We had embarked just down river of Passau owing to the fact that in Passau itself there was no access for coaches or cars near the docking stands. We were advised that we would be sailing back up to the town whilst we had dinner that evening. Prior to the 15 minute sail up river we were treated to a welcome drink and meet the crew who would look after us on the forthcoming cruise. After that we retired to freshen up and make our way to our first dinner on board the Viking Legend. We would remain in Passau over night.
Oberhaus and Niederhaus Castle
After dinner we enjoyed a few wines and walk around the ship looking at the two castles and the reflection of the lights on the river.
Passau is also known as Dreiflüssestadt or “City of Three Rivers,” because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Whilst the Inn has the greater flow of water it is the Danube that carries on from Passau due to its longer length. The following morning, after a nice leisurely breakfast Susan and I joined our fellow cruisers on a walking tour of Passau. Initially the weather did not look too good, cloudy with a threat of rain. Our walk commenced on the River Inn side and we made our way along the river bank passing the old port tower (used for the storage of salt).
During the middle ages Passau was famous for its swords, stamping the hilt with the Red Wolf mark. This lead to the superstition that Passau marked swords conferred invulnerability to the wielder, leading other sword smiths to mark their blades in such a manner. This became know as the “Passau Art”. In its Italian Baroque cathedral “St Stephens”, Passau had the worlds largest pipe organ, (the largest is in Los Angeles) even at second largest I think the photo on the right shows the magnificent surrounding of the organ within the cathedral. During our walk the weather had begun to change for the better with the sun coming out and clouds breaking up. It is funny how quickly that sun warmed up the air, by the time we got to the St Stephens it was muggy and we did not remain for the organ recital. Instead we made our way back through the town on the Danube side.
Leaving St Stephens we walked down a short hill towards the Danube tun
ing off to walk along the Artists Lane towards the Rathaus. Passau has more claim to fame, a certain Hitler family resided in the two between 1892 and 1894. It was the town were the 30 years war (religious) was ended with the Peace treaty of 1552. It was also here that the soon to be Empress of Austria, Her Royal Highness Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie (aka Sissi) left Bavaria for Austria. She often returned and stayed at the Wilder Mann Hotel across from the Rathaus. The hotel is at the right hand side of the street in the picture at the right.
The “Wilder Mann Hotel” still maintains the Royal Apartment, where for the appropriate fee you may sleep in Sissi’s bed. (See photo) . However, it is not just famous for the bedroom of the Austrian Empress, it is also famous for its Glass Museum. The Glass Museum in Passau houses over 30000 pieces dating between 1700 and 1950. In all there are five floors of glassware – needless to say we did not see all of the floors. The museum was opened by Neil Armstrong, who, as a mark of respect, was given the Royal Apartment as his room in the hotel. The story goes that the receptionist was surprised by Mr Armstrong appearing at the desk in his PJs and Dressing gown requesting that he be transferred to another room. This is not surprising as Sissi was a lot smaller than Mr Armstrong. We made our way back to the ship for a nice spot of lunch and an afternoon sail to Linz.
To be continued…..
