Passau

We couldn’t have asked for a better beginning to our last full day on the cruise than to open the drapes and see the mist lifting and the sun shining on the hillside. After a week of gray skies and constant drizzle, the sunshine was more than welcome, and the Danube started to show its fabled blue. By the time Judy and I were fully awake and had enjoyed breakfast, the River Beatrice was well on its way to Passau, our last port of call on this cruise. I hurried through the morning routine, made sure my camera and phone were fully charged, and headed up to the top deck to see everything I could.

I wasn’t alone, of course, and before long we heard the announcement to be on the lookout for our first view of Passau as we took the next turn to the left. I don’t know much of about the current population or industry of Passau, but it should be clear from my photograph that the old city is strikingly beautiful by virtue of its location, conservation, and restoration. And beautiful sunlight didn’t hurt a bit.I think part of the reason the city made such an impression has to be its location. There it sits on a promontory created by two other rivers joining the Danube, and that space was taken up long before anyone thought of building a high-rise glass cube. They’re all out of sight.

I think we were really fortunate that the berth assigned to the River Beatrice was the first one, next to a park that stands at the end of the point of land occupied by the old city. For a change, no one could “double park,” blocking us in, although that certainly happened to some other ships further upstream. We disembarked and formed five groups, each with a guide, to begin our walking tour of the city. Our group crossed the park and walked along the Inn before we moved into the city proper, while others took their own paths to avoid interference. Like all our guides on shore excursions, ours was personable, energetic, and well-prepared, both to tell us what we were seeing and to handle all the questions 20 tourists could throw his way.

Our walking tour ended in front of the Cathedral, where all five groups met to receive tickets to the organ concert scheduled for noon in the Cathedral. We dutifully trouped inside, found seats, and enjoyed the music. Even if the playing hadn’t been so good, we could have enjoyed just sitting there looking around a while. The Baroque chapel in Dürnstein had surprised me, and the Melk Abbey chapel had been just bigger and better. This place was almost too big and too highly decorated to comprehend.  It’s hard to imagine a church interior that could embody the concept of the Baroque to any greater degree.

In spite of the relative small size of Passau compared to Vienna, it’s impossible to describe an experience like ours in any meaningful way. We walked through parts of the old city, we sat in the Cathedral and heard about its history, we heard about floods (three rivers contribute a lot of water) and how they are handled, we stopped to admire the town hall and the sundial painted on the side of a building, … . After the concert we walked some more on our own and shopped a little. But those are our memories. For that part of our day, I will refrain from a blow-by-blow account and refer you to the photo page for Passau.

Eventually we made our way back to the ship, spent some time enjoying the sunshine on the upper deck, and got ready for our final evening on the River Beatrice, already looking forward to moving on to Prague the next day.