Biking the Blue Danube

Sun glorious sun! After cool, overcast skies at home in Ottawa, Paris, and even Munich, the warmth we found in Passau was more than welcome, and there was more promised in the coming week.

The train left at 10:24AM, precisely on time. This was Germany, after all. It was the Friday before a long weekend. The second class car was almost full. There were even a few bicycles in one open section where you can leave luggage or your own bikes. A few younger people had large back packs ready for a hiking weekend or further travelling. We sat in comfort in our 2^nd class seats and I spent the time completing write ups of our trip so far. We arrived in Passau on time and found a taxi to take us to our hotel across the river from the old town.

We checked into a comfortable room with a small balcony in the Innsento Hotel and left immediately to find a lunch spot as it was now after 1 PM. A garden restaurant owned by Innstadt brewery, established nearly 700 years ago, fit the bill. The atmosphere and food was so good we returned to the hotel for dinner the next two nights with Marg and Jack Dunphy, who had arrived in Passau the day before us.

Sufficiently rejuvenated by lunch we set out to explore the old town on the other side of the river. Passau was established in the 13^th century on a peninsula at the confluence of 3 rivers, which established Passau as a transportation hub for many centuries, with salt being the most lucrative product. The Danube, which looked more greenish-blue than the advertised blue to us, originates in the Black Forest of Germany and runs through Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania and the Ukraine to empty into the Black Sea. It is the second longest river on the European Continent, after the Volga. The Inn River’s waters are a definite green from glacial melt starting in the Swiss Alps. The third and smallest river is the Ilz, AKA “the black pearl”, originates in Bavarian mountains. The river is named for the dark colour of the water and the existence of rare fresh water mussels that produce a pearl. Most of the land bordering the Ilz is protected park land to preserve its environment. It was amazing to actually see the different colours of the waters from the three rivers converge from a park at the eastern end of the peninsula and from a view point high above the city on the northern shore. It even showed up on our photos.

Number one on everyone’s list of places to visit is the Dom, St Stephen’s cathedral. A huge church with two tall towers topped by Bavarian onion domes, it was built between 1668-1693.The interior is a riot of Italian baroque style, with the largest cathedral organ in the world. There are organ concerts almost every day at noon and in the evening and they are a treat. Marg and Jack attended a half hour noon concert on Friday and recommended it to us. Ray and I joined a full house on Saturday and enjoyed a program of Bach, Purcell and a Gothic suite by Boelmann that has probably been used as background music for a scary Halloween movie.

The second most popular place is the plaza in front of the Rathaus, the town Hall. Like Munich’s Rathaus, it has a glockenspiel. It delighted us with a 10 minute long music box style concert as it chimed the hour but there were no moving figures to accompany the music.

We were certainly glad we had not booked this bicycle trip for 2013. The heaviest rains over 3 days from May 30 to June 1 2013 caused severe flooding along the Danube and its tributaries. In Passau the highest water levels since 1501 were recorded. The Old town was under water. Flood marks on the walls of the Rathaus record levels of 12.85 m (42.2 ft). Every building within 100M of the river suffered. Photographs showed that our hotel, across a field and a main road from the river had the garage and storage areas under water. Houses along the river were flooded past the main floor. Cruise ships were cancelled because they could not pass under the bridges. Bicycling down the Danube was impossible as all the bike paths were under water. It was truly a catastrophe but businesses cleaned up and life went on.

To learn more about the history of Passau and to get the best view of the entire city, a visit to Veste Oberhaus Fortress is a must. Founded in 1219, it served as the stronghold of the Bishop of Passau for most of its lifespan. The fortress sits on a mountain crest (St. Georgsberg) on the left side of the Danube between it and the old city of Passau which it faces across the Danube. Besides having the best lookout over the city, the fortress houses several excellent museums. We spent a few hours navigating through the many rooms displaying the history and stories of Passau. As well there was a large exhibit of the Bavarian sculptur, Hans Wimmer (1907-1992) and a firefighting museum.

Sunday evening we officially started our bike trip. Two representatives from the bike company came to the hotel to give us our bikes, trip info, maps and instructions for our bike tour. They are sturdy, well conditioned, red hybrid bikes with 21 gears that were rented for us by Eurobikes, who handle rentals for several of the bike tour companies. Ray changed the pedals on his bikeand seats for both of us. Jack was thrilled with his ebike. It has a detachable battery that needs to be charged each night but should run for 150 km on a charge. He was amazed how the electric motor assist made climbing the ramp out of the garage more like sitting and having a coffee. We were now ready for Day One to start our tour along the Danube.