Passau is one of those charming little German towns that fills you with an unbelievable sense of joy. We were in Passau for just a day but in this short stay, we made some beautiful memories especially because we explored the city with family whom we hadn’t seen in years.
Artists’ Alley
Walking thru painted little cobble-stoned streets hand in hand on a cold autumn day, sipping some delicious Glühwein, admiring the lovely handcrafted wares in the little stores, visiting the most beautiful churches, walking by the river at dusk watching the boats sail away and the city light up, and of course hitting the local breweries is how we spent our short stay in Passau.
Passau is more commonly known as the city of three rivers, the Dreiflüssestadt. The Danube (second largest river in Germany) meets the Inn and the Ilz rivers at Passau. Each of the rivers appear to be in different colors in an aerial view – the Danube being blue, the Inn green, and the Ilz black-ish. The city is popular for its Danube river cruises and you will see a whole bunch of boats docked in the promenade. In fact, we were visiting Passau only to meet with family who was taking one of these river cruises which start here in Passau and go thru Austria and Eastern Europe. These boats look pretty neat and cosy on the inside!
The city is surrounded by lots and lots of water and you’ll find yourself walking by the river thru most of the city. Unfortunately, this also led to some really bad floods in the area. The worst one was over 500 years ago but then the recent one in 2013 was almost as bad. The flood levels are actually marked on one of the old town hall walls.
Most of the boats are docked at the Fritz Schäffer Promenade
Apart from the rivers and its cruises, the city is also known for having the largest cathedral organ in the world. The St. Stephen’s Cathedralis one of the most beautiful churches in Germany and the huge pipe organ to its collection makes it all the more spectacular. It is said to have 17,774 pipes!!! Organ concerts take place in summer and we hope to attend one of these someday. The interior of the church is done up in baroque style and the paintings & sculptures are simply exquisite – some of them depict fairly morbid scenes and yet weirdly you feel at peace looking at them.
Organ at St.Stephen’s CathedralBaroque art at St. Stephan’s Cathedral
We were in Passau a couple of days before the Christmas Market and the stalls and decorations were still underway but we enjoyed some of their delicious Glühwein or mulled wine which is generally available during Christmas time.
Of course, we were eager to explore their local brews as well and were not disappointed despite it being your typical German brews. The dunkel (dark) lager we had at the Brauerei Hacklberg was pretty decent compared to the dark lagers we’d been drinking across most of Germany. The food at this brewery was phenomenal – one of the best meals I have eaten in my year-long stay in Germany. A visit to this brewery is definitely worth it.
Ancient Battle Horn at the Peschl Terrasse
We also visited the Peschl Terrasse which serves the Aldersbach beer. We had the Aldersbacker Kloster Dunkel (dark lager) and the Aldersbacker Kloster Weisse Dunkel (dark wheat beer) and the dark wheat beer was quite nice.
We unfortunately could not visit the Aldersbacher brewery itself as it was quite a ride away from the city. The brewery was established in 13th century and had some bocks on its list and seemed to be into craft brewing as well. Something to do on our future visit to Passau along with a visit to a few of the other breweries in this little city.
There’s a bunch of other things we couldn’t do like visit the Veste Oberhaus, a 13th century fortress. The views from here are apparently pretty amazing. There is a bus that takes you up to the fort but we were visiting during off-season and this bus was not running. We would have done the 30-minute hike uphill but the weather was pretty nasty with heavy rainfall.
This quaint, picturesque city has plenty of stuff to do and it deserves more than an overnight stay and we definitely plan on visiting the city again, hopefully soon!
Lake Constance or Bodensee (as it is popularly known in Germany) is a beautiful lake that borders Germany, Switzerland, and Austria near the Alps.
It is the third largest lake in Central Europe and was formed by the Rhine Glacier. There are many lovely cities, little towns, and islands in Bodensee.
Our first stop was Friedrichshafen, the capital of the Bodensee district. This is an industrial city famous for the Zeppelin, an airship that was launched here in 1900. It flew for the first time over the Bodensee and was used for commercial air travel until the 1930s.
A much smaller replica of the Zeppelin offering rides in the Bodensee region
We would have loved to visit the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen but unfortunately couldn’t make it during this visit. The city itself seemed nice enough; we had time to just visit the harbor front which was right opposite the train station. The place was filled with people just strolling around and lying on the grass enjoying themselves in the sun (it was the first month with proper sunshine after a long winter in Germany). We couldn’t see much of this lovely city and definitely want to go back here someday soon.
Our next stop was Lindau, one of the larger and more picturesque towns in Bodensee. We approached Lindau in a train and all you could see on either side was gorgeous blue water with pretty little yachts sailing lazily. It is nestled on the lake in front of Austria’s Pfänder Mountain and you can see wonderful views of the Alps. It is especially known for its harbor entrance with the Lighthouse and Bavarian Lion sculpture. The harbor view is as beautiful in the night as it is in the day.
Lindau Lighthouse (at night)
Lindau is such a cosy little town. Not too far away from the Lighthouse is the town hall, displaying some intricate and interesting paintings.
And in the area around there is a fountain with some nice sculptures. We enjoyed our little walk through the town and were ready to fill our hungry stomachs. The little town has some wonderful restaurants that plate up some delicious meals and serve some of the most divine wines. We ate at the Hotel Reutemann, the orange building you can see in this picture below. Sitting here and watching the sun go down and the lighthouse lighting up not so far away made for a very special evening.
View of the Mangenturm Tower (Old Lighthouse)
We headed back to Markdorf, another little town in Bodensee where we were staying through our trip. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Markdorf. It’s a nice little town with a beautiful church, some cute fountains, and some of the loveliest houses with gorgeous views of the Alps and the lake. We stayed at one such house that we had found via Airbnb and this was our first Airbnb experience and we absolutely loved it! The host was friendly and the house was simply perfect – it had a wonderful sit-out where we spent many an evening gazing at the star-lit sky with a glass of wine, just enjoying the silence of the mountains and the lake not so far away.
The next day, we visited Insel Mainau or more popularly known as Flower Island. It is one gigantic gorgeous park that’s got the prettiest and most varied collection of flowers I have ever seen and a well-done landscape with interesting art as you can see in the image above. It’s got a bunch of other attractions including a butterfly house and castle. The best time to visit would be in spring, for the tulip blossom, which finishes off by mid May. We got there just after and they had the summer bloom which is just as lovely with a wide variety of roses and other flowers on display. It takes a few good hours to walk through the island but it’s totally worth it and you can take a quick pause and sit at one of the many benches you’ll find by the shore, offering you wonderful views of the lake. We left the island on a boat and saw beautiful little towns pass us by before we got off at Konstanz.
The Imperia is one of the most famous landmarks of Lake Constance and is in Konstanz, possibly the largest city on the Bodensee. This statue is 9 metres high, weighs 18 tonnes, and stands on a pedestal that rotates around its axis once every four minutes. The statue was erected in the late 1900s and created a huge controversy and you can see why. The story revolving around the statue is interesting.. It’s undoubtedly an admirable piece of work making a bold statement!
We walked around the city a bit and grabbed some dinner and finally had some good beer – and we had a huge stroke of luck as we ended up finding some craft beer! Maisel & Friends brew some amazing craft beer and we are glad we got to try out some of their ales in this little beer bar/restaurant in Konstanz. Their Stefan’s Indian Ale is highly recommended – a wonderfully citrusy, hoppy Indian Pale Ale. You know every time we find great craft beer in Germany, we are just super kicked about how well this country (that has been the pioneers in beer and has been stubbornly brewing its Pils and Weizens for centuries) is embracing new forms of brewing.
We spent all of the next day in Meersburg, best known for its vineyards. Although we love our beer, we indulge in wine every so often and the Bodensee region has some of the best wines southern Germany has to offer. We had a mouth-watering meal with a few glasses of their finest red wines at one of the lake-side restaurants.
View of Meersburg from our boat
We then lazed around in the sun on one of the benches near the Magische Säule or Magic Column, created by Peter Lenk – the same guy who created the Imperial statue pictured above at Konstanz. The sculptor seems to be well-known for his controversial bold sculptures.
Intriguing art by Peter Lenk
We walked around exploring this beautiful medieval town adorned with pretty vineyards and a lovely castle. We took back not only some good bottles of wine from Meersburg but also some good memories from a lovely day spent in this gorgeous town in Bodensee.
All these little towns and cities in Bodensee are so wonderfully unique and amazing – it’s hard to pick a favorite. We fell in love with every one of them and cannot wait to visit some of these again.
Prague is this dreamy, old-ish, culturally-rich, architectural wonder of a city that you’d ache to go back to for more…
We visited Prague during Easter and the city was beautifully decorated, especially the city centre or Old Town Square where they had the Easter markets. Majority of the stalls were filled with gorgeous Easter eggs (with unbelievably intricate designs) and other exceptionally handcrafted decorative items. Some stalls also sold some mouth-watering local delicacies. Traditional song and dance shows were also part of the festivities.
Trdelnik – a local pastry – grilled and tossed in some cinnamon sugarThe bustling Prague Old Town Square
The Old Town Square is the heart of Prague. The church you see in the background with its twin distinctive Gothic spires is the Church of Our Lady Before Týn. Prague is filled with churches and lovely, old buildings that are all adorned with some or the other piece of art.
You’ll see horse-drawn carriages and vintage cars lined up to take you around the city.
The square is also filled with lovely restaurants serving local beer and food. Prague is known for its beer and you’ll find loads of good beer everywhere…
Where are my hoppy ales!?
We craved for ales in a city known for its pils and lagers. But, like they say, ask and you shall receive.. we did some quick research and found a neat little place which was swarming with hopheads like us. The Prague Beer Museum has some really good ales and some very unique lagers. Prague made us very happy that evening. Through the Old Town, you will also find little cafes or bars playing live music – we especially enjoyed the blues scene the city had to offer. We visited Jazz Republic– a cosy live music club where the Alice Springs Blues Quartet was playing that evening. These guys put on a great show – this is one of our cherished moments from our trip.
The Square also features the renowned Astronomical Clock which is part of the Old Town Hall. Every hour, crowds gather to watch the clock in action. The four figures beside the clock represent Vanity (with the mirror), Greed (with his money bag), Death (the skeleton), and Pagan Invasion (represented by a Turk). On the hour, Death rings a bell and inverts his hourglass and the twelve apostles parade past the windows above the clock. It’s a pretty sight. Not as beautiful a parade put up by as the Munich Glockenspiel but still a good one to stop for.
We spent a lot of the day just walking around the old town area exploring the hidden alleys which were filled with little treasures.
In a store window
Another hugely famous landmark in Prague is the Charles Bridge – definitely worth a visit despite the insane crowds.
If you are determined to see the full bridge in its true splendor instead of a crammed bridge with hundreds of people, you should muster the will to stay up thru the night or rise and shine in the wee hours to catch the breath-taking view at dawn. Well, laziness and sleep got the better of us and we went to see the bridge at dusk. It was packed with hundreds of visitors and locals just using the bridge to cross over from the Old Town to the Mala Strana. It was a beautiful sight nonetheless.
The bridge was filled with caricature artists and folks selling junk jewellery
The views from both sides of the bridge are absolutely gorgeous! You get a wonderful view of the Prague Castle and the St. Vitus’ Cathedral which is the most popular side of the bridge while the other side presents a pretty picture of the city in the backdrop of the Vltava river.
View of the Prague castle district from the Charles Bridge
The best way to experience the beauty of this charming city is to do a boat tour sipping on some delicious chilled beer.
The next day, we visited the St. Vitus Cathedral . The cathedral is in the Prague Castle area (or Pražský Hrad). It is magnificent, both on the inside and outside. The stained glass windows have wonderfully depicted scenes with a beautiful fusion of colors. The walls on the inside of the Cathedral as well showcase intricate paintings from a bygone era.
The Prague Castle area also features the Golden Lane – a wonderful little street filled with modest, little houses that used to be inhabited by the workers at the castle – goldsmiths, blacksmiths etc. One of the houses has been converted into a little museum of sorts displaying ancient torture tools.
The Rack – no escaping this mean machineIf you can’t get them with a bullet, slice them.
One of the houses in the Golden Lane was briefly occupied by Franz Kafka, a well-known German writer born into a German-speaking Jewish family in Prague. The city views from all around the castle area are simply beautiful and it was a day well-spent and definitely worth the steep climb.
At the Jewish Quarter
Our next stop was the Prague Jewish Town. A visit to the Old Jewish Cemeteryleaves you feeling melancholic especially when you see the graves of the little ones.
The cemetery is piled with 12000 tombstones, most buried on top of one another due to the lack of space.
The Spanish Synagogue
The Prague Jewish Quarter also has a bunch of beautiful synagogues – the notable ones are the Spanish Synagogue with a remarkable interior design and the Pinkas Synagoguewhich was turned into a memorial to the ~80,000 victims of the Shoah (or Holocaust). The names of all these victims are inscribed on the walls of the synagogue. The synagogue also has a permanent exhibition of pictures drawn by the children in the concentration camp. Some of these pictures will make you smile but some of these will also make you cry thinking of the shattered dreams and tortured lives of these young children.
Prague is an amazing city that is wondrously rich with history and culture – you simply cannot stop exploring all that the city has to offer. We left knowing that we will surely go back someday to soak in more of this incredible place.
Our trip to Bali was a memorable one. It reminds us of some fun times, great food, beautiful sights, and a rich cultural experience.
Bali is one of the most popular destinations in Indonesia and rightly so. In Bali, you’ll find a varied mix of areas – some like Ubudthat are steeped in mythical traditions with beautiful temples, artisans displaying their meticulously crafted ware, and talented artists putting up great performances in mythical plays. And then some others like Seminyak (part of Kuta) where you’ll find the hip and happening beaches and bars. We stayed at Seminyak as we wanted to be close to the places playing live music and pouring out the good brews.
Gorgeous sit-outs by the beach at Seminyak
We started out by watching the Barong dance, a very popular Balinese dance. Barong is a lion-like creature who represents all things good and the dance features the battle between Barong and Rangda, a demon queen that represents all things evil.
The music and the depiction of these mythical characters in an enthralling dance was a great start to our journey into the rich cultural wonders of Bali.
Meet Rangda, the white-haired evil queen
Our next stop was the Kopi Luwak Plantation. This was an interesting and somewhat amusing experience. We witnessed the making of the world’s most expensive coffee (aka Kopi). The Luwak, this cat-like creature eats the coffee cherries and then of course poops it out. This poop is then collected, the coffee beans separated from the crap, cleansed and sun-dried, fried well, and hand pounded to produce the supposedly wonderful coffee. Sorry for the sarcasm here but well, I tried the coffee and while it was decent, it was in no way remarkable to pay the high price it demands. And, I am a coffee lover just like many of you out there but just didn’t understand what the fuss was about. This turned out to be an interesting experience nonetheless and was worth the visit.
The Luwak
with the highly priced coffee it poops
The plantation is beautiful and you should definitely take a short walk through it to see the lovely coffee plants, cocoa trees and fruit trees. Oh, and the tea lovers needn’t despair, there’s also a wide variety of interesting teas to be tried as well, which incidentally I enjoyed more than the coffee!
Pura Ulun Danu Batur Temple
We then headed over to the Pura Ulun Danu BaturTemple located in Batur, Kintamani. This is one of the second most important temples to the Balinese people. It is a huge temple complex and in fact consists of nine different temples that includes ~300 shrines of gods and goddesses. One of these nine temples is actually a Chinese temple and I was a bit surprised to see it there but it was apparently built to pay homage to Ida Ratu Ayu Subandar, the patron saint of commerce and the ‘administrator’ of the gods. The story goes that, back in the days, the king used to appoint a harbor master, usually Chinese, who was responsible for the storage and protection of valuable objects.
Hinduism is the majority religion in Bali and being a Hindu (by birth but not by choice) and being aware of some of the Hindu customs and gods/goddesses – it was pretty amazing to see how similar Indian Hindu rituals was to that of the Balinese Hindu rituals. It was also amazing to note the differences in the way they represent the same gods and rituals. The architecture of this whole temple complex is just mind-blowing! We unfortunately went there on a misty day and there was lots of fog which made for a slightly blurry view… despite this, the temple was simply marvelous. By the way, in almost all Bali temples you will need to wear a sarong, both the male and female.. this is not that bad a deal really.. you can rent one or buy one.. but what’s bad is the locals ripping you off by charging as much as 50 USD just to rent one! This is not so bad in all temples and we were shocked when it happened to us in this Batur temple. It’s best to just buy one and use it for all the temples you plan to visit. It’s much cheaper and stress-free!
Mount Batur, Kintamani
Mount Batur is an active volcano visible from Kintamani. Its last eruption was in 2000. The mountain is surrounded by the crater lake, Danau Batur, Bali’s largest lake. As I mentioned, it was a misty day and we waited several hours for the view you see in this image. When we got there, there was nothing but thick mist making the entire mountain and its surrounding area altogether invisible. We sat in this little cafe sipping on some lovely coffee and munching on some delicious cakes and waited for the mist to lift. It was worth the wait.
Royal tombs at Gunung Kawi
We drove down through a different route and stopped over at the Gunung Kawitemple. The main attraction of the temple complex is the royal tombs. These tombs are dedicated to King Anak Wungsu of the Udayana dynasty and his favorite queens.. This image above features the tombs of the king, his ‘major’ queen and their three sons. On the other side of this are the tombs of the ‘minor’ queens.
It’s a beautiful walk through the temple complex with little streams flowing through and beautiful rice terraces along the way. Ubud is filled with these gorgeous rice terraces.
The rice terraces of Bali
This was the end of our Day 1 in Bali. Boy! we did see a lot and it was such a beautiful day! We then headed back to Seminyak to unwind with some chilled beers and listen to a fun, local rock band. The next day we just chilled out in our lovely villa and swam and drank lots more beers.
A typical pils (nothing special) – seemed to be the most popular local beer
In the evening, we stepped out to see Tanah Lot, a temple built in a spectacular rock formation – this is one of the most photographed places in Bali. Just behind the temple, you can find a quiet little rock for yourself, away from the maddening crowd, and sit there mesmerized by the beauty and the power of the sea.
Tanah Lot, approaching dusk
On our last day, we visited Nusa Dua, part of the Kuta area in the south of Bali, that is well known for its water sports. We had a whole adventure-packed day and indulged in a variety of water sports from parasailing to sea walking to doing the flying fish. We immensely enjoyed them all.
The blue parasail is me taking off
It was my first time parasailing and after much trepidation, I mustered the courage to do it and I was so thrilled when I did it. The insane rush of adrenaline as you take off, the child-like glee that surges within you as you soar high and admire the vast expanse of water, and finally, the urge to do it all over again as you descend to the shore — was simply wonderful. We also visited the Turtle Island which I don’t think is worth the time, money, and effort – it’s sad to see the turtles kept (trapped really) in such enclosed dirty conditions.
We wrapped up the day at the Pura Luhur UluWatu temple, which is perched at the edge of a steep cliff that is surrounded by the Indian ocean. The views from here are breath-taking! We also watched the fascinating Kecakdancehere – the performance takes place every evening against the backdrop of the ocean.
Kecak dance at Uluwatu temple
The music for this dance is produced by the performers you see in this image incessantly chanting ‘Cak’. The dance is a depiction of one of the primary plots in the Ramayana where Sita, the wife of Lord Rama is abducted by the demon king Ravana and then the performance goes on to show how Rama (with the help of the monkey god Hanuman) kills Ravana and brings back Sita safely. The entire performance is filled with unbelievable energy and is a brilliant one to watch – and the twilight views of the vast Indian ocean make it all the more special. We then headed off to grab a lovely dinner in a restaurant situated on the other side of the cliff. The food in Baliis delicious no matter where you go with a wide array of choices. Eating mouth-watering satays, listening to the local band play some lovely Balinese music, and looking out at the ocean – this is how we finished off our last day in Bali.
That’s what makes Bali so memorable for us – the amazing views, the scrumptious food, the rich culture, and the varied experiences you can get in this lovely little city. There’s something for everyone.
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