Bikes on a Bulgarian train!
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!
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!
Istanbul! I see Istanbul on that sign! Did you see it!?!
He has the to my heart!
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