I had great intentions about posting daily on the blog while we were on our bike tour, but after the first day, I realized that I was just too tired from riding anywhere from 20 to 55 miles (33 to 88 km) and then exploring the area where we spent the night. I wanted to create a proper blog post to give credit to our journey. So, I decided to wait until we were back in the US where I can review my pictures and memories and give it the effort it deserves.
It's a preparation/rest day as we don't start our tour until tomorrow. It's raining, but we don't have to ride....oh wait, we do because apparently my husband had decided that we should take a guided bike tour of Prague, which he booked in advance, so we were riding, rain or shine. It's probably a good thing since we spent yesterday afternoon assembling our bike in a tiny storage room off the hotel lobby, and we needed to be sure that it was assembled properly for the ride and that all the nuts and bolts were tight. This tour, in essence, was our 'shakedown' ride.
Boy was it raining....
Our guide was closer to our age and willing to brave the elements to show us around Prague. It was wet, miserable and hilly. Luckily, we followed up him up the hills to Letna Park in Prague which overlooks the city. We got some great panoramic views of Prague, saw some interesting buildings and enjoyed a smooth ride. We also got some historical perspective from someone our age, who lived through the cold war and remembers the time before the wall fell.
I don't want to get political, but as an older American, who grew up in a free country and can remember when this part of the world was called Czechoslovakia, it was sobering to see firsthand the remnants of that past era in the architecture and monuments, alongside the structures and art that has come since those times. It was humbling to listen to our guide talk about the importance of freedom. We commiserated with him that those turbulent times will never truly convey how precious freedom is to our young people, as those events are mere facts to them, rather than experiences that they lived through in their daily lives. Never having experienced it myself, I know that I can never truly appreciate what he experienced.
I was not expecting to be hit with these emotions and deep thoughts that arose during this tour of Prague. I was a bit blind-sided. This was supposed to be a fluffy cycling tour with interesting architecture, iconography, all manner of towns and cities and wonderful landscapes and views.
We ended our tour early, which the guide appreciated, dried off, had some goulash and beer in a local pub and got ready for our pre-tour meeting with the cycling tour representative.
I had no plan to promote a business here, but I have to say we were very impressed with our Prague to Passau tour company, Europe Bike Tours. The manager showed up for the meeting, explained how their digital route cycling files worked in the cycling app, told us some important information and made sure we were prepared. They had three people assigned to us, had created a Viber group text chat for us to use, asked that we let them know we made it to our hotel the first few days and were very responsive when we texted with questions. They even wanted pictures from our trip. I felt very good after that meeting and we were very happy with the whole tour experience with them.
Day zero is over. Tomorrow, we start our tour of The Czech Republic. Our hotel stops are in Benesov, Tabor, Hluboka, Cesky Krumlov and finally, Passau, Germany.
For more photos of our journey, I have posted some photos (with more to come) on Instagram under the handle 7th_decade_redhead.
Photos courtesy of 7th Decade Redhead.
If you would like to read more about our three week-long bicycle tour starting in Prague, Czech Republic and ending in Budapest, Hungary, here are the links to our entire adventure:
Day Zero in Prague (Weather or not I wanted to)
Day One.... The Hills are Alive .... and I am not
Day Two....Vistas and Grocery Stores (and an angry cashier)
Day Three.... Are we Hiking or Cycling? (Today it was hard to tell....)
Day Four.....My Favorite Place on the Entire Tour (and a nod to the Beer of Kings along the way)
Day Four and a Half (I couldn't do it justice in one post)
Day 5 ...... Will This Day Ever End???
Day Six... Pausing in Passau (AKA This is the way we wash our clothes.....I think....)
Day Seven - Off down the Danube (If we'd only had that meeting.....)
Day Eight - We needed a day like today.....
Day Ten Cycling the Danube - Cloudy With a Shot of Melk
Day Eleven Cycling the Danube... A rare short mileage day!
Day Twelve Cycling the Danube - Aahhhh Vienna!!!
Day 13 - Our Day in Vienna (It's not supposed to be this HOT)
Day 14: Vienna to Petronell-Carnuntum (Apparently, I can speak some Italian.....)
Day 15 Petronell-Carnuntum, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia (Rain and broken Chain...)
Day 16 Bratislava, Slovakia to Gyor, Hungary (There's a snake in the grass....)
Day 18: Komarno, Slovakia to Esztergom, Hungary (A tense tummy and a tense moment......)
Day 19: Esztergom to Budapest, Hungary (A long ride for the last day)
Day 20: A Day in Budapest (We had to see the last of the "Stevens/Stephens")
