Day 77-79 / Sept 23-25: Searching for a way through the mountains

Once again, the night on the Danube was very cold. I put on almost all of my clothes, so the cold was bearable in the morning. Today, I wanted to finally arrive in Bulgaria, the 6th country on my bike trip. However, in this Christian Orthodox country, there are no Evangelical Lutheran communities as we know them. There are only a few evangelical churches such as Baptists, Pentecostal churches, and Congregationalist churches. These are Protestant churches, but they have more of an American influence.

I was surprised to learn that around 11% of the population are either Turkish or Bulgarian Muslims, who have been living in the country for centuries.

On the last 40 kilometers along the Danube, I could already see the Bulgarian mountains in the background from a distance. The topography posed a great challenge for me because several mountain ranges run through the country. Although there are mountain passes, they have significant differences in altitude.

Only near the city of Giurgiu (Romania) is there the only bridge across the Danube to the Bulgarian city of Ruse. I found two conflicting pieces of information on the Internet regarding whether this bridge is passable by bicycle. One source said that the bridge is passable for pedestrians, including people with bicycles, while the other source said it is not. The only alternative is a train that connects the two cities once a day. So I decided to give it a try and simply rode towards the bridge. The road became narrower, there was no shoulder, and many trucks were passing me. On the Romanian side, I was simply allowed to pass without any passport control. On the bridge itself, several trucks had to drive slower behind me until they had an opportunity to pass. I had to concentrate heavily. A glimpse of the Danube itself was hardly possible. On the Bulgarian side, I joined the line of cars. When the border official saw me and my bike and I wanted to give him my passport, he just made a quick head gesture for me to continue without checking my passport. Then fortunately I was through.

I rode the last kilometers to the city of Ruse. A city with a lot of post-socialist charm. The city center was quite appealing. In a cafe, I charged my phone and looked for a place to sleep by the Danube. Google Maps showed a nice bathing beach. I had to pick up the money sent to me at a Western Union exchange office, but there were technical problems everywhere. It was getting dark, so I cycled to the sleeping spot on the beach of the Danube. I could only set up my tent in the twilight. I was glad to be off the road because my side light hadn't been working for a few days. I had a cold dinner and went to bed early.

The next morning, I had success at the fourth Western Union exchange office, located in a Kaufland shopping center, and was able to withdraw 90 Lew (50 Euro). Now I had some money again until the bank transferred a larger amount to me.

I found the city very noisy and not beautiful anymore, and just wanted to get out. On the road map, I found a rough route to the south. First, it was uphill for kilometers, but then I could ride on a quiet country road towards Razgrad, a stop on the way south. Now I had to find a gap or a pass that wasn't too high through the mountain ranges that lay across the country.

I studied the road map for a long time. I oriented myself by the course of the rivers and the railway lines and checked the differences in altitude. I found a low pass near Aytos, close to Burgas, where I only had to overcome about 400 meters in altitude. However, this mountain pass was two days of cycling away, and even until then, there were still uphill and downhill sections. Yes, I was traveling in the Balkans, which are characterized by mountains and mountain ranges.

On the way, I passed through Targovishte and Shumen, where about 50% of the population are Muslims, and I saw mosques over and over again. Especially in the countryside.

On the second evening, I camped near a village, and in the evening and in the morning, I could hear the call of the muezzin. As I found out, Orthodox Christians and Muslims have been living together peacefully for centuries.

On my 79th day, I reached the mountain pass near Aytos. I had about 400 meters in altitude ahead of me, and the road slowly tortured me as I climbed. I had to pause many times. After about 2.5 hours, I reached the summit and had a magnificent view of the valley and the lowland near Aytos. The bathing city of Burgas was now only 35 kilometers away. But I didn't want to go there because there is no road from there to Turkey. I had a rapid descent of about 8 kilometers into the small town of Aytos. At times, cars followed me because for safety reasons, I used the middle of the road due to the poor roadside.

I quickly reached the center. Once again, I went to a cafe to recharge my phone and laptop. Now I had left the major mountain range behind me and was looking for my route to the Turkish border.

As I found out during my internet research in the cafe, there are two border crossings to Turkey in the immediate vicinity on my way to Istanbul. One is about 120 kilometers away, near Malko Tarnovo, but with over 2000 meters of altitude difference on the total route. The second crossing is about 170 kilometers away, but with 'only' around 900 meters of altitude. So I decided to go with Option 2 for a two-day journey and started cycling on the highway towards Sofia around noon. It was a struggle climbing the first 150 meters in altitude.

When I was about 8 kilometers into the journey and had climbed the first hill, it struck me that I had left my power bank for my phone at the cafe. Immediately, I turned around and cycled back quickly to the cafe and was able to pick up the power bank - now fully charged - at the counter. Afterward, I struggled up the first hill a second time, and in the evening, after a total distance of about 100 kilometers for the day, I arrived completely exhausted in the small town of Straldzha. I had booked an affordable accommodation on the way. I showered and prepared my dinner on the floor of the accommodation and soon fell asleep. Only one more day until Turkey, with my final destination Istanbul.