Saturday 16th September
Sailing through the night we have again run into bad weather, the forecast is for cold and wet weather. This is precisely the situation that greets us in the morning. Now do we stay onboard or take a tour? While we are having breakfast the rain is pouring down, we are still on the move, the river a sea of movement as a billion raindrops rapidly form their little concentric circles all around us as they hit the water and dissipate only to be replaced by another.
Our arrival into Passau is delayed as the lock traffic is heavier than usual, our departing tours therefore delayed another 30 minutes until 10.00am.
As we wait the weather clears, the skies look almost as if the sunshine might poke through. We decide on a bus tour that involves as little walking out in the open as possible, hoping that if the skies open up again we will have some refuge in the bus. Passau is situated on and around two rivers, the Danube or Donau as the locals call it and the Inn. The old city is situated on a peninsula between the two rivers. With a fortress high on the hillside overlooking the Danube and a monastery high on the opposing hillside overlooking the Inn. We pass through one more lock before we reach our mooring position, right in the old downtown area. If there is a ship already docked at the mooring point, the captain just doubles up, other ships passengers have scrambled across our roof at various times in past moorings and now we do the same. Up the steps leading to our top deck and over a connecting bridge to the other ship and then down to our waiting coach.
The rain once again starts a light drizzle as we board the coach that then starts to climb up to the fortress. We drive out of the city, across a bridge that crosses the not so blue Danube and then winds its way up the hillside towards the castle. The Romans used the town, as they spread out across Europe, as they did with many towns as a fortress to secure their supply lines for their advancing armies. Their is no evidence here today of any buildings left behind by the Romans, the city having no less than eight fires over the centuries, each time wiping out the entire town. During medieval times though, whoever controlled the rivers, controlled the trade, if you controlled the trade you could tax it.
After the dark ages, it was an English monk who brought Christianity to Passau in 759 and started a monastery but the fortress known as Veste Oberhaus was built in 1219 by the Bishop-Prince that controlled the region around Passau.
We slow down as we reach a level patch of road where a clearing in the trees provides a magnificent view of the valley below and beyond.
Shortly after we arrive at the fortress and disembark in the drizzling rain then make our way towards a viewing platform that gives us a again more splendid views across the two rivers, the old town area and the monastery on the other side.
Currently the fortress is a youth hostel, a museum and a restaurant, one with amazingly picturesque views I might add. We re-board the bus, this time heading down hill, back across the Danube, through the narrow one way streets of the old city over another bridge and climb once again this time to the monastery. Again the views are spectacular, this monastery is an active monastery still conducting services, today there is a wedding about to start, the bride arrives while we are there and is quickly bundled out of the rain and into the attached church.
By now the rain is quite heavy, there are not many takers for the city walk part of the program that is due to follow. We are given the option of going back to the ship or getting off the bus at the town hall for a guided walk or walk at our own leisure or return to the ship. We opt to return to the ship, already cold and damp enough from our two brief excursions. As I have mentioned before all these river towns flood with remarkable regularity, the current level of the river is around 4.5meters but just a few years ago in 2013 it reached 13meters. Each time the inhabitants reconstruct and rebuild, this is a way of life that has carried on for centuries.
Once gaining access to our ship, by climbing back over the ship docked on our outside, we are greeted with the now familiar warm peach tea, delicious and instantly warming. Sailing time is 3.00pm, we relax with a coffee in the lounge while I wrestle with the internet to upload last nights blog.
In the lounge another group of bike riders are preparing for a 28 Kilometre ride, most are not young, and not what I would call in peak shape, in slippery wet conditions they can have it! We wish them safe journey and off they go to enjoy their own experiences.
On our way once more we have a spectacular view of the two rivers coming together around the old city, then we are once again floating. Not to long again and we pass through another lock, since we still have daylight we can observe the operation, from the raising of the rear barriers, to the draining of the lock and the opening of the front lock doors and subsequent lowering and departure to the next considerably lower river level.
This then signals the start of our cruise across the German, Austrian border and by tomorrow into the picturesque Wachau Valley, a deeply forested steep sided part of the Danube. Our last stop is to pickup the bikers who had gamely left early in the afternoon for their bike ride at the valley floor alongside the river.
As the light fades we cast off and float downstream towards our next destination, Rossatz. The river at this point of our journey is travelling down hill at approximately 12km per hour, this is as fast as the average river boat, making the floating analogy even more apt. Dinner hour is fast approaching, but first the evenings presentations of tomorrow’s events and of course that cocktail hour glass of wine. We need to finalise the rest of the trips events, make some decisions and book from now until we finally arrive in Budapest in just three days time. Each evening Mariya, the bar manager presents the evenings wines, she has a passion for wine and is well informed on the local products.
Presentation over we make our way to the dining room for the evening meal, we choose a table for two tonight, and make our dinner choices, both deciding on the prawn salad, pumpkin soup and broiled sole in a lemon sauce, topped of with ice cream, pistachio for me chocolate for her. Of course we try the wines an Austrian Chardonnay, that is barely recognisable as chardonnay and a German Pinot noir that is up there with the best I have tasted. All in all a great day, hard to believe we have crammed so much in. Tomorrow is a long day so it’s lights out on another day on the river.