Doubilet-Benson Europe Bike Trip 2011: King and Queen for a Day

We had a wonderful, though hilly, 69 mile ride today (Wednesday) from Ostroda to Reszel, Poland. Our original itinerary for today called for a 63 mile ride from Ostroda to a different destination, but we re-routed ourselves a few days ago to avoid major, overly busy highways. The re-routing had a double benefit. First, we were on quiet (& well-paved) roads all day today, traveling in the countryside and through several beautiful small towns. Second, we re-booked ourselves into a spectacular castle converted into a four-star hotel (foregoing the cost of the room that we had originally booked for tonight). The hotel, Zamek Reszel Kreativ Hotel, has been rated one of the top ten castle hotels in the world by Gayot.com (a site that rates restaurants and hotels, and describes itself as "the guide to the good life"). We have a spacious brick-lined room, reached by climbing up one flight of a windy castle staircase and overlooking a courtyard.

When we planned our itinerary several months ago, we selected destination towns about 55-60 miles apart that had lodging places, and then reserved a room at what appeared to be the best hotel in each town. "Best" can be highly variable, especially when staying in small towns. Most of our hotels have been quite nice (though none as special as today's), some have been adequate, and a few barely passable. Breakfasts are usually included, but these too vary widely in quality and selection. One Polish hotel even offered only instant coffee as part of its included breakfast, and charged extra for real coffee (which we purchased). Some hotels, especially in Germany, had no one onsite but left a key for us and a phone number to call if we had problems. The one constant, regardless of the hotel quality or location, is that all offer wireless internet (usually free).