In July of 2024 I did a 7 night tour with Backroads adventure travel.  Here is a review and breakdown of that adventure!

Here are some pictures from the trip: Backroads 2024

For those of you not familiar, Backroads tours is a luxury adventure travel company that offers worldwide biking, hiking, adventure tours that incorporate top notch hotels and river cruises.  In this instance, we were on AMA Waterways, the AMASonata.

To begin this trip, I took a private tour from Berlin with a stop in Dresden on the way to Prague.  This took around 4.5 hours.  You could also take the train or fly.

Once in Prague I checked into my hotel, Hotel Klarav a great hotel near Prague Castle. I always recommend this hotel first to people staying in Prague.

I stayed three nights in Prague, it ended up being one of my favorite cities in the world.  Absolutely fantastic.  While in Prague, I did a city tour on bike that included the Charles Bridge, Old town square with Tyn and St. Nicholas Churches. after riding around and seeing the sights, I met up with some of the other Backroads people to enjoy a local restaurant. The next day, a group of us did a walking tour that included Prague Castle!  Ask me about Prague!  Its full of adventure.

The first day of the Backroads trip departed the hotel first thing in the Morning.  The bus ride was about 90 minutes, we arrived at Tittling, Germany around noon.  Backroads had a beautiful lunch set up for us while they discussed safety and biking. After 26 miles of biking, we reached the ship in Vilshofen!

On May 19, I will start to make my way to Greece from Florida.  Many have been asking me about my day to day, so, Here is a nice layout.

The trip will be a working vacation as I am hosting an Explora Journeys cruise for Signature travel network.

Flying from Orlando saved me about $1000 on the flight, so, I will take Amtrak from Jacksonville (about $40) to the train station near MCO.  Ill stay at an airport hotel and just relax before my flight on the 20th.

I have a dual layover flight on Condor air (german operated airplane) with stops in Toronto and Frankfurt before arrival in Athens on the 21st at around 3pm.  

I decided it was best to get a private car from ATH to the city center, the ride is about 45 minutes or so.  That cost around $85.  You can also take a regular taxi for around $70 or the train starts at $15.

From the 21st to the 24th I will stay at a hotel in Athens called The Stanley, which I have booked for guests in the past with good review and feedback. I will have a full review of the hotel upon my return.

I decided to book a night tour dining and walking tour, which should be a great way to refresh my my memory of Athens, as I have not been since 2017.

Lets rundown a quick day by day pre cruise schedule: 

May 21 - Transport to Hotel, Evening food tour.

May 22 - City bike ride in the early afternoon and a food and wine tour at 5:30p.

May 23 - Yacht Tour.  This is a 10 hour yachting tour with lunch and drinks with stops at Agstri and Moni (swimming and relaxing)

May 24 - Boarding day.  In the morning I will do a walking tour with the Acropolis and museums.  Around 3pm, I will board the ship and prepare for my welcome party that evening abord the beautiful Explora I.

This cruise is a seven night Greek Isles cruise that will end in Turkey. Below will be a quick overview.

May 25 - mykonos. In the Day I will do a Catamaran with Project Expedition excursion providers.  That evening, I will visit a Greek farm.

May 26 - Patmos. Im doing an excursion with Explora called "The Spirit of Patmos" (Cave of St. John, Monastery and a Greek show.

May 27 - Volos. Hiking and photography with Explora.

May 28 - Thessaloniki - Tombs and Relic tour with Explora

May 29 - Kavala- Historical tour with Explora

May 30 - Much needed at Sea rest day.

May 31 - Disembark in Istanbul.

Istantbul - 

May 31- June 3. -  Check into the Ritus hotel in central Istanbul.

May 31 -  I have a full day.  after dropping my bags off, I will do a tour with Viator that will include lunch and a ferry ride to the asian side of the country.  That evening, I have a small group walking tour with Viator that includes rooftop dining and views.

June 1 - Im doing a full day tour of all the main sights in Istanbul (Blue Mosque ect) that will last around 8 hours with viator.  After that, I am visiting a Turkish traditional spa with Viator.

June 2 - Bosphorus Yacht Cruise with Asian Side that I booked with Shore excursions Group and then a traditional dinner show that I booked with Viator.

on June 3, I fly back to Jacksonville and 7am.

Feel free to post or ask any questions!

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