On Demand Tour VII - The Brooklyn Brownstone Bike Tour - From Sheik to Shining Chic

We begin with a ride over the Brooklyn Bridge, on its own bike path. As we admire the incredible panorama, we will learn the fascinating story of its construction and its place in feminist history!

Brooklyn Heights was once a thriving Arab immigrant neighborhood with many Lebanese Christians. While many have moved away, their shops and restaurants still remain. When we make a brief stop at Shahadi’s, you may very well feel you are in a middle eastern bazaar, even if the shoppers are not dressed like sheiks!

In very fashionable Brooklyn Heights there are historic brownstones and mansions and more spectacular skyline views. We’ll even pedal by a pre-Civil War New England Congregationalist Church where a “slave auction” was once held. The hidden treasure of a 125-year-old model working class housing is visited next.

Park Slope and Carroll Gardens are literally treasure droves of wonderful homes. Its streets, often covered with a magnificent canopy of trees, seem to shine with the beauty of its townhouses and brownstones. Indeed, these are very chic, “in” neighborhoods in which to live, as you will fully appreciate yourself.

In traffic-free Prospect Park, we will ride through the largest lawn in any urban park in the United States. This urban wonder was created by the team that literally built Central Park. The difference - they proclaimed that Prospect Park was by far the superior one! We will also pass by the Arc De Triumphe of Brooklyn, a Venetian Palazzo, the once fetid Gowanus Canal with a unique “retractile” bridge, and historic Fort Greene, before we return over the Manhattan Bridge bike path.

Enjoy a “Bike and Bite” lunch at a unique Peruvian restaurant with superb marinated rotisserie chicken and a national favorite, fried yucca!