Tour d'Afrique Ltd.

The Amber and Iron Routes Meet

Where in the world is Ljubljana? Travel writer Abi King asked that question recently on her travels from Istanbul to Berlin. She has embarked on a train journey for InsideTravelLab called the #IronRoute.

Here is how she describes it:

“#IronRoute is a rail trip from Istanbul to Berlin that aims to explore the theme of “east” and “west” as it used to apply to Europe, while also getting a taste of those places as they are today.”

Read more at InsideTravelLab…

The Amber Route is no stranger to the themes of ‘east’ and ‘west.’ Starting in St. Petersburg, we spend the majority of our time in the eastern Europe. The answer to Abi’s question is that Ljubljana is in Slovenia, and it’s the capital of this Eurozone nation and our last rest day before our arrival at the finish in Venice.

I remember Ljubljana well. If I were to describe it, I would call it old, yet modern, and a dynamic, yet inviting place. In our inaugural Amber Route adventure, I visited Ljubljana Castle which dates back to 1112 A.D. It has seen a lot over the centuries and now the renovated castle is a popular upscale dining spot and event hall for weddings and other celebrations – or just a great place to view the city below.

I also strolled through old town and its narrow streets, alongside its canals, and past the outdoor markets. This was our last taste of the ‘east’ as the next day we cruised downhill to the Italian coastline. East meant many different things to us along the way as we cycled through a great stretch of it from St. Petersburg. Take a moment and peruse through some of the posts from last year to see what surprises eastern Europe had for us.

Stewart recounts his harrowing first day of cycling!

Paul on exploring Estonia

Me in the Latvian Bicycle Museum

Five Things I remember about the Amber Route – Paul McManus

Latvian Bike Museum

A whirlwind of activity has slowly settled into a daily routine of constant small tasks. Managable tasks that allow the odd moment to relax, have a beer, and maybe even ride my bike. Yes, cycling for the tour staff is never a given, but an occassional reprieve from the daily routine of ensuring the tour progresses on schedule and that everyone is finding their way each day, is a welcome event.

On one of our brief reprieves Bonny (new TdA chef extraordinaire) and I chose the day into Latvia to get on our bikes. The night before had involved some last minute route changes that were scouted by Paul and Gergo (nice work guys!). Instead of 125 km with 12 km of corrugated dirt roads, it was to be 90 km and a simpler entry into the Latvian capital, Riga.

Along the way, Gergo had mentioned that we could visit a cycling museum. hmmm, Sounds cool, but as with many things on tour, there is an overload of sights and sounds and places to visit along the route.. so I wasn't too fussed at that stage whether I made it there or not. But early in the morning, riding sweep, we came across the rear peloton, having their morning coffee break, which comes after their morning pee break, and map check, and precedes the morning snack stop, pastry interlude... They are on a mission - cycle to Venice and make full use of the daylight.

We stopped, had a coffee, and the rear peloton departed, just as we ordered our second cappucino... we had learned a few things from them. We were in Saulkrasti, and besides the posters advertising the annual jazz festival currently underway, there was a tourist map that hightlight, none other than, the Saulkrastu Velosipedu Musejs. GREAT! and its only a couple kilometers up the road and along our route.

We downed our coffee, and after a short peruse of the beach we set out in search. 3 km down the road, we found it. A modest house, with a garage in the back, facing the main road. We approached and there was no immediate indication that anything was happening.. maybe its closed, maybe its lame and not worth our time, but we pushed through the initial resistance, rounded the corner and through the back gate that lead to the yard. A man my age popped his head up from behind a car and offered to show us around. Behind the house, the once car garage had long since been taken over by an exhaustive collection of Latvian Bicycle history spanning likely a century. Though a modest setting, the museum space had been passionately organized and arranged with care. Sign boards (in Latvian) were displayed next to most pieces, a full wall was filled with head badges - the branding of a bike on its headtube - while another wall was filled with artistic chain rings, stylized and intricate, although maybe not light weight or as efficient as the modern versions. The next aisle over had the oldest bicycles in his collection - a Penny fairthing style "big wheel", bicycles with front headlights powered by candles, and kersene of all things!

Our guide was Guntis, the son of the museums curator. He explained how in its heyday, Latvia had been a big manufacturer and exporter to its regional neighbours - Estonia, Russia, Finland, and more. What also impressed me was that this was a Latvian bike collection, the concept seemed to have always been focussed on that. Surely during the Soviet era this might have been the only option, but he has obviously stuck to this appraoch. Latvian bicycles from various companies and desingers, how added their own flair and innovation seemingly in parallel with what was being produced at that time in North America and the rest of Europe.

In another corner of the musuem, he had recreated, to the best information he had, what he envisioned a bicycle mechanic's worshop would have looked like in the early 20th century. Based mainly on the historical photos he had, the workshop included the tools, the spares, and the work benches.

All in all it was a facinating collection, I could go on, and I will at some point, but another day has just finished and there's more to come tomorrow, but for me, after a great morning on the bike, the Bicycle Museum in Saulkrasti was a extraordinary experience and one of the highlights of our trip so far.

Please check it out yourself.
www.velomuseum.tk

Posted July 22, 2010 by Shanny Hill
Latvia | Tour Update

Amber Route Ready to Roll!

Less than a year ago the Amber Route Tour, a bicycle expedition from St. Petersburg, the Venice of the North, to Venice of the South in Italy, was a concept in Henry Gold's brain. At the same time, Rob, our web designer was hard at work building our new DreamTour approach for creating adventurous new tours.

So once the architecture was ready, and the DreamTour concept was ready to be displayed, the Amber Route was presented as the test case. The big question as with any new idea was "will it work"?

Well, here we are less than four months before cyclists from 10 countries will be standing in their bicycle clothes in front of the Hermitage museum taking pictures at the start of the Amber Route. The next 42 days will take them through nine countries and will end when we sail by the Palace of the Doges on our way to the hotel and the celebratory meal in Venice.

For those of you who want to learn more about the Amber Route, please see our new permanent page on the website or click here to create your own DreamTour!

The new Amber Route page has the route and pricing, and you can follow the tour's progress through this blog, the photo gallery, and see the participants in the tour in the rider profiles area. Or if you are ready to join for the full tour or for 2 - 3 weeks, click here to register now.

Flickr photo of Venice by McPig

Posted March 15, 2010 by Shanny Hill
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