August 2016
Passau was the last stop in Germany before reaching Austria on our river cruise. We did not know much about it before arriving there, but it was a vibrant city filled with interesting structures and stories as narrated by our tour guide. 12,000 of its 50,000 population happen to be students, and this makes the vibe of the city quite youthful.
The rivers of Danube, Inn, and Ilz converge in this city, thus, it is called the Dreiflüssestadt, the City of Three Rivers. The first story we heard had to do with the flooding that often descends upon the city. Most buildings near the river bank have a contraception that will be used to create a makeshift bridge so that people can go in and out of the building during a flood.
You can walk up to the upper part of the town in 10-15 minutes from the city hall area. This area has its own share of interesting buildings and squares with St. Stephens Cathedral in the center. We attended the 30-minute concert at the church played on the largest organ in Europe. The organ concerts are usually played at mid-day every day for 30 minutes from May to October, except on Sundays and holidays. There are also evening concerts on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. that last for 45-60 minutes.
Another famous place to visit is Veste Oberhaus fortress, but we skipped it because we were pretty much tired of castles and fortresses by this time. You can see this structure up on a hill as your boat enters the city.
We walked off the ship and walked to the town center, and then walked back to the ship at the end of the day. The upper part is a bit of a hike, but the whole trip was quite manageable on foot.
Small Wide World 