Our first port was Warnemunde, Germany. Neither of us knew too much about this town, but I had done a little research before we left home. We were leaving our buddies today and doing our own thing. We wanted to see the area by bicycle, so we walked the short walk into town. It was very easy from the cruise port, and a local gave me exact directions (including pictures) before we left home. You cross over this adorable little bridge and you are in the little town of Warnemunde. I would LOVE to come back here some day. Along the water front there are many shops and restaurants. TONS of seafood and fish since this is a big fishing community.
The streets were all cobblestone, and the are CUTE... but on a bike... wow... not so cute :)First stop was locating our bike rental place. And sure enough it was right where my photo guide led me. We had a great conversation with the store owner, Sven, and soon we had our bikes and we were off to explore this amazing area.
Our first stop took us along the boardwalk. After the canal area it opens up onto a huge beach area. There were 100s of these little shacks everywhere. SO wild! They look like they are closed up with some pallet type thing, and they are all numbered, so I am assuming you rent them and we saw a couple of guys come over with a dolly and put them in an area where you want. Strange... the pallet type thing comes off... two drawers pull out for foot rests and you sit under the awning. You can see how busy the beach season is here. This was the middle of JULY!
Next we head down the boardwalk... figuring we would just see where it goes and all of a sudden we are biking through the woods of Germany. This was the most amazing ride I have ever been on... if I could have bottled the experience, I would. The ocean was crashing on the right of this picture... but you were totally surrounded in the forest. I later found out that we were on the Baltic Sea Bike Trail that runs for 467 miles. I would love to spend a vacation biking this trail. Every mile or two there would be a turn off that advertised some type of Pub or restaurant that was down a few yards by the ocean. It was almost completely flat and so gorgeous that this picture does not do it justice. If you ever have a chance to get to Warnemunde, I highly suggest biking this trail. Anyone can do it.
Here I am stopping off the trail to have a glass of wine at some Greek place overlooking the ocean. It was such a fantatic day! It was overcast most of the day, but perfect weather for biking.
We had to stop before we went back to the ship for some good coffee. The ship had horrible coffee on this cruise. The specialty coffee shop and all the restaurants. NOT good! So... I saw someone drinking THIS off the side of the road and I turned the bike around and went back. Oh soooo good!
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