Short and Sweat: Day 33 - Vilshofen to Passau - Get It While It Lasts... A Big Loop Through Europe 2017

September 9, 2017

Short and Sweat: Day 33 - Vilshofen to Passau

Another cool morning but nice and clear. Also another great breakfast at a Konditorei in Vilshofen. It was warm and cozy inside, they had good WIFI and great coffee and cakes, so we lingered for quite a while catching up on emails and news.

Once we got rolling we were in Passau in short order. You could see the valley start to tighten up as we approached the city. Passau is the confluence of three good sized rivers, The Danube of course, the Inn and the Ilz. each of these come into Passau through very steep, and deep valleys. Quite dramatic.

The city itself is a bit of a jewel. It's been around since Roman times but due to many fires, most of the city dates from the 16th century or later and was built by Italian architects. The cathedrals certainly were (and are even referred to as Dom's).

Passau is the start for most of the big river cruise boats, and for most of the cycle tourers. There are lots of both!

We checked out the city for a bit, had a nice lunch (soup and salad - no pork!)and then decided to head for our hotel.

We booked a place a couple of nights ago, knowing we would be taking a rest day. The place we booked was about half the price of everything else and about 3 km out of town. No big deal, that's a nice easy cycle.

Then we realized that cycling out of town in any direction other than along the river meant going up a steep and deep river valley.

The 3 km turned out to be more like 5 km, all uphill, and at times with more than a 12% gradient. Didn't break a sweat all day until this! First gear grind, pedal, sweat (it's half the price), pedal, sweat (it's half the price) ... 40 minutes later we arrive. A nice Gasthaus in the countryside. Our home for the next two nights! Clean, comfy and the internet works just fine.

It was only a 15 minute scream back into town where we had diner at Weingut, a Michelin recommended spot. Modern Bavarian cuisine ... it was great and very reasonably priced.

Oh, then there was the 30 minute grunt back up ... quicker and way easier with unloaded bikes though!

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Song of the Day:

Hold On by Sarah McLaughlin

'Hold On, Cause this is Gonna Hurt Like Hell' ... K and I used to go to a spin class in Saigon where the instructor would play this song during a long hill grind session .... today was just like old times grinding up to our hotel!

My kind of archway leaving the campsite at Vilshofen ... beer crates and a beer themed bike path!
You know you're in Bavaria

The campground was beside a small airfield with lots of Glider activity

A leisurely breakfast in Vilshofen. We had a very short day today (~30 km) so we lingered over several cups of coffee and got caught up on email and news with the good WIFI. Breakfast was good too!

Coming into Passau - the Danube is stating to get more industrial . dam and power station... and photographic evidence that I exist

Passau is the confluence of three rivers ... the Danube of course, and two of its tributaries ... the Inn, picture here on the south side of Passau (this starts in the Tyrolean Alps and flows through Innsbruck) and the Ilz, that flows in from the north

Colorful houses along the Danube as we enter Passau

the very ornate interior of one of the many large church's in Passau

... and the fine detail that gives rise to the large scale grandeur

another shot of Passau from the Danube ... Church spires and Cruise barges ... the city has a lot of tourists and is the starting point for most of the tours down the Danube, most by boat but a very large number of cyclists as well

Night shot of Saint Stephens cathedral in Passau. This apparently has one of the largest pipe organs in the world with daily recitals at noon .... except Sunday ... which is our rest day tomorrow ...Sometimes we do feel like the Griswalds!

Another night shot in Passau ... this is a very beautiful city full of squares and lovely buildings and fountains ... and the boat people have all left by nightfall!

The Rathouse ... note the time ... and it's been dark for some time now ... autumn is coming fast

Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles)
Total: 2,346 km (1,457 miles)

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