Toon, Lien, Andrea, and Bruce on the Ferry to Bulgaria
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!
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!
Welcome to Bulgaria... Back in Cyrillic Land... We can read that!
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