Passau Bavaria

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PASSAU – Bavaria

Sunday 7^th December, here we are in Passau! Well, being the most religious of cities in Germany and Catholic as well, this is a city of 50,000 residents. 10,000 students alone, who come to study Law, Economics, Theology mostly.

Well, Sunday in Passau is at best, quiet! In fact, let’s go with deathly quiet! I was sure that every resident was ensconced in the church, a fact of such you will soon read.

Our local guide decided to take us (a very small group who didn’t go to Salzburg) on a walk around the edge of the Altstadt. We climbed steep steps, into the old town, which really ended up being very small indeed. Came across the “executioners house’ when executions were a regular happening thing, having its own special house. Went around the Rathaus with some interesting art work on the exterior, depicting the past bishops of the area. A small quaint township, but very very quiet!! Sunday is not the day to visit. Nothing was open, no markets, and no shops…all were attending services in the 50 plus churches in the city. As we wandered past the main cathedral you could over hear the singing of worship, and no doubt when those doors opened, the residents would poor on out.

Without much to do, we found a small coffee shop open (the only one), wandered in and found the most beautiful of coffee shops, very stark as such, white vaulted ceilings, and the color of the season RED!

Coffee was fabulous, cakes sooo yummy! (Tracey, the chocolate baked cheesecake was the best ever, most of the way through before I thought of taking a photo for you…again). Anyway, no sooner did we sit down, then the crowds, released from church, started to poor through the door, and the place packed out quickly. Perhaps it was because it was the only café open??

So, we strolled on back to the ship to find the most exciting adventures were to happen for the day.

Firstly, those who braved the 2.5hrs each way drive to Salzburg, who were also met with crowds shoulder to shoulder, not much room to move, had no idea the excitement we were about to have on the ship.

Firstly, our ship was ‘stuck’ because first time in history, one of the biggest locks on the Danube canal had one of the hydraulics go down, no back up available, as it takes 4 days to manufacture one, and unusual for Germans, none in stock. Only about 4 boats were going to pass through the canal, and we all had to accept a numbering system, no matter, our ship due to its size, jumped numbers, and got ahead so were included in the final ships to pass through. This aside, more excitement was to come.

As we all were comfortably cruising along, we had a visitor to the ship. A man came along, dressed in a suit, walked straight on, went up top to the pool, jumped on in, suit and all, then took a leap off the bow of the boat!.....Interesting!! nope, coming back and doing it again was though. Of course police were called to take him away, but hey, it was exciting for a very quiet day.

I have included a couple of photos of Passau, is it worth visiting….well, not on a Sunday at least. Does it have an interesting history, really…..no. Besides yearly floods, the only thing that occurred during WW2 were the bridges were bombed out, as there is nothing produced in Passau, so just access through the city and onwards were relevant.

Anyway, we were really ready for Regensburg, and the journey through the Danube canal to come.



Enjoy the couple of photos of Passau and the river journey along the way!

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