European Sojourn

Explore the Italianate-style streets of Passau, where three European rivers converge. Meet your local guide and begin your walking tour through delightful old-world streets, taking in a pastel rainbow of building facades as you stroll. You will see the impressive Bishops’ Residenz from which powerful prince-bishops ruled secular and religious life for hundreds of years. Continue past the 14th-century Rathaus, or Town Hall, built on the site of a former fish market on the Danube. Conclude your walk at the magnificent 17th-century St. Stephen’s Cathedral. This baroque wonder houses Europe’s largest pipe organ, with more than 17,000 pipes, and inspired Franz Liszt to write his Hungarian Coronation Mass. Enjoy free time to explore more of the city on your own before returning to your awaiting ship.

Spend the day in picturesque Salzburg, setting of the beloved film The Sound of Music and the birthplace of Mozart. Drive with your guide past charming mountain villages, rolling hills and pristine lakes. Upon arrival in this glorious city, enjoy a guided walking tour of the Italianate Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its high-baroque architecture. Pass by the Hagenauer House at Getreidegasse 9, the birthplace of renowned classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Salzburg’s favorite son; today, it is one of Austria’s most visited museums. See the Domplatz, dominated by the 249-foot 17th-century Dom and St. Peter’s Abbey, where Mozart premiered the Great Mass in C Minor in 1783. Savor lunch in Austria’s oldest restaurant, named for the church, as classically trained singers and musicians regale you with songs in the spirit of the musical.

Take in Passau’s sublime setting at the confluence of three rivers from the best vantage points in the city. Meet your guide and set off on foot, along the left bank of the Danube River, where you will climb to Veste Oberhaus. This mighty fortress perched atop St. George’s Hill, a promontory between the Ilz and Danube Rivers, affords spectacular views over the city and its surroundings. Visit the museum inside the fortress, which chronicles its six centuries of history along with that of the city and the wider region. Afterward, you will enjoy refreshments as you admire panoramic vistas of the confluence of the three waterways; the Danube, the Ilz and the Inn rivers. Then, follow your guide along a scenic route to Passau, before returning to your awaiting ship.

Board a boat, exploring the Inn River as the rolling hills of Upper Austria and Lower Bavaria unfold around you. Meet your guide for a drive upriver through the Bavarian countryside. Soon, you will arrive at the quaint little Austrian town of Schärding on the Inn River, just a short distance from Passau. Take a walking tour with a local guide, admiring the gracefully curved gabled roofs of multihued pastel houses facing the picturesque baroque central square. Then embark a small boat to cruise the famous emerald-green waters of the Inn River. As you get underway, you will see the onion-domed tower of St. George’s Church peering over the town. Enjoy beer and a pretzel as you take in views of the passing countryside, with German Bavaria on one side and Upper Austria on the other.

Escape Passau as you pedal along the Inn River, enjoying unspoiled nature and pastoral landscapes along the water. Only minutes beyond Passau’s city limits, you will find yourself in farm fields with towering cornstalks and waist-high wheat. The small riverside forests, refuge to a variety of birds, are where the endemic beaver is making a slow but steady comeback. With one bank in Germany and the other in Austria, the Inn provides a rare opportunity for an international bike ride. Head out from Passau in one country, then cross the bridge in Wernstein to return through another. The small border town, which sprang up around a 12th-century fortress, changed hands between Bavaria and Austria several times throughout the centuries, and today is Austrian. Crossing the border comes with only one rule: Bicyclists must dismount and walk across the bridge. No riding is allowed.