Czech Republic
Going on a 9-day REI bike tour from Vienna to Prague through the Czech country side, is not your typical vacation, but one I will treasure.
Our trip began simple enough, boarding the plane to Prague with a layover in Amsterdam and then taking a train to Vienna where our tour commenced. We definitely lucked out and had an amazingly diverse, dynamic and funny group. There was a couple in their 20's traveling on their honeymoon, a couple on their 40th wedding anniversary, several seasoned couples who have done these trips all over the world and were avid bikers...and then there was Vickie and I. All together 15 of us made up the tour, including 2 amazing tour guides and Jerry the driver.
On this tour we were given maps to guide us through the countryside, allowing us to go at our own pace and explore a bit as well. So needless to say, I basically I made my own tour of the Czech country side by missing turns, back tracking and inevitably making friends with the locals who spoke every language except English. Good thing I'm a master of charades and found the universal language of gesturing seemed to do the trick to get me back on track. The upside to constantly getting derailed from the route is that I got to bond with the countryside. From the vast fields of golden sunflowers to the countless haystacks and barns, the stretches between the towns exuded a sense of calm and peacefulness that I welcomed.
Throughout the tour, our 30 - 40 mile a day bike rides were broken up by castle tours, eating, coffee breaks, more castle tours, more eating and more coffee breaks. I can honestly say I don't think I have toured so many castles in my whole life combined as I did on this tour, and it seemed that every castle had been burned down at least once and rebuilt. It became the running joke on every tour.
The last town we visited was my favorite. It was the story book town of Cesky Krumlov. It was straight out of a fairytale with quaint cottages, a winding river and of course a beautiful castle on a hill. We rounded out the tour ending in the streets of Prague. Prague is an amazing city that has the ability to combine modern lifestyle with incredibly detailed architecture centuries old.
