Onion River Exploration Project: 2026

Artists Alley

Day 1 (7/19-20/26) Passau, Germany on the Danube

After a harrowing flight with a mechanical delay in Chicago which set us up for a sprint across the airport at Charlotte to catch our flight to Munich we have finally arrived to our boat in Passau on the Danube to start our cruise to Budapest, Hungary. It is flights like this that sometimes make you question if the journey is worth the flight. I will say this for American Airline that when we landed in Charlotte the flight attendant asked that everyone stay seated until we and a few others debarked the plane to catch our next flight. Some complied and some didn’t. After landing in Munich we had about an hour bus ride to our boat. Since by now it had been well over twenty-four hours with no sleep I remember little of the ride except how much it looked like home right down to the deer stands everywhere. Viking is very good about transitioning each step of the process so soon we were on board and in our room and it was still before noon. After a quick lunch, we joined a tour group that was going into Passau for a look around. Known as the city of rivers, Passau sits at the confluence of three rivers. The Inn, which flows from the Alps, has a distinct light green color while the Ilz, which flows from the south, is very dark. They both flow into the Danube, which a blue brown color, leaving very distinct lines until they mix together. In the evening the boat moved closer to the city as the sun went down giving some awesome views of the approach. On the approach to the city the first buildings that you notice are the Veste Niederhaus fortress and the St. Salvator pilgrimage church at the confluence of the Danube and Ilz rivers. Above them on the mountain crest overlooking the entire city sits the Veste Oberhaus fortress from the thirteenth century a massive structure dominating the landscape.

The next morning we had a walking tour around Passau. We found the guide very informative. Like most old European cities it was characterized by narrow alleys, cobblestones and court yards. Apparently the narrow alleys were there to limit the number of enemies who could enter the city. One of these alleys is referred to as Artists Alley and has painted cobblestones to direct you to different artists’ studios and homes. Like most old European Cities there are sculptures and fountains around every corner. Although there are many beautiful churches and buildings, St Stephan’s Cathedral stands out with its baroque architecture and world’s largest cathedral organ which they plan on even expanding by 2030. There is never enough time and energy to see everything you would like to and soon it was time to head back to the ship and prepare for the next leg of our journey.