Passau, Linz, Salzberg, Melk & Durnstein

Monday 21 April

After breakfast we set off on our tour of Passau, first visiting the confluence of the Danube, Ilz and Inn Rivers and then walked through the narrow alleys of the old town arriving at St Stephan’s Cathedral which was originally built in a Gothic style but after burning down in the 1690s was rebuilt in the Baroque style, the frescos and figures on the walls and ceilings were rather overpowering. The organ has 17,974 pipes, 233 stops and 4 carillons. The pipes were arrange in five locations, three on the balcony in the west, one above the choir in the east and the fifth above the ceiling towards the rear of the church and the sound came through a large decorative grill in the middle of a fresco.

After the cathedral we visited the 18^th C. Bishop’s palace with its pink marble rococo stairways and elaborate frescos, before arriving at the old Rathaus with its baroque festival hall and 19^th C. painting depicting scenes from the history of Passau. After leaving our guide we wandered through the narrow alleys of the town before returning for a 1:00 departure down the Danube.

Travelling along the Danube, we had Austria on our right and Germany on our left, and about half an hour after sailing we entered the first lock and after leaving the lock, both sides of the river were Austrian territory. As soon as we left the lock a crew member removed the German Flag from the foremast and replaced it with the Austrian Flag. Another thing we noticed was that while sailing along the Rhine and Moselle Rivers all the trees were bare, while the trees lining the Danube are nearly all in leaf, a far more pleasant scene.

Sailing down the Danube we passed through several locks and under bridges, and it was interesting to watch the ship’s bridge sink down into the well and the mast lower so the boat could fit under the bridges. Sometimes when very low bridges are encountered or river levels are high, all the railings on the sun deck have to be removed an laid down and the bridge drops down so low that the captain has to stand with his head through a hatch on the bridge roof to see where he is going. At 5:30 pm we arrived at Linz our first stop in Austria.

After dinner we walked into the town square in the pouring rain and back to the boat arriving back like drowned rats.

Tuesday 22 April.

After breakfast we boarded buses to drive to Salzburg, turning off the autobahn to visit the town of Mondsee built on the edge of a large lake of the same name. Probably the town’s greatest claim to fame is that its church’s interior was used for the wedding scene in the Sound of Music.

Driving along a very scenic route past several large lakes, farm land, small villages and the town Mozart’s mother was born, all overlooked by snow covered mountains, we arrived in Salzburg and walked to a large square dominated by a statue of Mozart, from there we went to the Cathedral passing some excavations in the square at the side of the Cathedral where people were carefully exposing skeletons from an old cemetery which was covered over 400 years ago.

Leaving the Cathedral which is decorated with the excesses of the Baroque period with many paintings, frescos, statues and other decorations, the Cathedral also has five separate organs which are sometimes played in unison by five organists; we walked through St Peter’s graveyard which like the previous square also features in the Sound of Music. While walking around we were always aware of the large fortress dominating the town, on a rock several hundred metres above us. After visiting the hose in which Mozart was born we walked across the river to the pretty Mirabell gardens where we ate our lunch in the shelter of the palace beside the gardens.

For the next hour and a half we wandered around the town through squares dominated by fountains and statues and past many old houses and palaces before returning to the bus for the trip back to Linz, being entertained with music by Mozart and the compulsory Sound of Music, a film unknown to the majority of Austrians, arriving back at the boat at 6:30 where we were entertained by light opera singers after dinner.

Wednesday 23 April.

The Sound of Music sailed during the night and when we opened the curtains we were already moored at Melk which is famous for its active Benedictine Abbey, whose buildings cover four hectares. The abbey provides the school for the town and employment for 200 residents. One wing was reserved for the Habsburg Royal Family to stay when travelling from Vienna to Salzburg but it was only used on 58 days in 250 years.

We were given a conducted tour through the first floor of the royal wing, which is now set up as a museum for the abbey and some of its religious items. The corridor of this wing is 110 metres long and is lined with portraits. Leaving the museum we entered the library containing thousands of books going many centuries, in the early 1700s when the abbey church was being restored in the Baroque style the books in the library were all recovered in the style of the period.

The Abbey Church, decorated in the Baroque style was very subdued compared to the excesses we had viewed in other churches of the same period. We walked back to the boat through the old town and sailed at lunch time to travel through the heritage listed Wachau Valley. This area is famous for its wines produced from grapes grown on terraces along the valley, many of these wines we have enjoyed on board over the past 11 days, the grapes have been grown and harvested in the same manner for over 1000 years.

Sailing through the valley we passed several castles high on the hills and nearby small village, one, Weissenkirchen, which we returned to after dinner and several passenger went ashore to attend a tasting at a local winery.

After an hour and a half we arrived at Durnstein and on a hill high above the town is the ruins of the castle fortress in which Richard the Lion-Hearted of England was imprisoned in 1193.

Durnstein is a small village with an attractive Baroque Church and unlike other churches of the same era is painted blue and white instead of yellow and white. The village is built on the banks of the Danube and like other villages and towns we have visited is surrounded by terraced vineyards. Also, as in other places, the high water mark of floods over the past 5-600 years was marked on old buildings; some of the marks were as high as the third floor window sills.