Passau, a German city on the Austrian border, lies at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers. Known as the Three Rivers City, it is overlooked by the Veste Oberhaus, a 13th-century hilltop fortress housing a city museum and observation tower. The old town below is known for its baroque architecture, including St. Stephen’s Cathedral, featuring distinctive onion-domed towers and an organ with 17,974 pipes.Because of the low water level in sections of the Danube we were bused to Vilshofen  to board our cruise ship rather then at Nuremberg. We opted to take a train to Passau to tour the city on our own and enjoy an organ concert at St Stephen’s Cathederal – something we would not be able to do from the cruise. It was amazing and there wasn’t an open pew in the church. We returned to the MS Sound of Music for the evening. The following day again because of the low water we needed to be bused to Regensburg (see next post) for a day of sightseeing. Returning to the ship we finally departed around 6:00 pm to  Passau  and docked at 11:30 pm  with the waterfront shrouded in a light fog  – but I was beckoned to explore the quiet town as City Hall emerged with a misty cloud. The town was nearly deserted but the lighting was softened by the fog and the perspective of the city was quite a contrast to the daylight views.

The City at Night   –   Old Town, City Hall and St Stephen’s

 

The City in Daylight –  St Stephens Organ, St Pauls, the Onion Domes, Art Walk