Passau

Day 3 of the Bavarian O Tour was what we’d been waiting for – sprinting! We were promised a “long sprint” in the Old Town of Passau, which lies on a peninsula between the two rivers – the Danube and the Inn. You can see the confluence of these two rivers, as well as the smaller Ilz, at the tip.

Being a Sunday, the autobahn traffic was light, and we cruised into town, following the not-so-blue Danube. The competition centre was at a monastery, which is now part of the University.

Today’s event centre

I was one of the early starters. The course began from an underground car park (not quite as glam as the event centre). I was hoping to run/shuffle at least some of the course.

My first three controls were clustered together all very close to the start – in fact no 1 required me to head backwards, and I had to double check my compass. My first real route choice wasn’t until no 5, and I attempted to run on the way, but it hurt too much and I decided to stick to walking. It was frustrating because the map was quite clear and I would have enjoyed running – but at least I was out there on my course. The next couple of controls were straightforward, but then it got complicated as I neared the centre of the old town, with its hilltop cathedral, and maze of alleys and arches – a little like Venice but with stairs instead of bridges. My course zigzagged across the hill, and I was having to dodge tourists and cyclists. “Hey Nancy” I heard an American accent, “That’s that orientation thingy”. Nancy was probably none the wiser.

Typical alley en route to a control

Route choice – left or right?

Up stairs. Down a laneway. Under an arch. Across a square. Down more stairs. Watch the cobbles. Duck left, weave right. Punch control. Repeat. There was one control in the middle of a courtyard, which according to the map had no entry point whatsoever – helicopter perhaps? No, just poor mapping. Finally I popped out beside the Inn for the last two legs. I finished in just under 50 minutes, and wasn’t last! Walking gave me a chance to read the finer details and plan ahead. Ian was very happy with his 8^th place – his course was about 6 km, very long for a sprint. We both earned valuable points in the Club competition, dragging DROC up from 94^th to 69^th place!

Another control site

Finish control was here (no, we dont know what it is either)

Once again, an excellent selection of cakes was presented. I handed over my 1.50 euros for a slab of chocolate cake, only to be told “you can have two pieces for that price”. Not wanting to offend, I accepted. They are setting the bar very high in the cake stakes.

After lunch and a rest in the shade, we made our way back up to the cathedral, to meet our walking tour guide. We were shown inside St Stephens Cathedral, the centrepiece of Passau, and a very impressive piece of Baroque architecture at the city’s highest point (as we discovered in the morning). Although there has been a church here since the 5th century, the cathedral you see today is not the original building, which was destroyed by fire in the 1600s. The interior is very elaborate and highly decorated. The pipe organ has 18,000 pipes! It must sound amazing.

St Stephan’s Cathedral

One of the largest pipe organs in the world

Elaborate interior of cathedral

Elaborate cathedral doors

Elaborate chocolates

The city began life in 739, but it was after the Great Fire of 1662 when it was rebuilt by Italian Baroque masters, creating the city seen today. Our guide led us through the old town, back over some areas where we’d been this morning, so we played “remember where the control was” as we walked around. We saw many examples of the architectural style which has led to Passau being called an Italian city; lots of pastel colours, fountains, and buildings embellished with stucco fruit and flowers. I particularly enjoyed the alley of artists, with its brightly painted cobblestones, and overhead decorations. We also saw the high water marks from the 2013 floods, and made a mental note “do not buy a house next to the river”.