Instead they will take to petrol free wheels for exploration of the foreign terrains. Actually two years ago I met Woodsburgh plastic surgeon Dr. Martin Kessler and his wife Shaynee who had just returned from a ³Wheels of Love² 300-mile, five-day charity bike ride for the ALYNE Children¹s Hospital with five other members of the Young Israel of Woodmere. They raised thousands of dollars for the rehabilitation of Israeli and Palestinian children at the hospital. Incidentally the Kesslers spent six months of vigorous training and cycling before they flew off to Israel with their specially equipped bicycles.
I learned that the Euro-Bike & Walking Tours have special family fun carefree active tours. Children, parents and even grandparents are guaranteed a perfect trip for all to enjoy. They mix cycling, sightseeing, relaxing, so you cam have an active vacation without feeling that you¹ve been through boot camp. Your cycling is done at a leisurely pace-you have all day to cycle 25 35 miles a day. There¹s no need to bring your bike to Europe. They have top-of-the-line custom-built hybrid Cannondale bicycles to rent at a modest daily rate. These bikes are fully loaded with 27 speeds, a suspension seat post, hydraulic brakes, easy-to-use Shimano grip shifters, a bike computer and other bike essentials.
Euro-Bike & Walking Tours offers cycling tours through those luscious grape-growing regions of France, Germany, Italy with moderate sampling included. France has no better place than the Burgandy region where the scent of grapes permeate the very air you breathe. There is also the wonderful mustard town of Dijon. As a matter of fact one year I came back to the states with a suitcase filled with every conceivable and not so conceivable kind and color of mustard. For history buffs there is nothing quite like cycling through the peaceful Loire Valley. The first event of that day is a visit to the palace of Versailles, Mare Antoinette¹s favorite domain before she lost her head. This is also the land of seven famous chateaux in addition to those intoxicating grapes. In addition to the Versailles Palace there is the Chateaux de Chambord in the town of Blois and Tours, the site where you can follow the footsteps of Joan of Arc at the end of your cycling tour before you catch your train back to Paris.
The Normandy and Brittany Coast Tours take in historic places where many of our World War II veterans embarked from the beaches of Normandy on ³ D Day² to save France from the Germans. This is an area with cycling routes through a string of seaside ports and resorts, rich wit mariner¹s tales and world famous seafood. History also comes alive through visits to the historic sights of Mont-St-Michel, the Bayeaux tapestry and the D Day beaches.
The ³Taste of Provence² is a cycling tour that emphasizes the sunsets that influenced the world famous artists like Vincent VanGogh, Cezanne, Monet and Manet and the marvelous food from the bustling market towns. You will start at Avignon, the beautiful city of the Popes, then on to historic Arles of Van Gogh fame. Chocolate lovers will find heaven in St, Remy, at the exclusive Joel Durand chocolatier.
Then there are the Italian cycling tours that will take you to the north of Venice, to the sun-drenched Veneto, a region of awesome beauty bordered by the Dolomite Mountains and home to Venetian nobles. Fortified towns with opulent villas surrounded by robust vineyards, cypress trees and lush green pastures provide the visitor with savory Italian cuisine and a great pleasurable playground for the rich and famous. It is also very difficult to bypass the Tuscan Coast and Elba. There are challenging hilly cycling routes amongst olive groves, vineyards and forests with wide vistas and seascapes. The sights to see are the town center of Lucca and the Isle of Elba with the Napoleon Memorial, caves and ancient roads and the Thermal Springs of Saturnia.
Another suggestion I can offer is to purchase a five liter metal canister of olive oil and place it in the accompanying van. This useful souvenir is easy to transport, unbreakable, and much less expensive than bottled olive oil. At home you can pour the olive oil in bottles for your own use or for gifts. There are many more cycling tours through more of Italy, Holland, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, and South America for future columns since I have run out of space for this week.
Copyright 2007 by Marcia Abramson
E-mail: mascribe@verizon.net
