Time killed (we whiled away 45 minutes with cappuccinos in an overly warm café around the corner from the bike tour meeting place), we walk over to our bike tour meet up. We’re early (by design) and turns out we are the only 2 on the tour – cool – private tour! Sasha our guide (from Slovenia no less!) saddles us up and off we go to the greener side of Prague.
This tour is great, because we get out of the city hustle and bustle and bike through places we’d never normally see. We start off down the river Vltava, riding along its banks on the city side, then crossing over to the Bubenske side – great paths for walking and biking. It is a very relaxing ride out of the center. Sasha is informative and fun. Between info on where we are, we all just chat about life, daily stuff, girlfriends (his), travel (us and Sasha who travels like we do in the winter), going home, etc. All in all, a great relaxing time.
After crossing the river we turn back toward the city, riding through the leafy greens, oranges, yellows and reds of the turning fall leaves. Our first stop is at the kayak club, where we they have training and competition areas staged in the water. First of 3 beers, this one a light and dark combo (really good – not at all like a black and tan of which I’m not a fan – just a good tasting semi-medium-heavy beer – no, nothing like our porters in Asheville!!). Sasha wisely chooses Pepsi – he has another tour starting at 8:30 (horrors!) so he needs to be a bit more responsible than us!
After adjusting bikes, we head out along the park path, enjoying the brisk breeze (its really not so bad – after 1 beer of course its not bad. Who can feel the cold now? LOL).
A few kilometers down the path, we pass the “white water rapids.” This is a manmade rapids for kayakers to test their skills. It’s really quite amazing – and there are a few kayakers who have just finished the course – darn! Didn’t get to see them actually in the water, but got the comments afterward. 
FYI – not my pix – copied off the web – you can tell because they are in shorts…not happening on our trip!!!
A few more kilometers and we pass what is called the “Trojan horse” – so called because an sculptor built it in 2008 (it survived the floods of 2013, the height of which is marked on the side), because it is in Troja – the area of Prague known as “Troy.” Very cute. Sadly the art studio is not open, but pictures are always available.
This is totally fun! Our next stop is a surprise – it is the Troja Chateau. This house – really a Villa (a real one, not like the ones they call villas in HHI) was built by a Czech who wanted to bring a little bit of Roman architecture to his home country. It is a wonderful surprise in the middle of the parklands above the river. So gorgeous and unexpected. Even Sunny came out for a look. 
Next up – a little dive sort of beer garden closer to the city where they have bands occasionally, and they are planning to develop a club (it is close to transportation – there is a station above the place – in the trees up a path). Fun, but…a club? We’ll see how that goes. For us, it’s a great rest stop before the final climb (and we mean climb) of our trip.
After this beer stop, we are in the final part of our journey. Sasha has already warned us we will be going up a hill….we’ve already warned Sasha that we will be wussies. But oh, little did we know! Geez…working out everyday on the treadmill…you’d think we’d be in shape – but bikes are so different – and we’re off those things in a heartbeat! Sasha is a good sport and walks with us – but, sigh, it’s really a brutal realization for me (even though I’ve sort of known it) that the treadmill doesn’t exactly equal excellent lung capacity. Bummer!
But…we make it up the hill to the final stop, which has spectacular views over the river and into Prague. We can see all the bridges – including the Charles Bridge which is packed with people! We’re just a little bit away from the castle, so the views are spectacular – and the beer – of course is incredibly good too!
3 hours, and the tour is over, we sail back down the hillside (including riding down a few steps, which makes me very happy!!!) and too quickly we are back in town and dropping off our bikes. Absolutely one of the best tours we’ve been on. Sasha was wonderful, like biking with your buddy, we got to places we’d never have seen without the tour, and who can complain about the beer?
After dropping off our bikes and bidding farewell to Sasha, we work our way back to the restaurants we scoped out before the tour. There are a couple of cheap places around the corner and we opt for the Café Bar U Lucerny.
Their menu looked good (and cheap) and the interior was cozy and looked like a cave. Unfortunately, it is smoky – these people smoke – like fiends – and they allow it inside. ICK! (OK that coming from former smokers, but really, come on! Keep it outside please!)
So, we have to deal with the smoke, but the menu seems (sort of) worth it! Ed really, really wants the Pork Knuckle (what? Knuckle? What the heck is that? Well it turns out it is like a whole ham!!!). I’m ambivalent, but end up with the cheese and meat platter (it’s an app, but nicely priced). The proprietor has said, in passing, the pork knuckle is for 2 – but do we listen? NO! It’s only 199CZK, which is only $8.35US – so how can you go wrong? Oh dear me….too much food is how you can go wrong!!!
Holy cow – will you look at that food? We can barely finish the pork knuckle for heaven’s sakes! We ask for the meat and cheese platter to go – don’t think they normally have “doggie bags” because they give us this flat plate thing and a ripped up plastic bag – oh well – we’re taking it home. It is not going to waste!!!
Meanwhile – the whole bill –food and drink – only comes to $20US. Unbelievable! And to think it used to be much cheaper here!
So, totally sated, we manage to find our way to the Metro (new and different line and stop), transfer and get back to our hotel to hang out and digest!
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