Week 10 Karlovo - Melnik

A week with little cycling and plenty of time for sightseeing lies behind us. From Karlovo, we head south to Plovdiv. This is the second largest city in Bulgaria and the seventh oldest city in the world. Next year, Plovdiv will be the European Capital of Culture.

From the Roman period, there is an amphitheater and an arena for 30,000 spectators, which unfortunately is mostly buried under the pedestrian zone. Sporting competitions took place there every four years around 200 AD. There is a grand mosque and a beautiful old town. We take a bus trip to Bachkovo Monastery, which is located at the beginning of the Rhodope Mountains.

We take a narrow-gauge train to the mountains. The train covers 90 kilometers in 4.5 hours and chugs through narrow valleys and many tunnels from an altitude of 200 meters to 1,300 meters!

From the high plateau in the Rila Mountains near Razlog, we have to climb a little before rolling down 25 kilometers into the Struma Valley from the Predela Pass.

From Blagoevgrad, we take another bus trip. We visit Rila Monastery, which is located at an altitude of 1,150 meters high up in the mountains. It is the largest and most important monastery in Bulgaria. There are four-story buildings all around. A four-hour church service is celebrated in the main church. By chance, we are here on the founder's death day and can experience the special atmosphere. Since the bus does not run down to the valley as planned, we look for a ride. We are successful with the first car, the Bulgarians are simply uncomplicated and nice!

To get to Melnik, we have to cover 35 kilometers by train. There is only one road next to the river and railway in the narrow valley. It is the main route from Sofia to Greece, with correspondingly heavy traffic.

We are now in the south of Bulgaria, it is very hot and dry.

Current mileage: 4196