 Testimonials
Dear Friends, We arrived back from our Czech Dream Tour, which you so expertly
arranged, filled with unbelievably rich and pleasant memories
that will be with our family for many years to come. The itinerary
you prepared was brilliant, as were all our accommodations.
However, the most enriching aspect of the organization of
the trip through Moravia and Bohemia was our guide, driver,
and guardian angel Barbora Summers. You were "right on"
when you chose Barbora as the person who could best guide
us through a very personal experience in a country that my
husband had left when he was a very young man... but the "progress"
of which he has followed closely for the past 60 years. We
were not at all disappointed in what we found in this beautiful
country with its gentle yet highly spirited people. The fact
that Barbara had grown up and spent most of her life in Moravia
enriched our conversations and knowledge of the country and
its people. She is indeed an asset to your organization and
we are grateful that we had the pleasure of her company and
the benefit of her incredible knowledge and insights. We consider
her a national treasure for the Czech Republic....
By the way, our grandsons did, in fact, get accommodations
in Prague and joined us for the final three days of the trip,
making this the "dream tour" we had envisioned.
We will be in touch with you by phone next week some time
to recount to you the details of our adventures. We thank
you for all your inspiration and patience in helping to make
this adventure so spectacular... even the weather was perfect!!!
We will recommend this experience to our friends and Unitarian
Universalists...
Best regards,
JEANNE and Charles (and Livia, who can now recount the details
of the Battle of Austerlitz - Slavkov - and explain exactly
how it was that Napoleon won this battle with such an inferior
number of troops!!!)
Dear Thomas,
Our 10 day walk with you through the magnificent countryside
of Moravia and Bohemia has been the highlight of our year.
It was just so fantastic and wonderful. You looked after us
every step of the way and the organisation was so perfect
and friendly.
With many best wishes
Rosalie and Willem Stronck
Hi Thomas,
We want to take this opportunity to express how much we enjoyed
our bike trip from Vienna to Prague. We have always planned
our own bicycle trips so we were a little apprehensive.
We knew we were in good hands, when Thomas met us at the
City Hotel Stockerau discussed and turned over in duplicate
all itinerary, maps, equipment, etc., for our 13 day bike
trip. Our accommodations were first class and in the most
interesting parts of the old cities. Our luggage was always
there to greet us when we opened up our door. The food and
service where ever we ate was exceptional, and many of the
menus are in English. People are friendly and always willing
to be helpful. The Greenways Tour information kit was so thorough
we had few questions.
We especially enjoyed Prague, it is a beautiful city with
much to offer the visitor. We especially liked being routed
on the hiking trails the bikes you supplied were perfect,
we never could have experienced this diversification if we
had taken our own road bikes.
Thanks for a great trip.
Marilyn and Bud Maillet
Dobri den Tomas!
First I will discuss our experience with your company, then
the location (general area), comments regarding the routes
and finally specifics regarding accomodations, meals and suggestions
for improvement.
I was most impressed with the service that you provided.
At every opportunity you exceeded our expections. A few examples:
Upon our arrival you gave us a prepaid phone card. A great
idea, and totally unexpected. Our Hotel in Telc was not only
on the square, but we had their best room. Our special requests,
a customized trip with double daily distance, our bike cases,
were I know, more trouble than you expected and so many other
issues were all dealt with courtesy and efficiency and always
with a smile and a great attitude.
I think that you could give a number of well run American
companies a lesson in customer service.
Of all the bicycling trips we've done, this is could be the
best location of them all for the following reasons:
Scenery is spectacular, farmland, flowers, mountains and
Valley's, all greens and yellows as far as the eye can see.
Clean, not a bit of trash on the roads or roadsides anywhere.
Car safe, the first three days we were in Moravia (the Southern
most state) riding along the southern border for a good part
of the time. (with Austria) Much of the time we were on military
roads built by the Russians to keep the Czech's in. There
are a lot of these roads, and not just along the border. They
have been converted to what is now called the "Czech
Greenway." No cars, just an occasional farm tractor,
bikes and hikers. They are mostly all paved and in very good
condition. When we were on roads, we found the cars to be
bicycle friendly, many people use bikes as their basic transportation.
People are friendly enough, although almost no one speaks
English. (possibly not a language the USSR promoted in the
school systems) Some speak German, maybe because East Germany
was part of the Communist world.
Value, outside of Prague a dinner entree, for instance, is
usually $3 to $5. A half liter of great Pilsen beer, on draft
is probably another $.50.
The beer, locally brewed in many towns and always good. And
finally,
The towns and Castles, similar to Austria, there are castles
all over the place that are 500 to 1,000 years old and towns
with town squares as pretty as any we saw in Italy.
The routes were about the right distances for most people.
(Your normal routes, not our double routes) Optional additional
loops for those who want more cycling would be a plus, and
are usually offered by other tour operators.
Thanks for a great trip!
Tom Sparks
Dear Tomas,
Thank you so much for organising such a brilliant trip for
Paul and me - we enjoyed ourselves immensely and thought you
did an excellent job of organisation, and coping with all
our changes! We particularly loved the activity parts of the
Greenways trip, the hiking and cycling and canoeing, and we
also loved Cesky Krumlov, as well as very much appreciating
the other towns on the route.
The American group, Linda and friends, we kept bumping into,
and they were great fun and really enjoyed themselves too.
They were lapping up all the sights and activities!
Many thanks again for all your hard work, and very best wishes,
Sue Carpenter
Dear friends,
Its taken me a while, but here is the letter I promised about
the recent trip to the CR. I had previously been to Prague
but other than that, knew very little about the CR and therefore
did not have any idea about what to expect. I was pleasantly
surprised by what we saw!
My sister, Thelma, and I had two and a half wonderful days
of seeing the sights in Vienna on our own. The night we met
Barbara and the other tour members, none of us knew what was
in store for us -- the sights we would see and how well acqainted
we would all become as a result of the small group.
Once we embarked on our visit of those wonderful smaller
cities of Moravia and Bohemia, I did not miss the big city
of Vienna. By the time we got to Prague, we had seen so many
beautiful town squares and buildings that Prague was not so
impressive. There were too many people trying to see the same
thing. That really made me appreciate the great time we had
had on our journey between Vienna and Prague. So what did
I like?
the small size of the group
staying in the smaller hotels and pensions
eating Czech food
visiting so many fantastic chateaus and churches
incorporating some nature aspects in the tour
two wonderful guides
a good bus driver
Having two guides for eleven tourists was a definite luxury.
This allowed us to have more personal attention and for all
of us to get acquainted with each other and with our guides.
Keeping the group together when touring sights is much easier
when the group is small.
I really enjoyed the hotels and pensions we stayed in. It
was always exciting to me to see what the accommodations would
be like for the next place as they were all different. I did
not miss the big hotel amenities. I know not everyone in the
group shared this attitude. Some did not like the places where
the towels were small and weren't soft (because they had been
line dried). This was not a problem for me. All the places
were clean and pleasant. The pension outside Trebon was a
treat--the setting was lovely and the owner was very interesting
to talk with.
I appreciated the effort made to take us to interesting places
to eat so we could sample the Czech food. It was good of Barbara
and Ladislav to help us with our food choices--I think we
gave them a hard time at some meals with all our questions
but they were always most patient. The only suggestion I would
make about the meals is to not include the price of the evening
meal with the trip price and let people pay their own evening
meals as well as lunch. Even with only eleven people, there
was a lot of variation in what people wanted to eat, with
some people ordering large quantities and others not.
I was overwhelmed by the number and beauty of the chateaus
and churches. I had no idea such places existed in the CR
confesssing my ignorance!). Since my first trip to Europe,
I have been enchanted with castles and churches so this trip
certainly satisfied my desires to see them and they were all
wonderful. I couldn't pick a favorite as each had its own
special beauty.
Having the hiking option available turned out to be nice
for some in our group and added a different quality to the
tour as we iscussed the days experience with them. It was
also nice for the rest of us to take the hike to the overlook
to see Hardegg, to ride the lift to the top of Klet and to
tour the fish pond area near Trebon.
We couldn't have done any better selecting guides Barbara
and Ladislav. They were both sources of much information and
a lot of fun. We appreciated Ladislav's quiet humor, Barbara's
ready smile, and the patience of both of them with thousands
of questions and the idiosyncracies of eleven people.
Our bus driver was excellent at maneuvering that bus and
trailor! He was good to help us with our lugguage and occasionally
contributed interesting stories (translated by the guides).
Telc, Slavonice, Trebon, Cesky Krumlov -- what beautiful
places! I could hardly believe my eyes as I stood in the town
squares and looked around. This was a wonderful trip and I
am glad I had the opportunity to experience these places.
We even had a bonus as we were able, with the Aksamits, to
have Lasislav accompany us to the villages near Prague where
our grandparents were from.
Thelma and I appreciated all your help in planning this trip--you
were so good to answer all our questions and be patient with
our attempts to get our payments to you!
Sincerely,
Eula Megli
Dear Tom,
Just a quick note of thanks for the excellent job you did
in putting together an itinerary for our five days in the
Czech Greenway. We had an absolutely wonderful time, and felt
very comfortable thanks to the detailed information, maps,
suggestions, etc. you provided.
If we can ever be of help to you as a reference or otherwise,
please let us know. Likewise, if you should make it to San
Francisco sometime, do look us up.
Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Tom and Nancy Gille
Tom,
Summit's Czech Greenway tour is an unique way to experience
the beautiful country, the friendly people, the great beer,
hearty food, and unspoiled places in Czech. An exceptional
value.
Frank H. CA.
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Greenways
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