September and October, 2023: We returned to Europe...
1. Conference in Cologne, Germany
David's first international conference since 2009 (he technically retired in 2012), giving both an invited presentation and a new research presentation.
The conference went well for him, but it felt "odd" for him. And a LOT of work! Very tiring. Not sure he wants to do any others.
Meanwhile, Michelle "played" in (and enjoyed!) Cologne.
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| Cologne's justifiably famous cathedral |
Unfortunately, it seemed everyone at the conference has respiratory infections. A couple days after the end of the conference, David came down with a bad cold (it wasn't COVID... we tested 2x).
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| Dinner at a favourite winery ("weingut") in Boppard on the Rhine River |
2. Bike & Boat trip on the Mosel River (7 nights)
In addition to a few days relaxing in towns on the Rhine River, we did a "bike & boat" trip (our 3rd) along the Mosel River. Joining us were our past cruising buddies (they sold their boat "Carousel" in 2021) David and Gillian.
David's cold didn't stop him from riding, (Didn't stop him from coughing a lot either. But it improved after a couple of days.)
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| The Mosel Bike & Boat route: Koblenz to Saarburg |
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| Our ship: MS Olympia |
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Lots of riding through vineyards
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| The riding was 95% FLAT! (Michelle, Gillian and Carousel-David...) |
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| Beilstein (where we visited in 2017) |
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| Roman Porta Nigra inTrier (a lovely small city) |
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| Trier is the birthplace of Karl Marx (here he's giving instructions to "Walk") |
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| Gillian, Michelle & Carousel-David watching the boats dock in Saarburg (our last stop) |
The bike riding was very easy and pleasant. E-bikes (which 3 of us had... Michelle had a normal bike) certainly not required. We had good weather for all but the last day (with rain waiting until we were finished biking).
We've now done 3 Bike & Boats (all by S&E Tours, booked through Eurocycle/Rad&Reisen). ALL were good, but we think we enjoy the "Inn-to-Inn" bike rides better (greater diversity overall, different/local dining options, etc) and it is time for a break from B&Bs....
Our last morning, we caught a very early train the Frankfurt Airport, for a flight to Greece....
3. More biking: Inn-to-Inn bike trip in the Dodecanese, Greece (13 nights)
We returned for our 3rd trip, organized by Omega Biking. As usual, we started in Kalavarda on Rhodes Island (where we stayed the 1st night and picked up our bikes). Then to Rhodes Town (1 night), Nisyros (2 nights), Mastichari (3 nights), Skala, Patmos (4 nights) and back to Rhodes Town (2 nights).
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| The Dodecanese |
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| 2023 Bike trip in the Dodecanese (solid red lines=biking; dashed red lines=ferries) |
We enjoyed our 2022 bike trip in the Dodecanese so much, we decided to return. This time we added the islands of Nisyros (a volcano island) and Patmos, along with a return to Mastichari on Kos.
Nisyros was tough riding (up then down into the volcano and return), but the small town of Mandraki lovely. Kos was good. Patmos was spectacular (we want to return).
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| Looking down at the crater on Nisyros |
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| Mandraki (Nisyros) central square |
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| Short stopover/ferry transfer at Pothia harbour (Kalymnos): a lively non-touristy city |
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| Our beach for swimming on Patmos |
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| View down towards Skala (Patmos) |
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| Patmos |
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| View up to Chora and its monastery (Patmos) |
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| An easy ride down from Chora |
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| Lunch time in Grikos, 2/3rds through our day's biking/sightseeing (Patmos) |
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| Skala, the port of Patmos |
Greece was good food, good wine, with some nice biking and spectacular views. As it was October, there were no large crowds (except in Patmos, where cruise ships visit for 4 hours -- easy to avoid the crowds as we knew the ship schedules). We didn't do as much biking as our previous trips, but we got enough exercise and enjoyed ourselves.
A return to Greece is definitely in the cards.
For more photos of our 2023 Greece biking, click here
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