Originally Posted by bcoppola
Can any of you Texans tell me about renting bikes in Galveston/Padre Island and good rides there? We're thinking of going down there next month for a week or so. This'll be our first time there so general info is also welcomed.
Also, OT but how about good fly fishing guides? I'd like to try for some reds or snook or...?
I'm more familiar with Port Aransas / Rockport area where there are bike rental places that rent beach cruisers (fat tire, SS). Since the area is pretty much perfectly flat, the only issue riding at the coast is
WIND which you will discover soon enough. Don't know about bike lanes but I saw a lot of both tourists & locals pedaling around town.
For fly fishing & other fishing guides check out:
http://www.wildtexas.com/guide/index...b_pages&cat=70
There will be particular fish biting & active dependent upon the tides & weather over the past several weeks and a good guide will tell you about it. The tidal flats on the leeward side of the island would be interesting fishing but the bay has some pollution and toxicity issues with all the damn petrochemical plants up in the bay. Check around and you'll find 1/2 day, full day charters maybe even kayak tours to either fish or birdwatch.
Galveston is a great city to visit: the cast-iron storefronts of The Strand are really beautiful. (
http://www.thestrand.com) Make sure you take a tour of The Bishop's Palace which was one of the few structures to survive the 1901 Galveston Hurricane that wiped out the island. There is a book that has been recommended to me (but that I've not yet read) about that hurricane:
Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson.
There was a great hole-in-the-wall local restaurant that we stumbled onto a couple of years ago - Cajun Greek Restaurant on 61st Street just a coupla blocks towards the seawall off Stewart St. Fried shrimp, fried oysters, raw oysters, lobster - all were delicious. Mostly patronized by locals, families, nothing fancy and they turn out some food...the best dish was a sampler on a round enameled beer tray - the delicacies were piled high! Anyway, after you've tried Gaido's, Rudy and Paco and the Olympia Grill, all near The Strand, try the Cajun Greek.
Galveston has had somewhat of a revival over the past decade so a number of the neighborhoods with clapboard wood houses have been re-done, original paint & windows restored, etc. There is a very active historical society. And of course there is a 'tall ship' in the harbor that has been restored and is sailed by volunteers from all over the reion.
If you get bored after a week, you can get off the island and go over to Kemah where the Fertita Bros. have created a boardwalk carnival kind of place out in the salt flats with live music, dining on the deck, etc. (Fertita brothers own the Landry's Seafood chain along with a number of other restaurants & even the Golden Nugget casino in Las Vegas).
have fun...
