Germany - Vilshofen, near Passau

My last visit to north eastern Bavaria was in 1981 and it was very brief, a short look around the 'old town' of Passau. However, the impression of the region was such that I made a mental note of it to have a look again at some time in the future.
We started by spending two nights at the thermal baths of Bad Griesbach, south of Passau and then travelled the short 20km to the banks of the Danube (Donau) at Vilshofen. When I say the banks of the Danube, it is meant literally because anything nearer and we would have been in the water.

On the Danube

 

Our stay was for one night only, because that is what the information board requests, but I could easily have stayed two more! The scenic beauty of the spot and the silent passing of river boats and barges to name two reasons. Sitting on the banks of this river, on your own chair with a sundowner in hand, brings another of those immeasurable qualities that enhances life. It was free and gratis stopping there for the night, which I think added to the quality of the stopover. Motorhoming makes this possible and in a motorhome friendly country such as Germany, you are given this choice.



Camperstop at Vilshofen, on the Danube.

Photographic opportunities abound if you are interested in boats, one such was of this canoe and two rowers sharing the same water as the barge, both going downstream direction Passau.

'David and Goliath'

Looking out of the window we saw this luxury river cruise boat gliding by. I grabbed the camera and got a shot of it as it disappeared up stream - a moment in time indelibly etched on the memory and captured on a modern day digital camera.

A passing boat in the night 

The town of Vilshofen from the bridge

A common theme wherever we stop in similar surroundings is that comes the final sunlight of the day, you see your fellow travellers all having a little something. It was no different here on the Danube, and it was not long before I had a quick conversation with the Dutch couple in their £250,000 Concorde Liner motorhome. No need for drawn out pleasantries, we are all travelling to and from somewhere, we may share favourite camperstops, discuss the intricacies of EU policies or the latest count of Olympic medals in the now finished London 2012 games.

Sundowner time

We made an early start (not later than 09:00) towards our next stop at Berchtesgaden in the south eastern corner of Germany. The A3 motorway took us south past Passau, across the Danube and the next thing we knew we were in Austria, about to use an Austrian motorway without a vignette or motorway sticker ....