Europe 2018 Episode 08: Vilshofen an der Donau

We boarded our Ama Waterways cruise ship at Vilshofen an der Donau in southern Germany. We were supposed to board in Nuremberg and sail to Regensburg before reaching this part of the Danube but low water levels prevented the ship from traveling further north. Many passengers took a bus to visit Nuremberg on the first day but we chose to stay behind, enjoying the town of Vilshofen and visiting a nearby Bavarian village (which we’ll see in an upcoming video).
Vilshofen isn’t on many people’s tourist itineraries. There are no major sights, but the town itself is quite pleasant. While Pam rested on the ship, I enjoyed cycling around the town and along the Danube.
The primary area of shops and restaurants runs along the main street of town between the Stadtturm (city tower) which dates to 1647, and the parish church of St John the Baptist, which dates to medieval times but was rebuilt after being heavily damaged by fire in 1794.
High on a hill above town is Schweiklberg Abbey, an early-20th c. monastery founded by the Benedictines. During the second world war, the Gestapo expelled the monks and took over the abbey, expurgating from the extensive library any volumes that were critical of the Third Reich. The monks returned after the war and resumed their original mission. Adjoining the monastery is a lovely little cemetery with a funerary chapel. In my broken German, I complimented the gardener on the beautiful display of flowers.
On the outskirts of town, the cemetery and church of St Barbara has a Renaissance and Baroque interior including a collection of pictures memorializing the town’s fallen from World War II. It was a sobering reminder that, even though the Nazi cause was morally indefensible, to the local townspeople, these soldiers were simply their beloved sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers who paid the ultimate price for their country.
The video ends with a series of still photographs.