Afternoon: Board an overnight flight to Germany.

Morning: Arrival at Berlin Tegel Airport and transfer by coach to the hotel in Dessau.

Lunch: Explore local fare on your own.

Afternoon: We’ll fit your bicycle to you to assure a safe, comfortable program.

Dinner: Hotel dining room.

Lodging: Days Inn Dessau

Meals Included: Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: After a hearty breakfast, we will present a lecture on safety, rules of the road and the IBT corner system. We’re ready to bicycle and our destination is the Bauhaus Foundation, where we’ve arranged a lecture on the Bauhaus school of design started here in 1925 by architect Walter Gropius.

Lunch: Explore local fare on your own.

Afternoon: Having renewed our energies with lunch, we’ll continue to the Hugo Junkers Aircraft Museum for a lecture and field trip. The museum will give us insight into the versatility of Junker’s works, from home construction to aircraft. Following our visit to the museum, we’ll enjoy an excursion to the old town of Dessau before returning to the hotel.

Dinner: Hotel dining room.

Evening: Learn about your fellow travelers at group introductions.

Lodging: Days Inn Dessau

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: Our bicycling route will take us to the tranquil Dessau-Worlitz Garden Realm, created over 200 years ago by Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz of Anhalt, a social reformer and champion of the Age of Enlightenment. We’ll take a field trip to this beautiful 18th century English-style park for a lecture on Wörlitz Castle before continuing to Lutherstadt-Wittenberg.

Lunch: Explore local fare on your own.

Afternoon: We’ve scheduled a lecture and field trip to the Luther House and Castle Church to acquaint you with this town known as the cradle of the Reformation. It was in Wittenberg that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the castle church door, attacking the Roman Catholic Church’s policy of selling indulgences.

Dinner: Hotel dining room.

Lodging: Best Western Stadtpalais Wittenberg

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: Our cycling continues along the scenic Elbe Radweg (bicycle path) through picturesque countryside. We’re never far from the river as we follow the winding paths through pastures and tiny villages. Along the way, we’ll pass a restored grain mill that is seemingly standing guard over an out-of-service cable drawn ferry near the village of Elster.

Lunch: Explore local fare on your own.

Afternoon: We should arrive in Torgau late afternoon. Before dinner, we have arranged a lecture on life in the former GDR.

Dinner: Local restaurant.

Lodging: Central Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: Before departing this morning, we’ve arranged a lecture and field trip of the historic Renaissance town center of Torgau. In the 16th century, Torgau was the political center of the Reformation and the favored residence of the electors of Saxony. Today, it is home to Hartenfels Castle with its famed spiral staircase, the Grosser Wendelstein.

Lunch: We continue to the town of Belgern, where you can explore local fare on your own in the old market square.

Afternoon: Our route takes us south to the village of Moritz, where our hotel has a picturesque view of the river.

Dinner: Hotel dining room.

Lodging: Hotel Moritz an der Elbe

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: The Elbe is to our right as we continue along the bike path to the beautiful city of Meissen, known the world over for its porcelain bearing the trademark of crossed blue swords. We’ll be bicycling through an area known as the Saxon Wine Road, with vineyards lining the slopes of the valley.

Lunch: Explore local fare on your own.

Afternoon: Following lunch, you'll have time to explore Castle Hill, Meissen Cathedral and the old market square. Then we're off for a lecture at Meissen Porcelain Works, where we shall visit the demonstration workshop and exhibition hall. We continue to Dresden, the capital of Saxony and our home for the next two nights.

Dinner: Hotel dining room.

Lodging: Hotel Elbflorenz Dresden

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: Often referred to as “Florence on the Elbe," Dresden is a city of Baroque architecture, music and culture. We’ve planned a lecture and walking field trip with a local historian to introduce you to this marvelous city.

Lunch: Explore local fare on your own.

Afternoon: Free for independent exploration of the many architectural treasures of the Old Town such as the Semper Opera House, the Zwinger Palace, the Green Vault or the reconstructed Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady).

Dinner: Hotel dining room.

Lodging: Hotel Elbflorenz Dresden

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: Before departure, we'll enjoy a lecture on the World War II Bombing of Dresden. We are entering one of the most scenic areas of the Elbe River Valley as our journey continues southeast of Dresden into “Saxon Switzerland," where the scenery is almost as dramatic as the Alps. This area of rugged cliffs and bizarre sandstone rock formations extends along the Elbe River between Pirna, Germany and the city of Dìèin in the Czech Republic. The stone formations are at least 100 million years old and the soft stone has been sculpted over time by wind and water into dramatic columns of stone. Don’t worry about bicycling up mountains however, as our route follows the flat bicycle path along the Elbe River.

Lunch: Explore local fare on your own.

Afternoon: Our destination for the night is the spa resort of Bad Schandau. On arrival, you may want to enjoy a ride on the unique 50-meter high freestanding elevator, built in 1904, for a wonderful panoramic view of the Elbe River Valley.

Dinner: Hotel dining room.

Lodging: Park Hotel Bad Schandau

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: Following a healthy breakfast, we’ll take a coach to the Saxon Switzerland National Park for a lecture and field trip to the Basteibrücke, (a bastion cliff formation), high above the Elbe River with fantastic views of the surrounding countryside. After returning to the hotel, we’ll mount our bicycles once again and say “Auf Wiedersehen” (goodbye) to Germany and “Dobrý den” (hello) to the Czech Republic. You might want to practice your Czech language before the tour so that you are able to converse with the natives along the way!

Lunch: Explore local fare on your own.

Afternoon: We’ll encounter a few “undulations” in this part of the Czech Republic as we make our way to Decin, where the castle overlooking the Elbe dominates the city. The basic unit of currency in the Czech Republic is the koruna (Kž) and it is a good idea to have a few in your pocket. At lunch today, we can exchange your remaining Euros or Dollars into Korunas

Dinner: Hotel dining room.

Lodging: Hotel Vladimir

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: Our journey continues as we make our way along the Elbe to Litomerice, where we’ll visit the town square to view the variety of well-maintained buildings from the Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance periods.

Lunch: Explore local fare on your own.

Afternoon: Just outside the city is the village of Terezín. We’ve arranged a lecture and field trip to the notorious camp Terezín (Theresienstadt in German), the “model” Jewish ghetto, where a cruel trick by Heinrich Himmler duped the world and left thousands to die. Built originally as a fortress in 1780 by Joseph II to defend Bohemia from Prussian incursions, it never served its original purpose. Instead, it was taken over during World War II by the occupying Nazi forces as a transit camp for political prisoners, Jews, Gypsies and gays. Today, it is the site of two fortresses, numerous memorials, a ghetto museum and a Jewish cemetery.

Dinner: Hotel dining room.

Lodging: Amber Hotel U Sv Vavrince

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: Our last day on the bicycle! Our morning ride will take us to the town of Melník, situated at the confluence of the Elbe and the Moldau rivers, for an excursion to the Renaissance Lobkowitz Château with its 13th-century wine cellar.

Lunch: Explore local fare on your own.

Afternoon: After lunch in Melník and an emotional farewell to the bicycles, we board a bus for Prague (or Praha, as the Czechs call it). We arrive late afternoon with time to explore this magnificent city before dinner.

Dinner: Hotel dining room.

Lodging: Hotel Meteor Plaza

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: We take you on a walking field trip for a lecture on the history of Prague. To describe the capital of the Czech Republic would take a lot of pages. We suggest you obtain a copy of Frommer’s Prague and the Best of the Czech Republic, or a similar guide, and read about Prague before getting there. It is a city perfectly suitable for walking around.

Lunch: Explore local fare on your own.

Afternoon: Enjoy a free afternoon to explore Prague or relax at a sidewalk café in the heart of the city.

Dinner: At a unique old-world Czech restaurant in the heart of the Old Town.

Lodging: Hotel Meteor Plaza

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel dining room.

Morning: Transfer to the Airport for return flight.

Meals Included: Breakfast