September 4, 2021

Passau, Germany - City of 3 Rivers

Approaching Passau offered some beautiful low clouds picture opportunities.

Passau is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt - (say that), "City of Three Rivers", the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the little Ilz from the north.  Much like Pittsburgh, but not to be confused with Pittsburg.  A bit more charming.  Passau's population is approx. 50,000, of whom about 12,000 are students at the University of Passau, renowned in Germany for its institutes of economics, law, theology, computer science and cultural studies - so a college town!  Notice the difference in the color of the rivers.

Passau is notable for its gothic and baroque architecture. The city is dominated by the Veste Oberhaus, part of the former fortress of the Bishop, on the mountain crest between the Danube and the Ilz.

Veste Oberhaus is a fortress that was founded in 1219 and, for most of its time, served as the stronghold of the Bishop of Passau, Germany. It is currently the site of a museum, a youth hostel, and a restaurant, as well as an open-air theatre dating to 1934.

The fortress is located on the mountain crest (St. Georgsberg) on the left side of the Danube between it and the Ilz, and dominates the old city of Passau, which it faces across the Danube. 

Passau is a charming city with many picturesque and narrow walkways

Tour Guide in his traditional lederhosen

They took great pride in their flowering gardens...an inspiration for sure.

 Because Passau sits at the confluence of the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz, it also means that it is prone to being flooded. And when they talk about serious flooding in Passau, they’re talking feet and yards.

The most recent flooding was in 2013.  The Danube had reached its highest level in 500 years.  The highest recorded was in 1501!  This wall shows the markings of the most significant floods that have affected Passau.

The center of all of the old towns in Europe will of course have a cathedral.  For Passau it was St Stephen's Cathedral.  St. Stephen's Cathedral is a baroque church from 1688, dedicated to Saint Stephen. It is the seat of the Catholic Bishop of Passau and the main church of his diocese.  There have been many interesting interactions between the Bishop and the towns people of Passau.

Since 730, there have been many churches built on the site of the current cathedral. The current church, a baroque building, was built from 1668 to 1693 after a fire in 1662 destroyed its predecessor, of which only the late gothic eastern side remains. 

Look at this piece of furniture sitting in a store window...doesn't it look like it might have been inspired by St Stephen's doors?

In the afternoon we took a motor coach to the Baroque town of Scharding and then a short Bavarian Salt Barge Cruise - beer tasting included.   Scharding was a beautiful and well loved baroque town apparent in all their flower borders and care for their town.

Statue of St Christopher

The houses in Scharding were painted pretty pastel colors but this had a purpose and dated back to the middle ages.  Because the people could not read, the town would color code their buildings to coordinate with their guilds.  Colorful pastel facades go back to the colors associated with the professional guilds in the middle ages (i.e. bakers pink, butcher’s red, hostel owners green, beer halls yellow).  

And of course there was a castle remains to be examined:

At the heyday of Scharding and Passau, transportation of the very valuable commodity of salt was a big economic boom for both towns.  To emphasis this our tour took us to a shop that showed us how to make seasoned salt with herbs and then we traveled on a barge used to transport salt.

Our tour guide for this excursion was an opera singer who enjoyed regaling us with song at various times of her spiel.  It was fun and she was good.  Plus she explained that the sash on her apron was very important.  If it was tied to the right that meant she was "taken": on the left she was single, in the middle her relationship status was none of your business and in the back she was widowed, a child or a waitress....

Onto the Salt barge that were important in the transportation of salt (which had a value like gold back then)

Bob got to try all 4 beers and a shot (or 2) of caramel schnapps.  Oh, and don't forget the pretzels.  He had fun!