21 Excavations - Rock Monasteries - Big City

Saturday, 25.8.2018

Route: Danube cycle path 5 (Cherven - Ruse)

Kilometers traveled: 50

Highlight of the day: the walk through Ruse, the many sightseeing stops

The alarm clock in the Petrova house rang at 6:00. But we turned over and fell asleep again. Then it was half past 8 when we really woke up and we only got up when there was a knock on our door and our hostess said "breakfast". Actually, we thought there was no breakfast, but all the better. It was really delicious: there were these spatzn, which Grandma always makes, and white cheese and their own vegetables and own jam and honey. In addition, there was tea in amazing jugs, made from freshly plucked local herbs. That was also very tasty. It was already quarter to 11 when we left, but we had only planned 50 km anyway.

We started by going down the mountain from the previous day and then going up a bit again at a different location. There we looked at the excavations, which were on a very large area. We had to climb many steps up the mountain first. In the past, there was a fortress there or almost a whole city. You could still see many floor plans of houses and obviously there were many churches there. One was rebuilt afterwards. We saw many foundations and even a watchtower with loopholes. We calmly looked at the excavations and the area around it and even discovered the Lomski River, in whose valley part of Cherven is located. The Orlova Chuka cave also lay in the Lomski Valley. But there is no path along there, so you always have to go back up to the high plateau.

Then we went back down into the valley and up again on the side where we came from yesterday. We drove back to Ivanovo along the main route, which is quite far from the Danube at this point. At Ivanovo, we turned right again into such a small valley, because there were supposed to be 3 rock churches to see. There used to be 40. We followed the signs and came across a tourist bustle at the entrance: it was a small version of Altötting. A bus had just arrived in front of us, which we joined. Actually, you should have paid admission, but we didn't know where, and when we got there, we were a bit disappointed. We had imagined a church in the rock, but it was only a cave in the rock, which was beautifully painted with saints and biblical scenes. The paintings were quite old, and some rocks had already been broken off. But unfortunately, that was it, these 2 connected rooms. On the other side, you could still go up the mountain, from where you had a great view, but we had expected more. But it was still nice.

Then we cycled up the mountain again and continued towards Ruse. At Barsabovo, we turned right again, but this time only for a kilometer, because there was the 4th rock church, which is still in operation today as a monastery. There was much less going on there, but you could see much more. It was as we had imagined it. To get to this monastery, we finally did not go downhill, but to the village of Barsabovo it went downhill and then uphill again. We followed the road further and finally arrived in Ruse around 4:00 p.m.

Our hotel was located in the old town, and we found it quite quickly without much traffic. There, we first checked into our room and booked our hotels for the end of our trip. It took a long time and then we were hungry. About 200 meters from the hotel, we found a nice pub and sat down outside on the pedestrian zone. There were homemade lemonade, beer, pizza, salad, and dessert, so it was very cozy. We strolled through the old town, which has a Western feel. There are many houses that remind of the "aristocratic" houses in Vienna, but not in such good condition. There was also a large square with a park, many fountains, and columns, and for the late hour, many people.