I
fancy myself a backpack-carrying, adventure-seeking traveler, at home in
hostels and on hiking trails. But there I was, on a luxury cruise ship, sipping
wine with silver-haired foxes, fox-trotting with male escorts in the ballroom,
and escorting myself on a tapas-like tour around Europe, sampling cities for a
day via ship, bus, foot and bike.
It
was the biking aspect that had led to my unlikely sojourn on the ship, Crystal
Cruises ' Serenity. Months before, my cyclist-enthusiast ears perked up
when I heard about the cruise, with biking-based itineraries in several port
cities.
The
regimented itinerary of a cruise with its scheduled ports of call, and the idea
of spending that much time on a ship, wasn't all that appealing to me, but the prospect of
biking around a few different European cities was. So I packed my sneakers,
some cute bike shorts and an open mind.
Embarking
in Dover, England, I was sure I was the only passenger hauling a backpack on
board when the butler assigned to my cabin floor did a double-take at the sight
of my luggage. But after a restful sleep, rocked by the waves of the Atlantic
and the gentle hum of the ship's engine, thoughts of hostels were but a distant memory
On
the first of my 10-day adventure hitting seven cities in four countries, my
cousin and fellow cruiser Olivia Female, I, and a few other cyclists biked
around Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, on cruisers we were given. We
traversed the quaint, compact island, two-wheeling by fawn-hued cows,
primary-colored fishing boats and World War II bunkers.
The
next day we sampled wine on an evening walking tour in Bordeaux, France, as we
learned about local history. In the hopes of working off some of that vino, I
pedaled around the cobblestoned streets and lush wineries of Saint-Emilion the
following day. Continue
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