Passau, Germany and beautiful music. . . . . . .

Passau, known as the "City of Three Rivers" lies at the confluence of the Inn, Danube 

and Itz - and is the last major German city on the Danube at the border of Austria. 

 St. Stephen's - a magnificent baroque cathedral located on the highest point in 

Old Town. Home to the largest cathedral organ in the world with 17,974 organ pipes, 

all five parts of the organ can be played from the main keyboard offering an 

unforgettable acoustical delight.

We attended the noon concert. . . . . . along with around perhaps another thousand

visitors. It was an awesome sound!

 Interior of St. Stephen's Cathedral. 

Devastated by a fire in 1662, it was rebuilt by the famous baroque architect 

Carlo Lurago, its beautiful stucco works done by Giovanni Batista Carlone, 

and the gorgeous frescoes painted by Carpoforo Tencalla.

Breathtaking in every way!

Passau's pretty riverfront gardens.

A city of just 50,000, the Old Town with baroque churches and patrician 

houses is crowded onto the narrow tongue of land separating the Inn and 

Danube rivers. Flooding often occurs and markers on the buildings noted the 

high water levels over the years.
Once a medieval center for the salt trade known as "White Gold", then famous during 

the Renaissance for making high quality knife and sword blades. Local smiths 

stamped their blades with the Passau wolf to grant their owners invulnerability, this 

became known as "Passau Art".

 Passau has now become the economic, cultural and communications center of 

southeastern Bavaria.

Next stop along the Danube, Regensburg, where shipboard life changed!