Passau

Before planning this first trip for us to Europe, I had never heard of Passau (Germany), but it turned out to be a very nice surprise when we visited it on our Danube river cruise. We only got to spend half a day there and I would have liked more time in this beautiful and charming city.

Passau is sometimes referred to as Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") or "Three Rivers City" because of its location on the Danube (Donau) River where tributary rivers Inn (shown in next two photographs) and Ilz join the Danube River.

This location by three rivers contributes to the beauty of Passau, but it also has been cause of severe flooding throughout Passau's history. The markings on the Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus) indicate the peak level of each flood over the years can be seen in the bottom right corner of the next photograph (2013 was one of the highest!).

Doug Nield took the next photograph that shows the flood level markings close up.

One of the most impressive sights as one sails into Passau is the fortress known as Veste Oberhaus.

Beyond the things to see in Veste Oberhaus itself, the walk up to it is worthwhile for the views of Passau alone. These photographs provide a small taste of the visual appeal of Passau from that vantage point.

For someone who had never visited Europe before, Passau met many of my expectations of what an older (compared to most cities in the United States) European "old town" would be like (cobblestone streets, fountains, statues, dramatic cathedrals, etc.).

The Wittelsbacher Fountain is part of Residenzplatz ("Residence Square") in Passau. Two of Saint Stephen's Cathedral's three green domes can also be seen in this photograph.

The baroque St. Stephen's Cathedral (Dom St. Stephan) is one of the most obvious landmarks in Passau from near or far.

The Cathedral of St. Stephen features short organ concerts that demonstrate one of the world's largest organs. I wish we had more time so that we could have listened to one, but with only half of a day in Passau, we chose to ascend the hill to Veste Oberhaus in our free time instead.

Passau at night is gorgeous, but my simple camera cannot adequately convey that.

We really enjoyed visiting Passau and were sorry to have to leave so soon. There definitely was much more there to see than we were able to see in half of a day.