22 Danube Beach - Goat Cheese - Street Dogs

Sunday, 26.8.2018

Route: Danube Cycle Path 5 (Ruse - Tutrakan)

Distance traveled: 73 kilometers

Highlight of the day: Break at the Danube beach, the great evening view, turtles!

We started in Ruse and simply couldn't find our way out of the city. In Bulgaria, there are no signs, so we read the map and looked at it. We concluded that the path must be exactly where we walked yesterday. But we just couldn't get to where we wanted to go. Finally, Julius switched on Google Maps, and we found the way again. But we didn't understand it right away, because we just drove in a circle. So we were at the point where we had already been the day before, on a busy road with a roundabout and up to 6 lanes. We then drove on this main road towards Silistra. It was really tough due to the strong headwind! There wasn't much to see here, except for Bulgarian villages and many people selling watermelons and grapes on the roadside. We cycled on, which was exhausting because of the many ups and downs. Eventually, we turned left into a village.

There was a small playground with a park where we took a break and looked at the map. We decided to ride to the next village because there is a Danube beach there. We then went to the village on an asphalt road, but I had to be very annoyed because nothing worked for me and my backpack kept slipping. After that, I was happy again. We sat down on the sandy beach and watched the Danube. Obviously, there is a boat club in the village, because many small boats docked or departed. A man was fishing right next to the dock. But he didn't look like he could fish.

Right next to the very, very beautiful Danube, there was a small restaurant, and since we hadn't seen any open stores anyway, we went in and ordered cold drinks and a salad and fries with goat cheese. It was unexpectedly awesome. It wasn't much, but we only paid 9 leva, which is 4.50€. Then we continued and decided to take the main route instead of the main road. The main route often led through the forest on unpaved paths. At some point, we should have turned right in the forest, but we couldn't find the way. Then we were back at the beach, but much further back. We turned back and turned right a few meters earlier, but that was actually impossible. Then we went back much further, which seems to have been right. It went over a path made of earth, a bit overgrown from the sides, but it was very beautiful. Finally, we moved away from the edge of the forest and only had fields and a few meadows around us. At some point, we stood at a crossroads of field paths in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields, and we had no idea if we were right, let alone where we had to go. With the help of Google Maps and luck, we found the right turnoff and finally ended up in a village with a small park. There we took another drink break because the road was pretty bad due to tracks and water ruts.

Then the main route led us back to the main road, and we followed it for several kilometers. In one village, we just couldn't go on. Fortunately, we found a store there that was open on Sundays, and I bought us a cold 2-liter cola. While we drank it, we talked a lot. Then we continued to Tutrakan, which is actually a nice place. We decided to take the higher route through the town. Once again, 2 (non-)stray dogs jumped at me, they somehow like me. You just have to brake, stop, stay calm, and wait, then they'll go away. Then we found our hotel right away. One of the staff members didn't speak any foreign language at all, the other spoke perfect and fluent German. She checked us in, explained everything, and we sat down on the rooftop terrace of this hotel restaurant, from where you have a great view of the Danube. Then we showered and got ready to eat something there. Then we chilled in the room for a while and finally went to bed.