After lunch we were returned to the other side of the river where we had about an hour to shop, stroll or do whatever took our fancy.  Then it was time for the trek back to the Njord for our final night aboard.