The forecast for the day was partly cloudy and 56 degrees. The buses picked us up at 8:30 in very cloudy skies and a light drizzle. We’re now on the bus headed back to the ship under clear skies and 62 degree temperatures. So on average we had partly cloudy skies….

Passau is a border town between Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. Tourism is a major industry here with a million and a half day visitors per year and an additional 300,000 overnight visitors. The big business used to be salt. The local Prince-Bishop had a monopoly on the salt coming down the Ilse River from the salt mines to the south (Salzberg which, being interpreted means salt mountain). Salt was critical for food preservation in those days so Passau became a very prosperous city. Or rather, the Bishops became wealthy leading to a revolt by the townspeople. The Bishop’s residence (or Palace) was across the river up overlooking the town. To quell the revolt, the Bishop’s troops bombarded the city with cannons and firebrands! In one uprising some 25% of the men folk were killed, which was devastating to the town that had to care for all the widows. Eventually the townspeople prevailed and the Bishop lost his Prince title and rights. It’s quite amazing to me that the Bishop would war upon his congregation!

Passau is at the confluence of three rivers: the Danube which begins in the Black Forest in western Germany, the Ilse which begins in the Austrian Alps, goes through Salzberg and is the shortest of the three rivers, and the Inn which starts in western Austria and runs through Innsbruck (being interpreted is the Bridge over the River Inn). The Inn and the Ilse end at Passau and the Danube (which is Europe’s only west-east river) continues to the east. One or more of the rivers regularly floods the town with the last major flood in the spring of 2002.

Passau wasn’t the only town we went through that had problems with flooding. I’m not really sure what could be done other than building high dikes all around the town, which would certainly detract from the tourist trade. Perhaps they’ve just decided to “live with it.”