If you belong to the group of people who like to ride a bike and drink wine, there is just a right place for you to visit. You can even combine these two great activities together and that is exactly what I and my girlfriend did in Hustopeče, South Moravia, Czech Republic.
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This even is called ‘Krajem André’ which means tour of an André region. Cycling and wine tours have a long history in the region best known for its cute villages with dozens of wine cellars and bike trails connecting basically all of them. This was my second time spending weekend in South Moravia, but first time on a bicycle. And I must say it was a great choice. In the morning you pay a fee of 100 Czech crowns (3, 50 Euro) and make a registration where you get a small glass for wine and a map of the route. In the morning I thought it was going to be more about wine tasting and less about bike riding, but unfortunately I was wrong.
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There is a start at 9 am and all the riders must leave until 12. Once you reach a cellar or winery written on the map you taste a wine and get a stamp. In total you need to visit 9 different stamp points in 8 villages, each with different wine. If you want to taste or drink more wine you can simply ask for more or buy a cup of wine or a whole bottle to go. As I mentioned earlier, it was more riding that I was expecting. In total it was 40 kilometers, but in our case it was around 47 km because we got a bit lost and after 25 minute riding in the forest we ended up in the same village like before. It didn’t make us that happy, but at least we got to see a really nice forest trail.
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On the way we were stopped by a man offering ‘first aid’ in this case it was a homemade alcohol from almonds. Once we were done with a really tasty shot of moonshine a horse carriage stopped by and started to offer a white wine to everyone. It was a really nice touch from organizers. At this point all the girls could get a special stamp, but only on the ass or chest and so my girlfriend Maria was stamped on the ass, as you can see on picture.
All the villages had something different to offer. My two favorites were stops number 5 and 6. Village number 5, Kobylí had an amazing food waiting for us. Once we tasted wine, we moved to try some local cooked and baked specialities. Kobylí except for wine is also known for apricots. Ladies in typical village dresses prepared many different goodies for our stomachs. To wash it down there was an Apricot beer, which I drank for the first time in my life and was actually pretty good, even though some Czech men were strictly against this type of beer.
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My second favorite place was stop number 6 and village Bořetice. Our wine stop was situated on the street with beautiful architecture and some cool house decorations like ‘embassy of Singapore’ or ‘Embassy of Canada’ etc. Along the street there were many terraces where you can taste the wine and enjoy the magnificent views of surrounding area.
After tasting very good homemade wine, collecting all of our stamps and getting lost in the forest, finally after 9 hours we arrived to the finish line. When going to South Moravia we didn’t have any precise plan which places or wine cellars to visit. We just wanted to ride bikes and go from cellar to cellar just like anybody else does it. ‘Krajem André’ was an experience what we were exactly looking for, but just much more fun with approx. 400 more people.
