Germany

Downstream as far as Ulm the young Danube enjoys a carefree youth, until she gradually blossoms from a girl into a young lady. Seen here it is hard to believe that this river will grow to become Europe's second longest. In the Middle Ages, boatsmen from Ulm sailed the Danube on their "Ulmer Schachtel", or "Ulm Boxes" as far down river as Belgrade. Their enterprising mercantile spirit laid the foundation of the city's prosperity, evidence of which can be seen today in the "Schifferviertel", or Boatsmen's Quarter, and the magnificent cathedral. At Ulm the Danube still resists large vessels, and only small boats put out on the river. Passing Neuburg, which has probably the finest Renaissance castle on the Danube, and Ingolstadt with its stately ducal palace and medieval city walls, the river approaches and gently rounds Weltenburg monastery to pierce the vertical cliffs to reach Kelheim. As though exhausted by the journey through the narrow valley, the Danube here seems to surrender and succumbs to larger ships on its waves, many of which enter from the Main-Danube Canal. Further downstream the river allows herself to be forced into a corset of dams and weirs as she flows relentlessly onwards to Regensburg.

Majestically the Danube flows by the Benedictine monastery of St. Emmeram founded in the eighth century with its Gothic cloister. Since 1812 the monastery has served as a residence for the princes of Thurn and Taxis. The river passes beneath the twelfth-century Reichsbrücke, the oldest bridge across the Danube still in operation, and greets the Walhalla from afar, before finally reaching the town of Passau at the confluence of three rivers. This "Venice of the Danube", so called because of its many buildings in the style of the Italian Baroque and extensive river frontage, is the final station of the Danube before it leaves Germany. Swelled by the waters of Inn and Ilz, the Danube, now a mature river, flows on into Austria and new shores.