Date of Travel: Sep 04, 2010 - Sep 05, 2010
Passau is a town in Lower Bavaria near the Austrian border. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt (City of Three Rivers) because the river Danube is joined there by the Inn from the South, and the Ilz coming out of the Bavarian Forest to the North.
Some of our friends visited Passau and told us that the place is worth atleast one time visit. So, we were planning to go to Passau but the plan was not working out. Then one of my cousin shifted in Passau and we got the opportunity. We planned our trip in a very short notice. But since we were staying at my cousin's place we didn't have to plan much.
Day 1
The train journey from Munich to Passau is around 2 hrs 10 minutes. The frequency of trains to and fro is also very good. There is a train from Munich to Passau after every 1 or 2 hrs. This train journey was enough to excite Betu as he is a big fan of "Long" train. We reached Passau little after 12 and as expected Aditya and Dipti was at station to receive us. We took bus from station to their home. On the way they showed us different markets, the only shopping mall of Passau and a fountain near station. It was a small, peaceful and beautiful town far from the mess of city. It was just like a hill station. They also informed that the mountains that we were seeing just across that area was Austria.
Their flat was a beautiful 2 bed room flat on first floor. Betu and even Pradeep were excited to see a billiard table in their house. As Pradeep and Aditya were playing a game, Betu wanted to get involved in the game himself. He saw that Pradeep and Aditya were playing with a stick and hitting colored balls with white ball. So, even he started hitting colored balls with the white ball itself.
After having a cup of tea and yummy lunch of Chole, Rice and Puri, we started our city tour. Tourism in Passau focuses mainly on the three rivers, the St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Old City (Die Altstadt). So, we planned to start our trip with river Danube. On the way to river Danube we also saw Passau University. Majority of the inhabitants in Passau are students at the local University of Passau.
As we reached river Danube, we saw many river ships docked along the bank of Danube. We also saw Swarovski Cruise passing from there. Swarovski Cruise has a D-shaped belt of crystal on both the side of the ship. A mighty, photogenic fortress, called Veste Oberhaus could also be seen from there on the mountain crest between the Danube and the Ilz rivers. The fortress was founded in 1219 and, for most of its time, served as the stronghold of the Bishop of Passau. Below Oberhaus on the tip between river Ilz and Danube is Veste Niederhaus, part of the fortress system.
We walked on a footpath along the Danube. Aditya then told that 1 week earlier the footpath was completely under river due to rain water. Later I came to know that Passau is a flood prone area because of the 3 rivers and some nearby buildings even has a water mark of the river during flood. There was a cuise information center on the way. From there we came to know about various long and short distance cuise ships that depart from there. Since we were late for the day, we decided to take cruise the next day and continued our trip walking.
Walking further along the river Danube, we now reached a small park on a point near the three river's junction. This was the point from where we could see the three rivers merging into one another. All the 3 rivers had different shades and we could figure out the shade of water as they were merging into each other. We stood some time there, appreciated the beauty of the rivers and the surroundings, and then decided to spend some time in Park for Betu. There were many different rides in the park. After spending some time there, it was we who had more fun in different rides than Betu.
Their flat was a beautiful 2 bed room flat on first floor. Betu and even Pradeep were excited to see a billiard table in their house. As Pradeep and Aditya were playing a game, Betu wanted to get involved in the game himself. He saw that Pradeep and Aditya were playing with a stick and hitting colored balls with white ball. So, even he started hitting colored balls with the white ball itself.
After having a cup of tea and yummy lunch of Chole, Rice and Puri, we started our city tour. Tourism in Passau focuses mainly on the three rivers, the St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Old City (Die Altstadt). So, we planned to start our trip with river Danube. On the way to river Danube we also saw Passau University. Majority of the inhabitants in Passau are students at the local University of Passau.
As we reached river Danube, we saw many river ships docked along the bank of Danube. We also saw Swarovski Cruise passing from there. Swarovski Cruise has a D-shaped belt of crystal on both the side of the ship. A mighty, photogenic fortress, called Veste Oberhaus could also be seen from there on the mountain crest between the Danube and the Ilz rivers. The fortress was founded in 1219 and, for most of its time, served as the stronghold of the Bishop of Passau. Below Oberhaus on the tip between river Ilz and Danube is Veste Niederhaus, part of the fortress system.
We walked on a footpath along the Danube. Aditya then told that 1 week earlier the footpath was completely under river due to rain water. Later I came to know that Passau is a flood prone area because of the 3 rivers and some nearby buildings even has a water mark of the river during flood. There was a cuise information center on the way. From there we came to know about various long and short distance cuise ships that depart from there. Since we were late for the day, we decided to take cruise the next day and continued our trip walking.
Walking further along the river Danube, we now reached a small park on a point near the three river's junction. This was the point from where we could see the three rivers merging into one another. All the 3 rivers had different shades and we could figure out the shade of water as they were merging into each other. We stood some time there, appreciated the beauty of the rivers and the surroundings, and then decided to spend some time in Park for Betu. There were many different rides in the park. After spending some time there, it was we who had more fun in different rides than Betu.
It was dark by now. So, we retraced our path along Danube till the point from where different cruises start. It was altogether a different view of Danube at night with reflection of city light falling on river surface. From there we got a bus till Central Station. There was a park near that area with a beautiful and colorful fountain. It also had a unique seesaw near to fountain. It was a very long (more than double the length of normal seesaw) made up of probably aluminum. The fountain at night was also very beautiful. It changed pattern and color after every few seconds. Betu was sleepy by this time but seeing fountain he was again back in full energy. We spent some time there and the area around it and then headed for home.
After HP office, we had heavy lunch of mouth watering Aloo Paratha and then moved towards old city. Our next target was a river cruise. There were 2 options for river cruise (called Dreiflüsserundfahrt:) 2 hrs or 45 minutes. Considering time constraint that we had, we opted for 45 minutes river cruise.
River cruise was a refreshing and relaxed trip on the 3 rivers. On an average our cruise spent 15 minutes on each river. For each river our cruise first went against the river flow and then took turn and then came back along the river flow. In between a recorded tape gave a brief history of surrounding areas which we hardly understand.
After cruise we now headed towards the old city. We walked into the old town and explored the narrow pedestrian streets. The town was filled with tourists and most of them were accompanied by their guides (some guides were even wearing german's traditional dress to impress their clients).
Walking through the old city, we then reached Saint Stephan's Cathedral. St. Stephan's Cathedral, the home of the world's second largest (Europe's largest) cathedral organ with 17,774 pipes and 233 registers, is one of Passau's favorite attractions. St. Stephan is a true masterpiece of Italian Baroque, built by Italian architect Carlo Lurago and decorated in part by Carpoforo Tencalla. We spent some time there appreciating the beauty of the Cathedral and then continued our trip.
After Cathedral we roamed around a little and covered the main city area. With this we moved from old to modern city style. Passau is historic yet a modern city with lots of youth and it has all for everyone to see.
Because of the time constraint, finally we ended our Passau trip with 6PM train back to Munich. Overall Passau is a small and peaceful town, in the lap of mother nature and well worth an overnight stop.
Day 2
We started our second day with Aditya's office. Aditya gave us an office tour where we got to see impressive HP's photo lab. They have 2 photo labs with many printers for different photo sizes which varies from small size photo to large size posters. After HP office, we had heavy lunch of mouth watering Aloo Paratha and then moved towards old city. Our next target was a river cruise. There were 2 options for river cruise (called Dreiflüsserundfahrt:) 2 hrs or 45 minutes. Considering time constraint that we had, we opted for 45 minutes river cruise.
River cruise was a refreshing and relaxed trip on the 3 rivers. On an average our cruise spent 15 minutes on each river. For each river our cruise first went against the river flow and then took turn and then came back along the river flow. In between a recorded tape gave a brief history of surrounding areas which we hardly understand.
After cruise we now headed towards the old city. We walked into the old town and explored the narrow pedestrian streets. The town was filled with tourists and most of them were accompanied by their guides (some guides were even wearing german's traditional dress to impress their clients).
Walking through the old city, we then reached Saint Stephan's Cathedral. St. Stephan's Cathedral, the home of the world's second largest (Europe's largest) cathedral organ with 17,774 pipes and 233 registers, is one of Passau's favorite attractions. St. Stephan is a true masterpiece of Italian Baroque, built by Italian architect Carlo Lurago and decorated in part by Carpoforo Tencalla. We spent some time there appreciating the beauty of the Cathedral and then continued our trip.
Because of the time constraint, finally we ended our Passau trip with 6PM train back to Munich. Overall Passau is a small and peaceful town, in the lap of mother nature and well worth an overnight stop.
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