Passau

Veste Oberhaus

Today was the last day of our cruise and we started out in Passau, Germany. This city is sometimes called the city of three rivers because the Danube, Inn, and Ilz Rivers all come to a confluence here. The old town sits on a peninsula between the Danube and the Inn. We have been here before and spent time in the old town, so today we decided to go up to the castle/fortress, known as the Veste Oberhaus. This was the largest bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire, founded in 1219. The leaders were Prince-Bishops and were both of the church and were civic leaders of the region. The site is on a hill overlooking Passau, so getting there involved going up the equivalent of approximately 30 flights of stairs. (Most of the Ama tours are walking tours…yes you can take a vehicle to the castle)

Believe it or not, that’s 1499

and from right below

Castle: they painted on windows because real windows were a security risk but having windows looked better.

As is always done with these types of castles/fortresses, it was remodeled, expanded, and improved over the centuries. It was attacked multiple times without success. In the 1500s Protestant Anabaptists were imprisoned there and wrote hymns while there which are still used in Amish services. For a while Napoleon used it as a border outpost. Today it belongs to the city of Passau and is a museum. Since it is up so high it gives a great view of the city and the 3 rivers.

View of Passau from the castle

View of Passau

Confluence of the rivers

Fresco in the castle

Passau riverfront

High water marks from floods…look at 2013!

From there we sailed to Vilshofen. This is a small town that is the end of our cruise. We walked around the town (another place we have been before). We went into the Stadtpfarrkirche St Johannes derTaufer (church). We then walked up a great big hill to the Schweikberg Benedictine Abbey. The abbey is relatively modern and the church itself was built from 1909-1911. We walked around their grounds some and then headed back down to the ship to clean up for dinner and a mini-Oktoberfest being put on by Ama and the town. Some of the local kids did traditional dances while a band played and there was beer and fresh pretzels.

Stadtpfarrkirche St Johannes derTaufer