Sunday, September 13, 2026

Sailing towards Engelhartszell, Germany

 We were tied up overnight at Passau, Germany,  a lovely old town.



It's located at the confluence of the Danube,  Ilz and Inn rivers.


Some happy ducks on the Danube.

We took a guided tour of the town....

Nice well kept streets.  Buildings were mostly rebuilt after fires consumed most of the Town in the 1600's. 

Super nice local tour guide.



The huge Veste Oberhaus castle overlooking the town, we'll  climb up the hill for a tour later in the day. 


City Hall



Just cool street scenes.



Leading to the St. Stephen's Cathedral. 


Another ornate church.  This houses one of the largest pipe organs in the world.   Unfortunately it has been under restoration for over a year now.

Not sure what you call these little alcoves....but they all have a different theme. 

I guess Kris needs to get out her binoculars  and look at the details of all these beautiful  frescos!




Just incredible details.....

Walking on, more interesting  street scenes. 

After our guided tour was complete, we walked across the bridge and up the zig zag pathway up to the castle.  

View from the path. 

The castle dates to the 1200's. 

View of the Viking ships and Passau.

Very well preserved  and maintained. 


View back towards the Bravarian forest land.


The structures housed the prince-bishops of the time. 






View of Passau from one of the battlements. 


Lots of interesting  museum  displays. 


A small on site chapel.


Views from the very top of the tower.






Walking back down the far side pathway, lots of original structure. 




And Walking back to the boat along the Danube.


We'll be moving back to Engelhartszell in the late evening  after supper to stage for a day trip to Regensburg, Germany  for more scenic touring tomorrow. 


Saturday, September 12, 2026

Sailing towards Passau, Germany

 Another lovely  day! A great mix of castles and other river scenes.




We passed an area where there were a lot of terraced vineyards. 













The ship repositioned to Melk to allow us to tour the abbey there.  It was originally  a castle about 900 years ago but was turned over to Benedictine monks.


Now in addition to being home to 40 monks, the abbey houses a day school for about 800 mostly local students and a lovely church. 






Beautiful interior  spaces. 


And lots of historical artifacts.


Quite the touristy attraction. 


Amazing ceiling fresco.






Out on a balcony, lovely view of surrounding area.







This fresco is in a library....there were several  libraries with ancient tomes.






And lastly,  we toured the ornate church.  Frescoes on the ceilings.  


And each alcove was a different scene.






Pretty over-the-top ornamentation....

After the church we had a nice walk in the adjoining garden area.

New friends Rosana and Gus from Arizona happened by and took a quick photo of us!



And a last view of the valley before heading back to the bus and then boat waiting below. Another great day.