BIKING IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC PART I

I’ve been super busy, we just got back from our Czech bike tour then I left for the Euro-Bike Expo in Friedrichshafen, Germany. I wanted to see the latest in E-Bike technology.  I think the future in transportation is going to be the combination of a bicycle with electric assist.  There was talk of changing the expo name to The E-Bike Show.  E-bikes dominated, the show, both in number of booths and the test area was packed too. I’ll post some photos from the bike show, after this story.

I thought Czech was some of the best available bike touring I’ve done to date. I didn’t look at this map before we left, here’s the opencyclemap.org, a free to access  bicycle map, mostly for Europe.  I was shocked when I saw the multiple route options that I could explore the Czech Republic with a  bicycle.  Many of the routes were signed and there were good bike maps available at most tourist offices.

 

 

We wanted to take the train to be car-free, but no, that was a 14 hour adventure with 3 train changes.  It’s only a 5 hour drive, that saves almost 2 days of travel and vacation time.

We drive to   CESKY KRUMLOV (photos). to start our bicycle tour.

We stay at the HAVANA HOSTEL, in Cesky Krumlov it was clean, cheap, very friendly and informative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The town was super cool, with the river s-ing it’s way through town, full of rafters, it was quite entertaining.  It seems every town has a tower to climb and Cesky Krumlov had one too.

We spend the day visiting museums and galleries.

The tourist office can’t tell me where the bike trail starts, so I head out on my own to find it.  I always find something interesting when I’m exploring on my own.  I finally find the start of the bike trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it starts raining and that includes the forecast, but Prague is dry.  Our original plan was to ride from Cesky Krumlov to Prague, but after we evaluated the weather situation, we flipped the ride around.  We now plan to take the train to Prague and bike back to Cesky Krumlov, where the car is parked.

We start off by getting on the wrong train going the wrong way.  We can get upset, but what’s the point?  We just sit back and enjoy the ride. by now it’s pouring rain outside and a train ride is much better than a bike ride, in the rain.  In Prague we meet a German couple at the train station and they follow us into the Old Town Square of Prague (photos).

Prague is packed with tourist and biking is nearly impossible.  Except when you go out at 6:30 in the morning.

After riding both sides of the Vltava river(photos) Natasa wants to go back to the hostel, I opt for a tour of the PRAGUE PALACE (photos).  At that hour of the morning, no one was around, except the Palace guards, who told me to get off my bike (3x’s).  I ‘m a little lost, but I accidently bump into the hostel were staying at, thank goodness.  I did pass a farmers market on the way back.  I grab Natasa and Sara and we head back to the farmers market.

Our good friend Stanley from Royan, France was in Prague at the same time we were.  We went on a hike around VYSEHRADSKE SADY (photos).

No trip would be complete without a visit from the Famous Rev. Phil with BIKE SMUT.   He’s having a showing Prague, while were in town.  We reserved him a bed in our hostel room.

We’re finally starting our Czech Republic bike tour.  We’ve got our bikes packed up and were heading out of Prague, IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!

This story will be continued with BIKING THE CZECH REPUBLIC PART II

Thanks for reading and comments are almost always welcome.                                             PHOTOS: JEFF’S PHOTOS ARE HERE

JEFF

DON’T FORGET TO RIDE YOUR BIKE WHILE YOU CAN OR GET AN E-BIKE AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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