< Start at the beginning of this series: Grand European River Cruise

After a fabulous morning tour in Passau, Germany, we head back to Wisconsin – OH WAIT – we’re not in Wisconsin, although the terrain felt very familiar – with wide expanses of wheat and cornfields. Some houses along our route were similar in style to midwest homes, although most had a more Bavarian vibe. The rolling hills offered a relaxing break as we continued towards our destination.

We soon said goodbye to those midwest daydreams, because where we were going looked nothing like home. We’re taking a bus ride through the Bavarian countryside and back into Austria, where we’ll see the small town of Schärding and enjoy an excursion on a small boat on the Inn River.

Schärding is a beautiful place with lots of color, flowers, curved gabled roofs and cobblestones (of course). A very neat and tidy place, with rows of differently-colored houses which used to reflect the types of businesses within.

A long time ago, the town council insisted that each local business be painted a specific color to ensure that even its citizens who could not read could find what they were looking for. For example, the bakers’ houses were blue, butchers’ were red and the facades of inns were yellow and green. Obviously times have changed and now it’s not mandatory, but it appears the folks of this small town still love their color and most are still the colors required back in the day.

You may notice the brightly-colored yarn that is wrapped around the railings in the photo above. One of the local schools started a program where disabled students could help to beautify the city – spreading acceptance from their neighbors and a sense of accomplishment for the children. What a wonderful sentiment, don’t you think?

We enjoyed a lovely stroll along the river with great views as we made our way to the final leg of this excursion.

Schlosspark provided some shade for a cool-down which was a welcome relief on this hot and steamy day. And the views from up high were pretty great as well.

Obviously I couldn’t get enough of the yarn wrappings, the cobblestones and the stone archways.

As you may remember, Passau is known as the City of Three Rivers – the Inn, the Danube and the Ilz (top to bottom in the photo below). The difference in the color of their waters is striking.

Photo: Luftbild von der Dreiflüssestadt Passau mit Inn- und Ilzmündung

The Danube, where we’ve spent our entire river cruise thus far, is far from blue as a certain song would lead you to believe. The Danube is a brownish color since it frequently floods, depositing organic materials and sediments from its banks. The Ilz is very dark brown (almost black) because it travels through the swampy countryside and is full of organic sediment.

Today we’re off to explore the Inn River, which is 322 miles long and runs through three countries – Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Its water has been described as emerald or milky with a greenish tint. Since the river’s origin is in the Alps, the Inn is primarily filled with the water from glaciers. It is most noticeable in the photo below with the swans.

The green sign below “Mariensteg” refers to the suspension bridge across the Inn, which allows pedestrians and bicyclists (radfahrer) to cross. It was pretty awesome and it took a while to cross the emerald green waters of the Inn because it was so beautiful. My photo doesn’t really do it justice, so click on the link for some better photos and other specs if they interest you.

In the photo on the right, the Landhotel zur Mariensaule stands close to the river’s edge and the Marian Column stands in the forefront, with the Wernstein Castle behind. That last link will show some gorgeous photos from all angles of this entire area.

If you continue straight after leaving the Mariensteg, you would end up in a nature preserve with a bike/pedestrian path that follows the banks of the Inn River for a while. Our boat was docked just to the left of the bridge and we could see folks on their afternoon jog as we meandered down the river.

The entire trip wasn’t really what we were expecting. Touted as a float through a nature preserve, our only wildlife viewings were several swan families. Not that I don’t love swans and their cygnets. Who knew that swan babies are grey like the photo below or were called cygnets! Maybe we’re getting spoiled. Just shut up and relax and enjoy the float.

And we did get to see another bloody church (ABC alert!) and more bavarian-style homes, which I always enjoy. I guess we had a wonderful, relaxing afternoon in Austria after all. I’ll more than likely never hear myself say that again!

Next up: Regensburg, Germany

Happy trails,
Barb