Trip Stats:

Distance cycled: 2095miles (3372km)
Time cycling: 221 hours
Duration of trip: 52 days
Cycling Days: 46 days (including half days)
Rest Days 6 days
Average speed: 9.5mph (15.3km/h)
Max speed: 36.4mph (58.6km/h) (Bruce - near Wartburg, Austria)
Total Altitude gain: approx 52000 vertical feet (16000m) (that is about 10miles!). Bruce's computer, which measures vertical gain, stopped working for the last 3 days. It read 49950 when it broke and the last 3 days were HILLY!
Highest point: 3260' (994m) Between Haag & Oy, Bavaria, Germany
Weight of panniers: Andrea - about 50lbs (22kg) Bruce - about 60lbs (27kg) (yes - we brought too much stuff!)
Number of Punctures: One - Andrea from a wooden thorn in Serbia
Number of photos taken: about 3500....we will pare it down for a slideshow!

Day 52: Into Istanbul!!
Saturday August 17th - Day 52 - 57miles - 2092miles

Okay... today is make or break time. We could make it into Istanbul today since it is about 60 miles away but Bruce's knee may or may not be up to it after his fall... There is a city about 30 miles away called Gokturk, which seems like a pretty big (built up) suburb of Istanbul... so it should have a hotel if we need to stop for the day... Let's see what happens...

So we set a 5am alarm...  Breakfast by 6am with the bikes already packed up and ready to go. We had a breakfast mate in the large empty dining room. She was a very persistent kitty with an ear that was almost torn in half. She mewed and purred and tried to jump up on Andrea's chair. She rubbed herself on Andrea's leg and shoe but she was very cute... but we think that she was a fairly bad-ass kitty since her paws with pink with blood (probably from small rodents and geckos that didn't make it out of the Hotel Kleopatra alive!). 

Bruce was having a pretty tough morning. He was tired from sleeping in a terribly creaky bed last night; his knees were cut up and he had a belly ache from the bob (bean) soup last night. So he didn't eat any breakfast. Andrea did have a bit to eat and the killer kitty finished most of her left over cheese.... 

Before we left we posted 2 blogs on the patio, as that was the only place where the wifi seemed to work, and we headed out at 7am onto the road that would take us to Istanbul.

Today's ride was a tough one....

The turks are rebuilding the D020 and the new road starts just beyond Subasi. The new road comes and goes though, so at times the asphalt is pristine, sometimes you are riding on gravel in a construction zone, and sometimes on the old road still. At one point, we stopped and took photos of the construction zone and the men working on the road. They were very nice and very happy to have attention paid to them. 

There was a big climb just after Kizicaali....it may have seemed bigger to us as we had a nasty headwind as we were trying to climb it....it was not fun. It looked so big in front of us and it only kept going up. This was also part of the new road....the old road was still there to the left and the climb was even worse on that!

There was a wide shoulder built into this road. Which is nice, but it is often littered with truck tire bits and shards of broken glass which make it a bit of an obstacle course made harder with the climbing up hill. Also, there are packs of stray dogs on the highway. There were lots of them and they were big here. So many street dogs so far away from towns or cities seems weird. We wondered how they survived up here on the highway. 

There are lots... I mean TONS... of trucks with gravel trailers using this road for the construction works....it makes cycling a little scary when you don't have the nice shoulder. The shoulder goes in and out as the construction takes up more or less of road surface. Also, the trucks use the shoulder to pull over, or just as an extra lane when faster trucks are trying to pass. The trucks have the habit of beeping at us, even when we are well in the shoulder and they have plenty of room to pass us. Not friendly... 

We took a break at a gas station a couple of miles down the road from the top of the hill. We rested up for a bit, despairing a little at the flags that were showing still more headwind. Which ever way we turn or the road turns, we always seem to have a headwind in Turkey....we are not liking that!

Part of our original plan was to go the Black Sea coast. At this point the D020 goes to within about 10miles of the coastline, which is mostly undeveloped in Turkey. So this would have been a 20 mile detour. However we realized that because of all the hills we had climbed we were about 800' above sea level and the Black Sea was, well, at sea level. Neither of us fancied cycling down steep Turkish hills, only to have to climb back up them. This also would have meant definitely delaying our arrival in Istanbul for a day. From our vantage point high up in the hills, we could see the sea, so that was good enough for us!  

The section just before Gokturk was really tough - as both directions of travel are using one side of the new road . At this point, the road went down to a single carriageway on the wrong side. On the other side, there was a bit of brand new asphalt road, which quickly turned into a live construction site with front loaders, back hoes, cranes, and yes... more dump trucks... So we had three options - 1) ride with traffic on a narrow lane with no shoulder....not recommended. 2) Ride on the shoulder opposite traffic - we saw cyclists do this 3) ride on a new pristine asphalt section of road that is not opened to traffic yet, but then it disappears and you are in the middle of a construction site - this is what we did....we got through it fine but it was a little bumpy after the asphalt disappeared.

Further down the road and a few hills later, the new road disappeared again into a wide gravel wasteland. This would be like I-95 suddenly just ending into gravel, with no signage or warnings, very strange. Haven't seen that since Uzbekistan. Some of the dump trucks turned off here and went up hill to another construction zone, while others just tooled along... the pavement and traffic lines were gone and the cars (and 2 bicycles) were left to find their way to the other side. Through the dust, we saw a similarly confused sports car driver coming in the other direction. Our bikes had better clearance than the sports car, which made us feel just slightly better about traversing this crazy bit of infrastructure breakdown. After about 1/2 mile the road re-appeared as if nothing had happened.

When we got the chance to get off this highway, we took it. Just off the highway in Gokturk, we headed towards a gas station to get some water and a bit of a break from the nerve-racking highway. As we pulled into the gas station from across a trafficky intersection a car pulled in between us and almost hit Bruce. Bruce smacked the car and Andrea yelled at the driver to stop. When the driver got out of his car, he apologized in English. We were both a bit shaken and frustrated from the highway and then almost getting hit. So we bought a big bottle of Fanta and sat in the shade for a while. 

We took the old road from Gokturk to Kemerburgaz (we would have taken the old road more often but it has been built over by the new road in a lot of place - so even when it does exist, it would just end in a pile of dirt and you would have to backtrack). This seemed like a pretty affluent suburb as we passed a couple of country clubs and a lot of fancy cars. We also cycled through an 16th century aqueduct  that the old road went right under - pretty sweet!

We had cycled about 30miles by now into Kemerburgaz and Bruce still wasn't doing so well. We stopped in the town square and had more water and rest. In Turkey there are tables and chairs set out in most town squares for people to sit, drink chai, play board games, and chat. There were lots of men sitting around in the town square drinking their tea, but there were no women except for a 3 year old girl feeding the mean looking ducks and geese on the little pond, but no women other than Andrea now. This is a very male oriented society.  A teenage boy served us our chai and water. He spoke a little bit of English, so he practiced on us, but then got embarrassed when he could not answer Andrea's question about the road condition leaving the square. We wanted to know how hilly it was...  We finished our drinks, thanked him for his help, and headed out again.

We got back onto our bikes and headed up out of Kemerburgaz into the forest. This is supposedly a much quieter route down to the Bosphorus than continuing down the D020. The forest road was indeed beautiful and went through another aqueduct as it wound its way through the forests. The only problem was that there was still gravel truck traffic even on this winding forest road with no shoulder. Not good. The cars were as respectful of our space as they could be but the trucks were a bit too fast and a bit too big for such a small, winding, scenic road. A few times they beeped at us as we came around a corned together... 

We came out the other side of the forest and were now going downhill towards the Bosphorus. We passed the Istanbul Arboretum and then some more country clubs. Every one of them seemed to be hosting a wedding. It was a beautiful Saturday in August, but we passed four weddings in about 2 miles. And these were fancy weddings...lots of fancy cars and big catering trucks with fancy marquees...

The downhill was steep and about two miles long as we sped towards the city's shoreline. We hit the Bosphorus at exactly 40miles for the day. We knew we had a great deal more to do to get to the old town, since Istanbul is an enormous city.  As we started to enter the city proper (from the woods beyond) we began to hit city traffic. Cars parked any which way, merging cars from side streets that weren't paying attention, pedestrians just walking out in front of us, buses, mini buses, and TAXIs! City traffic in Istanbul is horrific but I am sure you knew that! To avoid it as much as we could, we pedaled our way along the esplanade that followed the shores of the Bosphorus as much as we could, but at times it would just disappear into a waterfront restaurant or gas station. Life at the waterfront was lively, families were out in droves taking in the sun, boys were jumping off the pier into the choppy water, men were fishing with LONG fishing rods that (when wielded inexpertly) became razor-thin obstacles with a fishing hook at the end. Eventually we took to the street, since the fishermen, pedestrians, and random detours on the esplanade were getting too much to make it worthwhile. 

Out in traffic we had to deal with another set of obstacles, vehicles... We wove through standstill traffic to speeding along the bumpy streets, dodging in and around minibuses, beating on taxi hoods, yelling at people on their cell phones, shouting at people trying to cross the street...  We owned Istanbul traffic!  Watch out for us bad-ass cyclists! We will smack your car if it gets too close!
We stopped at a small kebab place for lunch and to cool off in the shade.  We had a doner kebab each, which was pretty tasty. After lunch we battled onwards along the waterfront, passing under the two Bosphorus bridges. We looked for the Adventurists Finish Line for the Transcontinental race, but as we passed the fortress where it was meant to be, we didn't see any sign of it whatsoever.....too bad. We had our Mongol Rally buffs with us and we were going to cycle in with them on.....

After 15 miles or so of Istanbul traffic, we made it to the Galata bridge which leads to the Old Town! We had made it to Istanbul!

We walked over the bridge and tried to find our way to the hotel. We walked our bikes through the Old Town, as 1) it is really freaking hilly, 2) it is mostly all cobblestones 3) the crowds and traffic are still insane. Since the streets in the Old Town twist and turn, we had to ask in 3 different places where our hotel was. We gradually zeroed in on it... The shopkeepers whom we asked were very friendly though, and they called the hotel to get directions for us.

When we finally got to the hotel we met Ali and he was laughing because of all the phone calls for directions he had received on our behalf. The Mina Hotel is well situated about 5 minutes walk from the Blue Mosque and very close to the T1 tram line to get around other parts of the city.

He stowed the bikes downstairs and he showed us our room, which although small, was better than any we had stayed in for quite a while! We showered up and rested for a while. It was a hard day for both of us, but our adrenaline at arriving in Istanbul and reaching our destination as well as cycling in middle-eastern city traffic had kept us going long enough to get us here! 

After resting for a while, we went up to the rooftop bar of the hotel and enjoyed a glass of wine whilst watching the sunset over the Sea of Marmara......a spectacular end to a spectacular trip!

The World is Ours!

Day 51: Undulating my ass....this road is hilly!
Friday August 16th - Day 51 - 39miles - 2035miles

We woke up to a 6.30am alarm in Saray, Turkey to get even closer to our final destination... Istanbul! Breakfast was the same bread, white cheese, cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, watermelon, and chai. It feels repetitious here but I think we will miss it when we get home. 

The hotel has adopted a cute puppy that lives in the back lot who is not allowed inside. He sat with his head propped on a paw in the door frame, waiting for lovings or breakfast scraps. But when it started showering during breakfast, the puppy came inside the door frame and propped his head on his paws looking out at the storm... at least until the hotel staff shooed him out... cute puppy scared of the rain...

But now this leaves us with a dilemma, a rainstorm in Turkey? When we have to get closer to Istanbul? This will not hinder our progress! No! Onwards! So, we headed out into the warm rain, said goodbye to the puppy and the guy from reception, and looked, hopefully, for a rainbow in through the mist and sun. The rain got a bit heavier before we got out of town, so we sheltered under some eaves until it let up a bit... then we headed out of town on a nice straight road... that still went up and down! 

With the weather front moving across this region of Turkey, we had clouds all day (first time in a LONG time), which kept the temperatures down nicely in the high 70s low 80s.  With the cloud cover, we didn't have the sun beating on our necks, but the humidity was high... so we were pretty sweaty all day. 

Very early in the day we broke the 2000mile barrier! Very exciting! But of course that was only half way up a hill... so we still had to finish the hill to feel any satisfaction. 

The road went up and down, up, up and down.....which made it very tough to get a rhythm going, especially since the surface is not great. But thankfully the traffic wasn't too bad on this part of the D20 today... The trucks were mostly considerate since the volume of traffic allowed them to use both lanes to pass us. 

Just outside of Saafalan, we saw a sign for a Kampingplatz...! Who knew! Camping is back in Turkey! But this was way to early in the day to stop and pull out the tent supplies. 

But maybe we should have, because just a little way down the road (and of course on an up hill) four dogs chased us from a construction yard with an open gate... Andrea yelled at them, sped up, and got away, thankfully. Bruce was cycling behind and drew their attention. But as he swerved to avoid them his bike slipped on the gravel shoulder and he went down... The dogs ran away at that point but Bruce badly cut his right knee and banged up his left knee against the steel frame of his bike... Luckily he was wearing gloves and long pants so his hands were saved and his leg fared probably better than if he hadn't had that protection. 

We pedaled far enough away that we were out of view of the dogs and had a wide enough shoulder to pull over... which wasn't much. We unzipped Bruce's detachable pant leg to see the damage. He had a triangular shaped wound about an inch and a half wide by about an inch long (about exactly the same size as one of the jagged pieces of gravel lining the road).  Andrea cleaned the wound and bandaged him up with gauze, non-stick adhesive bandage, Neosporin, Ora-Gel (to numb the cut) from her med-kit bag (well stocked by Joany... thank you!). We also sewed up Bruce's pant leg on the side of the road to give his knee a bit more protection until we could find somewhere to take a proper look at it. 

We cycled on, since there was literally nothing around for several kilometers, until we reached a town with a gas station (at the top of a hill of course)... He kept saying it didn't hurt... 

Bruce's knee was already bleeding through at this point so we sat him down on the only chair and re-bandaged him up and washed his pant leg. A group of guys were standing around smoking at the gas station when we got there. When we pulled in they gave up their seat for Bruce and Andrea set to taking care of his leg. They offered some gauze when they saw what we were doing. We politely declined since we had some already and they need to keep the supplies they have). The guys at the gas station kept talking to each other while watching this whole proceeding, repeating "Doctor...... doctor... " We think that the guys think that Andrea is a doctor. (By the way... Bruce was awesome throughout this whole ordeal and never once winced at anything!) Bruce got up and bought some soda and a candy bar to give us some energy to keep going down the road... 

There were more up hills and down hills along the way... We had a very long downhill into a town that no joke was called "Insanity" ... or something very close to that... And then of course we hit a headwind climbing up into Akalon past some white stone quarries.... so everything was covered in white stone dust and truck traffic increased a bit. 

At about this point, while we were taking a brief rest halfway up yet another hill, somebody asked us "Do you need help?" We turned around to see a very skinny, grimy, English chap on an old-school road bike with a sleeping bag strapped on the back. We told him we were just resting and were fine and we complained about all the hills. Turns out that he was competing in the First Annual Transcontinental Race, which is an unsupported cycling race from London to Istanbul organized by those "wonderful" Adventurists - same people that organize the Mongol Rally that we did in 2011. We chatted for a couple of minutes as he complained about his choice of route and that the D020 really, truly did suck. We asked if he was in contention, but alas not, as he was on his twelfth day and the winner had arrived in Istanbul after 7 days.....from London.....that is 300miles a day!!!! Crazy stuff......not a style of cycling that we would or could do!

We had another downhill into Subasi... which isn't much of a town but it is a road junction so there are a couple of gas stations and a hotel. 

Ahhh... The Hotel Kleopatra came into view. What faded glory! We really think the place was faded the day after it opened. It is in pretty bad shape. There is no pride taken in its upkeep at all... any and all repairs and maintenance and improvements have just been slap-dashed so the place looks rundown now and it was a bit pricey for this area and for the quality of the room... In truth, it looks just like a Cape Cod motel that hasn't been renovated since 1974. It has some serious faux wood paneling on the walls of various styles, qualities, colors, and ages... There are even burn marks above the light fixtures... no light tonight! But it has air-conditioning!

We met our helper for the evening, Ali from Yugoslavia (he said it not us) who was the slightly odd token English speaking pharmacist/hotel helper!!!

After dinner of "bob soup"... or at least that is what it would have been called in Bulgaristan (large white beans in a broth with rice pilaf) and bread at the local eatery... we tucked in to bed and watched funny Turkish television cooking programs with singing commentators and another with a young lady who goes to all the old babushka ladies' houses to learn how to cook traditional meals. We fell asleep trying to translate the recipes as the scrolled across the bottom of the screen... Did you know that a table spoon in Turkish translated into "Water spoon" (Su)...

Oh the day we have had....
The World is Ours!

Day 50: Meeting Mama Nadia
Thursday August 15th - Day 50 - 47miles - 1996miles
    
Being in Turkey, but not yet in Istanbul is a challenge. We want to experience the cities we are in but we also want to reach our goal. This is only exacerbated by the heat, hills, and headwinds, which make the days very challenging. So today we set a 6am alarm, bags packed and down for breakfast early to get a head start on the day. There are no foreigners at this hotel... at breakfast it looked like a bunch of truck drivers at the other tables. They all ate practically a whole loaf of bread each, all dipping it in a mixture of honey and jam. Very tasty habit to copy. 

We cycled out of town on a nice wide road. Bruce's bike computer stopped working just outside of town, so we stopped to try and make it start working again...the only problem was that we stopped right next to one of the several military installations on the edge of town. We tried to fix it - wipe off the sensor, adjust the sensor and receiver and changed the battery...with no success. But of course this took a bit of time, so by being on stationary on the roadside outside a military base we attracted the attention the of the military sentries... Two of them approached us (one was armed) they were very nice and one even spoke a little English but they watched us very closely until we left......

There seems to be a military base on every hilltop around here. Turkey has a mandatory military service, so we guess that they need a place to put all the young men in service. On the road, we passed a live fire training! This gave Andrea the boost she needs to overcome a 20mile/hour head wind and still book it down the way... away from the live shooting up on the hill. 

The terrain was similar to yesterday with a similar if not worse headwind. We climbed some big hills and went down some big hills. The road was great for about 10km out of Kirklareli, then it went back to being the old road, with no shoulder and a rougher surface.

We passed through the town of Pinarhasir and stopped at a gas station at the top of one hill for a rest....we were already tired! Surprisingly we were actually a bit chilled from sweating up the hill and then being blown by the wind. 
 
A little while later we stopped for another rest by the side of the road  for a potential yogurt break... So we stopped at a small pull off  which turned out to be a driveway. As we sipped water, the owner of the driveway (a small older woman) motioned to us to come in and take a break in the shade. She had a patio table that was shaded so we sat there and waited for her to join us.

So we walked our bikes down to her patio and sat in the shade of her little patio set. She first bought coffee; then bread, tomato, cucumber, olives, cheese and hot peppers from her garden; then an egg & tomato dish (matsaman?); then cold tzatziki soup; then honey in a honeycomb. We kept asking her to come and sit with us... and she kept bringing out more food! Then when we didn't finish it all she looked perturbed and packed it all up in a bag for us. She tried to chat with us even though she didn't speak a word of English and we only know "Teshekular" which means "Thank you". She wanted pictures with Andrea and told us she had 5 children. Apparently the honeycomb she served can help you get pregnant....great! ;) She had not a single word of English and clearly we speak no Turkish, but it is very strange when a foreigner just speaks louder and slower to you in Turkish expecting you to understand... We found out that her name is Nadia. So we named her Mama Nadia... since little did we know we would gain yet another mother figure on this trip... especially a Turkish one. 

Mama Nadia took Andrea on a tour of her back garden while Bruce filled up the water bottles. She had corn, blackberries, tomatoes, hot peppers. She gave Andrea more tomatoes than she could carry to take on the road. 

We took more pictures after Mama Nadia plugged in her phone for a few minutes to charge. Inside her house there were Turkish rugs on every surface and a small TV. 

We thanked her profusely and then we headed on our way to climb some more hills with a headwind...but we had full bellies now to do it with... and an appreciation for the Turkish people from just that one experience. Thank you Mama Nadia. 

We came downhill into Vize and stopped on the outskirts at a gas station to take a break under the canopy. We drew the attention of the family sitting outside waiting for their car to be serviced as well as the attendants and the little boy with his father who had played leap frog with us for the past 5 miles.

We chatted with everyone which became even easier when a young man stepped in and spoke very nice english. He had worked at Ocean City Maryland for a summer at the amusement park. The grandmother liked Andrea's eyes. We got a round of applause when they found out it was our honeymoon. The attendant was very interested in Bruce's maps. 

Traffic-wise, the trucks were a bit close today due to the narrowness of the road and slightly busier traffic than we would have liked. There are minibus shuttles from one town to another... which take probably about a half an hour. So when the same driver goes back and forth several times a day, they see us slowly plodding along up hill, down hill, and on the flat battling head winds... they beep their horn at everything here... not sure if it is a friendly beep or a get out of the way beep usually until we see the waving arms or head out the window as the offending beeper passes. 

The kids here (like anywhere) are very cute... they all learn the same English phrases "Hello" "What is your name?" "Where are you from?" When you respond however, you get a chorus of giggles and confused looks.... but they are very cute nonetheless.. there even some red heads to boot!

Because Bruce's computer was broken, Andrea shouted out the milage as often as she noticed it on her computer... although she waited usually until the whole or half miles... to not be too annoying... so we counted down mile by mile today... hoping the road would turn just a bit so that the wind would become a tailwind... usually however it was a side wind gusting every time we came out from tree cover...  

Military silos on the hill sides with huge Turkish flag to designate their ownership... like that was a question...  and there are two types of police plus military standing guard everywhere!

We are now in Saray at the Hotel Sezen listening to the afternoon call to prayer after the local municipal announcement... we presume... at first it sounded like an ice-cream van intro and then like a Turkish sleep away camp. There are loudspeakers on every streetlamp which every so often will burst into life with an intro chime and then babble away. We are sure they are announcing that the shuffleboard tournament will be starting on the poop deck at 10am......

No air-conditioning tonight... Hope it cools down soon... We went for a walk to get dinner...went to town square...ate at local restaurant and got Turkish boat pizza (called pide), salad and Kofte which seems to be mini-burger patties.

When we went to the grocery store to get water, we ended up purchasing a bottle of soda rather than soda water... But it tastes like IRN BRU! So if you are ever in Turkey and are having a hankering for IRN BRU you should try the fake stuff called - Uludag!

Back to the hotel to sleep. When there is no AC we always have the bug vs. open window conundrum...with windows closed, get undressed, shut off light and then open windows again. 

We did some research about the final couple of days into Istanbul....supposedly there is a hotel in Subasi... then do we take another day, do we go to the Black Sea coast, or go straight to Istanbul?
Find out what we do next in the next episode!

The World is Ours!

Day 49: Turkeys don't fly... Headwinds in Turkey
Wednesday August 14 - Day 49 - 40miles - 1949miles   

After our 6.30am alarm went off, we went to get breakfast. We rapidly discovered that the "Breakfast Lounge" int he Saray Hotel was at the top of the hotel, so we had to climb three more floors of stairs to get ours. We were the first there and the bread hadn't arrived yet, so we ate cheese, tomatoes, olives and cucumbers all washed down with the ubiquitous cay (pronounced chai - turkish tea). After the grumbling about the stairs, the views were spectacular over the city and mosques. The bread finally arrived and we had some bread and honey to finish off our morning meal.

We loaded up and wheeled the bikes out into the hustle and bustle of a Turkish city. It wasn't too bad as long as you were vigilant of the chaos all around you! We stopped at a small shop to refill water bottles and were surprised for the first time in a long time to see two refrigerators completely filled with non-alcoholic beverages!  We have finally reached a country where beer is more expensive than water! Amazing the things you get used to. 

We paralleled the main road until we were forced onto it and we went down Route D100 for a few miles southwards until the turnoff for the D020 towards Kirklareli. During those few miles we saw two Burger Kings and a Dominos Pizza......Bulgaria we miss you already!

The road narrowed after the turnoff and soon started climbing and descending. While researching routes into Istanbul on a bike, this road was described as "undulating"...we would put it in slightly stronger terms - like morale crushingly hilly. Especially when you have a 15mph headwind nearly all day. You would go down a hill that was just steep enough so that gravity would overcome the wind forces and pick up a little speed. At the bottom, however the flat part before the climb started would be just long enough to suck the momentum from you before you were slowed to a crawl by the incline on the other side. Once that incline had been crested you could see three more of them from the summit waiting for you.

Again this was exacerbated by the wind. This road wouldn't have been nearly so bad if we didn't have that to contend with. However it still would have been a tough section of road.

We crossed the new motorway to Istanbul and were really tempted to sneak down onto it. Bikes are not allowed on it but when has that stopped us before....it looks like the shoulder is nice and wide...and at least it would be a cross wind and not a head wind.

We continued through very rural grasslands and agricultural areas - did we mention the "undulations" and the headwind. We gained and lost the same 300ft in altitude every other mile, which is very disheartening. 

We stopped for a longer break in Inece. We had tea at a small tea shop with a bunch of locals. The proprietor spoke a little English (he had worked in a seaside resort in Turkey and picked up some English, as well as Russian and German) and he was very excited to chat to us. We even gave us the tea on the house as well as giving us each a small bottle of cold lemonade for the road. This seems like a very hospitable land. He told us that Kirklareli was only 12km away now......

They are in the process of widening the road from Inece for the 12kms into Kirklareli. It wasn't a very active construction area but workmen cheered us on as we climbed another hill....

At the top there was an enormous Turkish flag flapping away in in the wind... and pointing directly towards us... Andrea pedaled ahead to get a photo of Bruce cycling past the flagpole to show how direct this headwind really was... All of this worked, except for the fact that the flag was that of the huge police station right out of town and as Bruce cycled by, a few of the officers started yelling and waving at us not to take photos. Photos already taken we cycled off down hill and into the city... Their hats weren't big enough for us to listen to their shouts.    

We finally reached Kirklareli....it was not even 40miles for the day but it was much harder than the 66miles yesterday due to the headwind and the constant "undulations". We found a bike shop on our way into town but no luck with tube sizes.

We found a hotel with no real difficulty. Initially there were no rooms with a/c available, but when we went to leave the English speaking manageress miraculously appeared and found one for us at the same price. Funny how that works....

As we walked around town we found another bike shop. This time they had Presta/French valves..but the tube was still one size too small.....so close!

We had dinner in a local place again with a waiter who spoke a little English and was happy to practice what he knew on us. Hardly any tourists must come here as we really stand out. We are treated very well though and everyone is very hospitable. 

Another day on this road tomorrow... hopefully it is a bit less "undulating"... 
The World is Ours!
 

Day 48: Out of Bulgaristan, briefly in Yunanistan and then Turkiye.
Tuesday August 13 - Day 48 - 66miles - 1909miles

We set the alarm for 6.00am and packed everything up to bring bags downstairs for 7am. It is so darn hot here... We have to start early if we are going to cycle over 60miles today without frying in the afternoon swelter. 

Breakfast starts at 7am (or so we were told...) but it was empty when we got there. We pulled off the plastic wrap from the obligatory platters of tomatoes, cucumbers, and white cheese and helped ourselves. We were joined by some business men and watched them go to the lobby for coffee so we copied that behavior and were rewarded with our morning caffeine fix! And it was fresh Lavazza!

We had to take photos with the biggest key in the world so we left the hotel by about 7.45am. 

We cycled out of town, found the post office by asking the locals and following the finger pointing, and  posted postcards to friends and family back home. We wound our way out of town, avoiding the street washers and foul smelling garbage trucks. Our way out of town included a small section on dirt before rejoining main road. We went south on Route 554 to Simeonovgrad. Sneakily we took the old bridge (closed to traffic) across the river rather than go another 3km to the new bridge built for vehicle traffic. We rejoined the main road easily on the other side. The road surface was delightfully smooth all day with varying sizes of shoulder. The road stayed good even up a pretty big hill after Simeonovgrad. We passed a motorway construction site... so anyone passing through here in the next couple of years will have a smoother and flatter route, since they were making a large overpass connecting two hills. Andrea got stung by something under her arm on the way down the hill. We think that a wasp got stuck in Andrea's pigtails... so not cool... 

A nice downhill to the city of Harmanli and a Billa grocery store made for a nice break in the shade and a good way to get rid of the rest of our Bulgarian Lev.

We left town on the old road to Lyubimets, which was pretty quiet now that the new motorway has been built in this area (which is good, since there is no shoulder on this road and the hedges are about 12 feet high) We saw two cyclists on the side of the road with all of their wheels off. They were from France and traveling from Sofia to Istanbul. They had wild camped the night before and got many flat tires from those dastardly thorns that had given Andrea and Stefan flat tires earlier in our trip. We asked them if they needed help... or water... or food... which they refused. There were two more in their party who had gone on ahead whom we saw in the next town at the local auto store getting their tires fixed.  We chatted a little and let them know that their friends were fine. So... onwards to Novo Selo, where we took a right turn to head to the Greek border. We reached the Bulgarian border post and got stamped out after waiting for some Russians to get processed... On the road to the actual borderline there are still some remnants of old barbed wire border fencing... a little rusty... a little freaky... 

In no mans land between the border posts we joked about how we should camp here... and then we saw the uphill to the Greek border post... they make you work for it to get to Greece... We got stamped into Greece easily and then we were in our second to last country of the TRIP!!!

The highway from the border post is new, big, smooth, and hilly... It started getting really hot and there was no shade on this big empty highway in Greece.  We were so hungry and tired... and we really wanted a break from the heat, so we coasted down an onramp the wrong way (there was no off ramp at this exit) and had lunch under a bridge in the shade... thankfully the "fridge" worked, so we had some cold grapes, pre-made sandwiches, hummus and chips, iced tea, and a Bounty bar from the Billa. A bit rested, we started off again and hit the Big Hill of the day which was 2miles long... so not cool. 

We continued along in Greece and then about 20km in there is a gas station with a cafe and small store. It feels like an oasis away from the heat and the hot headwind. It also feels really weird to be spending Euros again! We went into to enjoy the air conditioning and buy some cold water to replace our depleted supply. 

As we were leaving the flags on the forecourt briefly stuttered on their flagpoles and then miraculously started flapping away in the opposite direction....a tailwind? But it was not to be, as by the time that Andrea had come out of the bathroom, the flags were firmly flying right in our faces again.....darn.....

We continued onto Kastanies, which was the exit after Kanadas and Marasia. We looked around to see if there was a small hotel or B&B in town, but we didn't see anything. We proceeded onto the far end of the small town and got stamped out of Greece after only about 20miles in the country! We did go into the Duty Free shop to enjoy their air conditioning though. It was a proper Duty Free shop with perfumes, high end booze and cigarettes. The staff was a little snooty, although probably with good reason as I am sure that we looked and smelled pretty bad. Bruce bought a big bar of Cadbury's Fruit & Nut, which made him very happy!

We entered the No-Man's land between Greece and Turkey. The road to the actual border was an asphalt corridor with barbed wire on either side. We passed a Greek military barracks and then the actual borderline was painted on the road, with two heavily armed Greek soldiers with big guns at the ready. There was lots of razor wire and camouflaged bunkers.....all a little disconcerting. The soldiers did smile and say hello as we cycled past though, which was pleasant!

Once over the line, the Turkish side was a little different. There were still soldiers with guns at the ready, but there were also peacocks and fountains in the border area. These people really don't like each other. Definitely the most militarized border that we have crossed on this trip. 

We knew we needed a visa for Turkey, but we also knew that it was available on arrival at the border station. All the websites we had looked at said that it would cost either 15EUR or 20USD and they don't take their own currency (Lira). Armed with two crisp $20 bills, Bruce went to get the visas. He was promptly told that they only accepted Euros...darn..We didn't have any more Euros after buying the Fruit & Nut, so Bruce had to go into the Duty Free shop on the Turkish side (not a real Duty Free shop), wake the guy up from his afternoon nap, and then persuade him to change USD to Euro so we could our Turkish visas even though website said that they accepted USD. To be fair to the guy, he gave a decent exchange rate and now armed with 30Euros, Bruce succeeded in getting the two visa stamps. After queuing in a different line to now get the visa stamps stamped, we were free to travel about the country! We were in our last country, Turkey!!

Andrea sneaked a couple of photos as we left the border area, even though there were big signs everywhere saying not to. But when you put pretty peacocks, fountains and big triumphal arches around your border area, what do you expect?

We had only 5 miles to go into the city of Edirne. Not too bad, however the last couple were on cobblestones, which is not what your body needs after 60 odd miles already. We entered the city over two very old stone bridges and pretty quickly found a hotel that met our needs, the Hotel Saray.

After showering, we heard the call for prayer from many minarets around town - we are definitely not in Kansas anymore! We went walking around the town. It is a huge bustle of activity in very narrow streets filled with tiny vendor shops. There are lots of mopeds trying to run you over. Luckily since this isn't really a touristy town, there weren't many touts trying to get you to come into their shops or restaurants.

The city is quite beautiful though, with ancient mosques and markets from the 15th century. The skyline is dotted with minarets. We did find a couple of bike shops and they even had tubes with French/Presta valves but not in our size of course!

We saw a road sign saying that Bulgaristan (Bulgaria) was 20km away and Yunanistan (Greece) was 7km away. Good job we are not relying on these, as we would have had no idea that Turkish for Greece is Yunanistan.......

We had dinner at a restaurant on the main drag. We tried Kofte, which are little patties and mamzana, which is a eggplant dish that is very tasty. We went to one of the local kebab shops and finished dinner with a kebab! For dessert we found a little baklava-erie and bought a half kilo of pistachio and honey filled deliciousness for about $3....score! The little honey drenched donut ones were the best!
We took them back to our hotel to enjoy and replenish the calories we had burned today!

The World is Ours!

Day 47: 5am at a Bulgarian Train Station
Monday August 12 - Day 47 - 37miles - 1843miles

We got up at 4.15am and tried to be as quiet as possible taking all the panniers downstairs. We had moved the bikes into the lobby the night before so they were ready to go.

Once clear of the really rough cobbles outside of the hotel, we set off for the couple of mile cycle down to the railway station. We had our lights turned on, but it still felt really weird cycling at 4.45am in the morning. The town was really pretty with some older building illuminated. There was no-one around which reminded us of the French zombie apocalypse a little....

We cycled down over the old bridge and down to the railway station. We bought tickets and two vending machine coffees each - they actually tasted not too bad! 

People started arriving at the station from about 5.15am onwards as the train was at 5.36am. The train arrived and we were signaled by the station manager to take our bikes down to the end of the train. The train guard was there and we asked her (in sign language) if we should load our bikes here? She responded by moving out the way so we loaded them up....not too bad...didn't have to take off bags until they were on the train. It was a bit of a tight squeeze though. The guard asks for our tickets and leaves us alone with bikes which are now blocking the end of one of the carriages, but it appears that there is no where else for them. It wasn't such a huge deal until three large Bulgarians demand to leave the train by that door as their luggage is there. They reach to move our bikes for us - and it gets a little heated. We finally move the bikes so they can get past. 

At that point another guard on the train then motions for Bruce to follow him....and shows him that there is a large empty guards van at the other end of the carriage and we should move our bikes there. Excellent! But why didn't the first guard tell us to the roll the bikes up one more door and then we would have seen the guards van? She let us get in the way and become a nuisance for no reason......grrrr

The Bulgarian local train was a bit of an antique. There was a Builder's plaque in the carriage saying that it was built in 1971 in the CCCP...good commie workmanship. The toilet was a hole in the floor.

The train ride through the mountains was pretty spectacular but the windows were filthy when they weren't spray painted with graffiti so it was actually hard to see things out of them. What we did see pretty cool, as the train stopped at one cow towns way up in the mountains.

We arrived in Stara Zagora on time and we unloaded the bikes from the guards van with minimal fuss. Once we were semi-combobulated we went down the service ramp to get out from the island platform. It looked as if no-one had been down in the service tunnels for years - all the lights were broken; there was standing water and debris was just in piles everywhere. Once up in the sunlight again, we bought some cold water, got sunscreened up and hit the road again.

It was a little bit busy getting out of Stara Zagora but once we were on Route 57 and over the city bypass it wasn't too bad. We saw our first sign for Istanbul as we crossed the bypass - sweet! We are so getting closer.

It was a straight shot to towards Radnevo and mostly flat, but the surface wasn't great in places. The only place where the surface was good was over the new bridge over the new motorway that they have recently built. 

We had an early lunch at a lay-by restaurant just outside of Radnevo: sausage, tomato and cucumber served with a whole loaf of bread. Good cycling food! We cycled through Radnevo, which was an ugly little town. Commie blocks abounded.

We headed out of Radnevo and towards the massive cooling tower of the power station just outside of Galabovo. You could see this thing from 20km away! The road twisted and turned a little as we approached and then we cycled past the behemoth. They have built a brand new power station attached to the old commie one, although both are still in operation. The road then passes by a large lake just outside of town. There is a huge sign saying that fishing is prohibited due to the danger of electrocution from casting into one of the many overhead power lines. While we are sure that is a danger, there has got to be a ton of mercury in that water as well. No seafood for us tonight!

We found the hotel Villa Verde pretty easily, which has "The World's Largest Key" on a plinth outside of it. The key is 7.5m long - not sure if this is self awarded or if Guinness has validated it - we are thinking the former......

We were done for the day by 1pm - Andrea checked us in and we had a beer to celebrate our fast morning cycling and train ride!

Later we had a wonderful dinner of lamb as well as risotto in cabbage leaves. We washed it all down with a bottle of Bulgarian white wine from the Danube River valley.

It feels like we have lived two days in just this one. We will sleep well tonight and tomorrow we are another day closer to Istanbul!
The World is Ours!

Day 46: Comfort in Veliko Tărnovo!
Sunday August 11 - Day 46 - Rest Day - Total 1806miles

After a great night's sleep, we slept in until 8:30 when Andrea got restless and went out for cappuccino and grabbed stuff for breakfast - including fresh local pita bread (called parlenka) which was fluffy inside and crispy on the outside. As she walked around, the town started to wake up... so a little window shopping and stopping in at an antique store was practically mandatory.... The antique shop was about the size of a closet filled to the ceiling with shiny things, ceramic things, wool and leather, old army helmets and gems and jewels... The lady who worked there was about as big as the space left to look around in the shop, so when she walked in behind me I was trapped! She tried to sell me things from her table of shinny things... I wanted a year in there alone to sort through the hoard of collected goods but when I tried to touch anything she immediately stopped me since it probably would have led to the entire shop avalanching on my head and killing me with the swords I saw near the top of the pile... I left there empty handed but it was a good store! 

Bruce wrote up a couple of blogs while Andrea was out. When she returned, Andrea convinced Bruce that it was cool enough to go out in the middle of the day - it was only 23C/73F out as it was cloudy! When we went out we actually felt a couple of raindrops! This was the coolest temperature we have felt in weeks!

Out and about in town, we bought postcards at one of the local touristy shops and went out for lunch and had parlenka stuffed with cheese like a calzone. This is a local treat we just can't get enough of today. We want to try all the types now, since we know we wont always get a really good local treat like this once we leave the city. 

We have noticed a lot of stray cats everywhere....at every restaurant they are begging.. and it is really hard to not pet them or give them scraps. The stray dogs all seem to have tags in their ears...maybe they are spayed/neutered so they don't breed? Hopefully. 

After an unsuccessful quest to find the tourist info office, we saw a fruit market! On the corner of one of the streets branching off of the old town we saw melons and peaches and raspberries and more... yum! We had to wander through. After great scrutiny, we got 2 peaches that were 1/2lb each and a large cup of raspberries for the walk back to the Hotel Comfort. 

Back at the hotel, Bruce wrote postcards while Andrea wrote up another blog and posted stuff to weebly. 

We have been talking about whether or not we really want to cycle tomorrow. Tomorrow would take us up the biggest hill on our trip since Oy in Bavaria. It isn't quite as high as that hill but it would be a long up (about 20km) and a long down (also about 20km)... all on fairly busy Bulgarian roads...  Bruce doesn't really fancy the up and Andrea really doesn't fancy the down... It isn't that we couldn't do it, but do we really want to go through that experience again? We so have another option though, we could take a train over the hills (about 50miles down the way) and then pick up from there on the flatter lands around Galabovo. So we did some research online but we wanted to check out the train station ourselves just to see if this would even be possible. So we took a taxi down to the railway station to make sure we knew where it was, how to bring the bikes there, and where to load the bikes on to the train. (Can you tell we have done this before?) We intended buying tickets at the station if everything looked good, but the ticket office opened again at 5am so the lady said to come back then.  We plan on leaving tomorrow on the 5:36am train to Stara Zagora. We know it is early, but then we will be able to cycle to Galabovo after that (about 38miles down the road) to get ourselves back on route. Glad we slept in today... so when we get up at 4am tomorrow is wont quite hurt so much...  

The train station is at lowest level of the town so we took the local minibus back up the hill into town. 

Really Important Observation about Bulgaria: The Head shake which we would normally think means  "No" means "Yes" here. We asked driver if he went to the "center"  and he shook his head, so we stepped back away from the minibus...he looked really confused...we repeated the question with the same shake of the head from him.....then the lady conductor came and said Center, Da, Da and shepherded us into the bus. We looked this up later and it turns out that Bulgaria is only one of 3 countries where this is the case along with India and Sri Lanka. This is going to lead to more confusion, I know it! 

When we got back to town, we did some more route scouting by walking down onto the old bridge next to the Four Horses Monument  to make sure we could take our bikes over it (we could since it was pedestrian only) to avoid the circuitous, but necessary route, the taxi took to the station. 

Then we walked back to Hotel Comfort to meet up with Toon and Lien for dinner.  They had found a great place earlier in the day and wanted to go back for dinner so we were up for that.

The restaurant served a homemade lemonade that was made with brown sugar and honey - very tasty. Good food, good company, and a good evening had by all! 

Early night to bed since we have to be up at 4am tomorrow to get the train......

The World is Ours!

Day 45: Onwards and Upwards to Veliko Tărnovo!
Saturday August 10 - Day 45 - 56miles - Total 1806miles

We have been trying to be better about getting up earlier to beat the heat, which just gets be too draining later in the day. Today we set the alarm at 6am and were completely packed with all the bags downstairs and on the bikes at 7am - which is a new record for us. We even have two completely frozen bottles of water in the "fridge" so that should be great for later when the heat builds.

The Belgians had already departed - they truly are the Amazing Disappearing Belgians! Hopefully we will see them later in today in Veliko Tărnovo. Last night, we were all a little nervous about the ride today as we start up into the hills of Bulgaria, and we feel a little responsible as the Belgians changed their original route to our intended route. Hopefully they won't regret the choice!

We let Rebecca & Stefan sleep in - they are planning on the 10am ferry across the river to Romania and then back into Ruse, Bulgaria by bridge later in the day. Bon Voyage - again!

We had a fantastic breakfast of a ham & cheese omelet, with tomato & cucumber and washed down with strong coffee and then started cycling out of town on Route 52. We are so glad that we got up early as the cycling out of town was excellent as it was cool out! It was a glorious summer morning. We pedaled out past the old Roman fort of Novae, which was being excavated as part of an archeological dig. 

We initially paralleled the Danube through the towns of Vardim and Novgrad, to avoid as many of the hills as possible. We turned onto Route 54 and hit the first real hill of the day just before Tsenovo. The road surface was good though so we managed to power up it, although we did take a couple of rests in the shade of trees! We have to take shade where we can find it.

At Byala we turned onto the main road towards Veliko Tărnovo. This was a major thoroughfare so it was a bit busy. The lanes were wider, but unfortunately there was no shoulder. Most of the drivers were still very respectful though, which is nice. We only had one close-ish call and that was a Scottish car towing a caravan.....if anyone should have been aware of slow moving vehicles it should have been him. We were hoping to see him later to give him an earful but we never did.

The rest of the day's cycling consisted of a few hills, which we actually easier than the awful flat roads in Romania. 

On the road, we stopped at a gas station for a shade stop and found a pump attendant who spoke English! He said that we were only 30km out of Veliko Tărnovo, about 18 miles. Almost there!

After this we went through the gorge with monasteries and outcroppings on either side. There was a climb up through the gorge, but we found a cold fountain at a closed "Snek" Bar ("CHEK bAP" in cyrillic)! We love cold fountains!... and cyrillic... 

We took another couple of breaks on the way...  Drinking yogurt out of the fridge which was still icy cold! Because the water was still frozen! Finally, we made it to the turn off for Veliko Tărnovo. We managed to avoid the tunnel that goes under the town... so we were very happy about that!
Although we were not very happy about a tough little uphill into town... meh... 

Into town, we saw some beautiful vistas looking over into the fort and onto the basilica. We cycled in and saw a hotel so we checked the rooms and the price... This hotel we saw 110 lev/night = $70! When Andrea went in to do the hotel scope-out, she asked if another cycling couple was staying... the receptionists nodded vigorously and when she asked if they came in on a "Big bike" they nodded even more vigorously... Though Toon and Lien were not actually staying at his hotel... they had made quite an impression... Andrea got the wifi password to check and see where the Belgians had disappeared to... do you see a pattern here?  Thankfully, there was an email from Toon and Lien about staying at the Hotel Comfort (we had seen signs on the way into town) only 50 Lev and a GREAT view of the fort and church, air-conditioning, fridge, and a great host! SWEET!!! But where was Hotel Comfort? There was another sign pointing up a serious flight of stone stairs... meh... 

Bruce gallantly offered to look after the bikes and Andrea had to walk up some seriously steep steps to find the place... The hotel was perfect! It is located on a cobble stone street with tons of touristy stuff/shops... we were on the 2nd floor, the room was big, the bathroom bigger, and our host, Angelo, was quite a character... Andrea happily took the room and got direction on how to get the bikes to the hotel... not up the steps... 

Valiko Tarnovo  has a gorgeous little old town... so we showered quickly and headed out with Toon and Lien to check it out! We had Lunch/early dinner at a restaurant with cooling misters... that's all we needed to know... They had a huge menu. On it there was something called "sachs" which turned out to be an iron hot plate filled with whatever type of sachs you order. The Belgians ordered it full of veggies. It looked good. Andrea had a potato broccoli casserole and Bruce had the chicken and sausage and potato casserole. We were all very full and very exhausted by the end of the food... so we went our separate ways.. Bruce and Andrea had an ice cream on the way back to the hotel... and then a nap...

Later in the evening (when it was cooler) we went out for some local wine and feta and tomato salad. Delicious!

Rest day is a coming!
The World is Ours!

Day 44: Onwards to Cyrillic Land! The Ferry to Bulgaria
Friday August 9 - Day 44 - 38miles - Total 1750miles

We woke up to the alarm at 6.30am since we really needed to get an early start to beat the heat and to be able to catch the 11:30 ferry to Svishtov about 35miles away.
 
Breakfast was yogurt and croissants eaten in the hotel room, bought in preparation for today's early start. Romanian day old croissants are nothing like the ones we had in Paris... but hey... we can say "they are nothing like the ones in Paris" with a slight smile and a feeling of whimsey. It has been a long time since Paris... 

We bought a foil lined bag from the Penny Market to act as a fridge bag... since last night we realized to our dismay that even though Andrea is a science teacher... it is easy to forget small details like how a frozen bottle of water in a waterproof pannier on a humid 100 degree day can collect a great deal of condensation... soaking her (and Bruce's) shoes on the bottom of the aforementioned waterproof pannier... But now the new and improved fridge bag seems to be working at keeping everything even cooler AND reducing the collected condensation! Yippie!

Lien & Toon were loading up their tandem when we got downstairs. They had a bit of ahead start so they headed off about 15minutes before we did. Down a different street than we were taking so we hoped that they would find their way okay (which they did... of course).

As we cycled out of town we were transfixed by all of the derelict industrial buildings around... mostly communist industry laid to waste... this area has a very post-apocalyptic feel...

We were soon out of town and counting down the km to Zimincea, where we intending getting the 11.30am ferry over into Bulgaria! We took a shortcut through Viisoara which cut about 7km out of the trip so that was nice. The shortcut was initially paved and looked like it might turn to dirt at some point but it never did! We watched a car that passed us speed along the flat and then up the hill we needed to climb without kicking up and dust... we were in the clear. The road was quiet but there was a tough steep little hill to get to the town... we would have had to climb it one way or another so might as well do it right off the bat rather than follow the main road which loops around the long way and then climbs up anyway... 

The benches in front of all of the houses now have an added bonus... baby turkeys!!! There are lots of turkeys being herded by grannies in babushkas, as well as goats, pigs, etc etc... but the turkeys are by far the cutest... well until the big male turkey comes along... they are damn ugly! The baby turkeys made very cute little gobbling noises when we scare them off the road with our bikes and bells. 

Just out of Viisoara, another touring cyclist caught up with us and started chatting. He was a pony-tailed German on a mountain bike and was cycled from Freiburg, Germany to the Black Sea....sounds  awesome, right? Well he was doing 180-200km PER DAY and only started in Freiburg on July 27...a full month after we started from Paris. His reason for this madness is that he only has three weeks available.....maybe try a shorter trip so you can actually see something and enjoy it rather than spend 10+ hours per day on your bike? We shouldn't judge but it is hard not to when he speeds off... never to be seen again...

We arrived in Zimincea over some very uneven railway lines. We went through the city and still had a couple of miles to go to the docks where the ferry leaves from. The ferry terminal is a bit of a ramshackle affair - basically a couple of portacabins for customs and passports and then a ramp down to the quayside for the trucks, buses and others to pass. 

We cycled around all the trucks waiting in line and went straight to passport control to get cleared out of the country. Not a big deal and we didn't even get an exit stamp.....We walked the bikes down the steep slope to the ferry. The ferry is more of a barge, but the vehicles load across it rather than lengthwise which is very strange. To achieve this the ferry is moved along the quay so that the next row of vehicles can be loaded. We didn't know this initially and a truck took the last spot in the current row, blocking our access to the ferry. We were going to yell at him until the ferry started moving along to the next open slot.....

Toon & Lien were already on the ferry and were chatting to a couple of locals who spoke good English. The ferry was meant to leave at 11.30am, but there were still a lot of trucks that needed to be loaded, so it was more like 12.15pm before it actually left on the short trek over the water to Bulgaria.

The nice Romanian guy on the ferry explained how to pay for our tickets without having to pay for bikes and be able to pay in Romanian lei rather than in Euro. He said "take the 20lei and fan it out... like this... then hand it to her... she can not refuse the money but she wont like it..." So on the other side, we paid our 20lei for the crossing and walked over to passport control. We got our passports stamped with a Bulgaria stamp with a picture of a ship on it, meaning we entered by sea! Then we all  headed into town...which of course was up hill... on cobblestones!

The Belgians followed us to the Pri-Popa hotel, since we already has a reservation there. We got our rooms and chatted with a Bulgarian man whose son lives in Chelsea, MA! What a small world!

We showered, relaxed, then went out to check in at the local bike shop to see if we could get some air in our tires and try and get a replacement tube.... no tubes... yet again! Then we pedaled uphill into the center of town to exchange our leftover Romanian Lei as well as get more Bulgarian Lev from bankomat. We went to the Billa grocery store and bought supplies for tomorrow. There is a fridge with a full freezer at the hotel, so now we have bottles of water in the freezer for tomorrow and cold food for lunch. As we were finishing up with our groceries and organizing for tomorrow, there was a knock on the door... it was Stefan and Rebecca! We had emailed them where we would be staying a few days ago and they found us! Woo hoo!

We chatted for a little while and then they left to clean up after a long day in the saddle. We went looking for the amazing disappearing Belgians. Luckily they hadn't gone far, they were at the hotel's restaurant. They bought us beer. Then Stefan and Rebecca came down. We all had dinner and laughed about different parts of the trip that we have all done but some of it separately. We had a really good time eating and laughing, especially when the restaurant/snack bar had very little of what was actually on the menu, so there was a bit of chaos in figuring out the cross between what they had to eat and what we were hungry for! Eventually, we all did get something to eat and then we were eaten by the mosquitos.

It was cool to meet up with Rebecca and Stefan (we missed them) and introduce them to Lien and Toon our Amazing Disappearing Belgians. Tomorrow, we are off to Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria and Stefan and Rebecca are off for a trip through Romania on their way to the Black Sea. 

The only thing about Bulgaria is that the hills are making us a bit nervous...we have done higher and harder hills in Bavaria...  but do we really want to do them again? Could we take the train over the hills?

More to come in the next episode of this Blog...

The World is Ours!