Bavaria

Tuesday, November 1, we took a bus from Prague to Regensburg, Germany. We travelled through the Czech and German countryside of mostly farmlands. We passed through Plzen where pilsner beer originated. We arrived in Regensburg late afternoon and boarded our cruise ship, the Avalon Expression, which will be our hotel and restaurant for the next seven days. Regensburg is in the German State of Bavaria and we will spend the next couple of days visiting cities and towns along the Danube River in Bavaria. First up will be Nuremberg. 

Although Nuremberg is known for being the base of the Third Reich and the subsequent Nuremberg trials after WWII, it has a far longer and more glorious history. As the Roman Empire established a series of forts along the Danube to keep the "Barbaric Germanic tribes" out of the empire, Nuremberg was chosen as one of the sites for an Imperial Castle. Built sometime in the early 1300s the castle remained in use through successive administrations until 1806.

Nuremberg was heavily bombed during WWII by the Allied armies and mostly destroyed, including parts of the Castle. The city has been rebuilt and modernized, but the castle has been restored as much as possible to the same as it was prior to the bombing. The castle is now a tourist attraction and the housing of city hall and other administrative offices. 

Nuremberg housed a substantial amount of Hitler's army, including the Gestapo, at various times in the 1930s and 1940s. All this infrastructure, with the exception of the indoctrination centre, has been destroyed. Although there is a tour offered through the indoctrination centre to learn about the rallies and propaganda of the Nazi party, we passed on it. We seen enough and heard enough about what the Nazi's had done in the Czech Republic and from both Czech and German tour guides.

Regensburg is a lovely city of about 125,000 that, unlike other cities on the Danube, has never been destroyed. The Romans built a 6000 man Fort and garrison here to contain the tribes on the other side of the Danube. As the Romans pulled out, the locals moved inside the fort's walls for protection and built their homes and shops along the streets and alleys. A big part of old town, inside the Roman fort walls, is pedestrian traffic only with a multitude of shops, bakeries and restaurants. This is a place I could definitely return to. 

As with Nuremberg, Regensburg is known for Bavarian finger sausage and both cities claim they made the sausage first and that theirs taste the best, just a friendly competition. All the shops in Regensburg, however sell Nuremberg style lebkuchen, a type of cookie that is somewhere between a gingerbread cookie and a fruitcake. Yum, yum.

Passau is located on the junction of three rivers, the Danube, the Inn from the Swiss Alps and the smaller Ilz out of the Czech Republic. It was first known as a Roman town in 739, Passau continued to grow and followed architectural trends. Unlike Prague and other cities in Europe, the Gothic style seems to have passed Passau by as the cathedrals are in a Baroque style of the Italian builders and then into the Renaissance period.

This is just a fantastic little place, beautiful buildings, warm people, good beer and nice shops.