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. 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 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 trip from Vienna to Prague. We have always planned our own trips so we were a little apprehensive.

We knew we were in good hands, when Thomas met us at the hotel and turned over in duplicate all itinerary, maps, equipment, etc., for our 13 day 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.

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. Many 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 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.
The first three days we were in Moravia (the Southern most state) along the southern border (with Austria) for a good part of the time. Much of the time we were on military roads built 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.
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 about $5. A half liter of great Pilsen beer, on draft is probably another $1.
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. Optional additional loops for those who want to do more would be a plus.

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 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 every 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,

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.

I had a remarkable self-guided tour last summer (2019) in the Czech Republic! Took the 8-day Greenway tour connecting small towns. Absolutely beautiful and would highly recommend. You really get away from the crowds. Best part, they arranged and set this up for me in only two days after I made contact (I'm from Boise, Idaho and was touring in Europe). Tom and his crew over achieved! Thank you.

Rod Linja

Read more reviews on our walking tours at walkingcentraleurope.com