Biking through the Baltic Coast and Rhine Valley
We went bikepacking in the summer, as one does. I won't lie, it's my favorite way of traveling. It's fast enough to get you far enough within a day, but it's much easier to slow down and stop than it would be in a car or a train. Plus, and I can't underline this enough, I just enjoy biking. So what better way to spend my time than cycling with a camera?
In the Rhine Valley, I had my Minolta Riva 75w (that's the less sharp film photos in this post), my Olympus 35rc (the sharper film photos), and my iPhone (no bangers this time). On the Baltic Coast, I had a Canon T70 with a 50mm lens and a Pentax Espio 928 (point & shoot with a variable focal length, better than the Minolta but a bit bigger).
This summer, we went to Alsace and the Rhine Valley, and — on a separate trip — continued our tour of the Baltic coast.
The Rhine Valley was an entirely new region to us, and it really is great for beginners for family biking trips. There are Eurovelo trails, the route along the Rhine itself is basically flat, the infrastructure is great on both sides of the border (or actually, all three sides of the border), the people are nice, and oh yeah, if you're into that — Alsace is a land of wine.
It's a lot of fun to see how the traditions, antiquity and modernity intertwine. Colmar and Basel are my personal standouts on that front, even if the photos don't necessarily show it. Still, when you're in the region, you can't help but stumble upon picturesque villages that, if not for the cars, look like they haven't changed for hundreds of years.
As a bonus: when you're biking long distance, you can kinda indulge on the food. And in Alsace it's [chef's kiss].
Our second trip of the summer was the coast. As always, Stralsund was a highlight. It's an old Hanza port, crucial for sea traffic out of and into the Baltic.
As far as cyling, Germany never disappoints. Super bike-friendly, with lots of not-so-croweded areas, brilliant train connections which let us do a one-way ride, rather than a look or a backtrack (which means more sightseeing time), tasty and hearty food, and apres-bike beers (either mitt or ohne Spaß, whatever you like). I'm actually unsure if I should keep heaping this praise, becasuse if more people know how cool it is over there, it'll stop being a secret.
