day 27 - Ostrava to Katowice

Day 27
July 29th

Another rainy day, another riding day. We left Ostrava and our refuge on the hilltop and headed up to Poland. The trio rode quite fast, as is becoming habit in the last week. The roads are in bad condition, the drivers are reckless, there are trucks loaded with coal passing by all day, but we move on.

From an industrial city in the Czech Republic, we moved to an industrial city in Poland. We came to Katowice and met our local organizer, Matt, who is the incarnation of organization, and also Greg, former Erasmus student in Portugal. We settled in at the Karol Adamiecki dormitories, got a great deal on pizzas for dinner and still had time to join a birthday party on the upper floor.

Tiago brought Andi back to the group and we began preparing our plan for tomorrow: a visit to the Auschwitz Museum. A decisive start for this stage of the ride.

PS: the photographers were on strike today...

day 26 - Ostrava

Day 26
July 28th

As mentioned, all our events were cancelled. There are, apparently, not enough of us. So we decided to take the day to catch up on some work, and ended up beating a new record: 8.5 hours sitting in the same pub. They had food, beer, coffee and wifi. We couldn't ask for more.

After trying so hard to get a migraine, we were joined for dinner by Martina, one of our hosts in Brno. This entourage begins to orbit around us, meeting the group at more than one point. We hope it keeps happening.

Time to pack the kofola and get ready. We're entering Poland in the morning!

day 25 - Potstat to Ostrava

Day 25
July 27th

This morning our good doctor Thomas had to leave us and return to Austria. One big loss for the group, which is now down to three cyclists, and for Georgi in particular, who already misses his broken English buddy.

Another day without much to tell, we rode up and down the steep hills of Northeastern Czech Republic, always under the rain. The highest point of the day's trip was arriving at the highest point in the city of Ostrava, where our dormitory is located.

We were welcomed by our ESN hosts, Veronika and Michaela, checked in, had a shower and a nice meal. Then we learned a few things about Ostrava, always under the form of "Ostrava has the most [insert adjective] [insert name] in [insert another name that makes the statement true]". As we went out and took a tour of the city, we could actually confirm some of these statements, such as: the puppet theater is the most modern in the country; Stodolni street has the most bars and clubs per square inch; Czech karaoke is the strangest experience of our last week.

Stage F completed, nine more to go.

day 24 - Olomouc to Potstat

Our schedule in Olomouc was pretty tight. We started the day at the Palacký University, where we met with the Vice-Rector for International Relations, Jakob Dürr, and with the head of the International Relations Office, Yvona Vyhnánková. They had carefully read the Manifesto and took some time to discuss with us our concerns and the goals of this project.

We learned about the restructuring of the Czech Higher Education system and how well it turned out to match the Bologna changes. We were also presented with some facts and figures of the University and the city of Olomouc, along with a short History lesson on František Palacký. At the end of the meeting, we brought our Bike of Honour which was tested and signed by our hosts, both cyclists in their free time.

After a nice lunch with the whole ESN crew, we went to the City Hall, where we met Mayor Martin Novotný, notable for being the youngest person elected Mayor of a big city in the Czech Republic, and also for being the leader of a rock band. After we introduced ourselves, we explained our ideas, received words of encouragement for the challenges ahead and gave the GoCycle another spin.

Once the meetings were over, we went on a city tour, where we found an impressive architecture hiding behind the cover of a student city.

In order to shorten the way to Ostrava, we still had to cover some distance this afternoon. There was a lot of climbing, under rain, up to the small town of Potstat. We stayed at the local kindergarten and went out for dinner at the only place in town. We tried the local food, had a couple of beers and met a young man named Jan, who had to come and talk to us to practice his English skills. The fact is that, between all the meetings and events, we also enjoy talking to the locals, it lets us escape the routine - if we can call it that.

This was one of the longest days so far. We want to thank our local team for welcoming us on such a quick visit, we really enjoyed it!

You can see some more photos of our visit here.

day 23 - Brno to Olomouc

We began the morning meeting Deputy Mayor Jana Bohuňovská at the City Hall. It is important for us that the local government officials, especially in cities with so many students, support such projects and allow for more active citizenship from students and youth. After explaining the goals of our project, we received words of encouragement, a signature on our Manifesto and some reflectors to help keep us safe on the road.

Before departure we had time for some Portuguese coffee and we were joined by Georg, directly from Vienna to ride with us again, and by Martin, a local cyclist who showed us the best way out of the city and offered to help with contacts along our itinerary. Once again, we had a rainy day, but with such a small group we could stretch the day's ride to Olomouc.

After hours under the rain, we made it to the center of the city, where Barbora from the local ESN kindly welcomed us to her flat, which we instantly turned into a nomad camp. Without women in the cycling group, it's harder to remain civilized.

A short stop at the gyros and a not-so-long visit to the pub were enough to get all of us on sleeping mode. More than 100 km in the rain will wear anyone out.

day 22 - Brno

Day 22
July 24th

We had a meeting at the underground headquarters of ESN, at the Masarik University, with lots of food on the table again. We saw a presentation about beer (or was it about the Czech Republic?) and then a video about beer (or was it about Erasmus life?). Once again, we had a chance to talk about our goals, share experiences and then go for some beer.

We spent the afternoon playing a game incredibly similar to a city tour, only to end up at the train station, where Lukas and Ursi were beginning to think they would never make it back to Vienna. Given the low number of riders, we were all rooting for them to stay, but to no avail. Once they left, the city tour (or was it a game?) proceeded onto dinner time. We brought food for Julian and Tiago, who had left to work hours before, and continued with games until inappropriate hours.

It was a very easy going day with easy going people. Pity we have to leave, but there is still a lot of road ahead of us.

day 21 - Laa an der Thaya to Brno

Day 21
July 23rd

Our small and ever changing group left Laa and Austria, to add another flag to the pole. The Czech Republic now has the privilege to host Ride for your Rights!

With more merciful weather, we had a lunch break by the lakeside, where Julian decided to upset fishermen and scare little children by riding his unicycle (now finally accessible, thanks to Ferdinand's work).

The ride was comfortable, possibly because of yesterday's spa treat, and was crowned with the best reception we've had so far: the crew from ESN Brno were waiting for us at the dormitory with great snacks and the friendliest attitude we've encountered on our way. They really made us feel at home.

They took us out for dinner and drinks, with the promise of lots of fun for the break day. Looking forward!