Gratitude

One Thing I planned to do for some time now and is a bit overdue by now. Here is to prayers:

Danke

Dziękuję barzo

Dakujem vám

Köszönöm

Hvala lepa

Puno hvala

Hvala Vam

Faleminderit shumë

Blagodaram

Mnogo blagodarya

Efharisto poli

Çok teşekkür ederim

... to the lands and its peoples. I had the privilege to see the best of you.

Day 85: Haskovo-Edirne

Today was surprising. I dreaded the 100km on big roads to Edirne. It turned out that the first part to Harmanli was ok despite trucks since the road was large enough. Afterwards the highway running parallel disencumbered the road I took of most heavy traffic. Conditions were perfect. Around midday the sunny day had mild temperatures and no wind at all. I road at ease, pretty fast through the big plane, over some small hills and mostly a bit downhill.
At the border there was an impressive area, capable to deal with a lot of traffic. Confused by, the many boxes and barriers I greeted, still one the Bulgarian side with merhaba. The Lady was laughing and ment; merhaba is over there and point to the next bunch of boxes. I slipped by the queuing trucks and was waved through at customs past a lot of cars with open trunks and messed up bags around them. All they wanted to know is where I've been travelling and how much further I intend to go, which was commented by shaking and smiling heads. They wished me even good luck. That was the border...
And for the first time the picture seriously changed from one side of the border to the other. On the border area there was the first unusually big mosque and before I saw the houses of Edrine I saw the tall minarets.
I checked in a pension and was eager to take a shower. There was some noise from builders that grew louder while I cleaned myself up. Shortly after I was done dust drizzled down from the roof at a corner of the bathroom. The noise got insanely loud and after some stuff fell down, there was a hole in the roof. I shouted. The answer was sorry and cackles. A guy came to my room. I wanted to say something like that no, harm was done, but "no problem" came out. The guy said; no, no! Problem! Went off and got me the keys of a room in the top floor. No more builders above me... Let's hope this roof does not get a hole too...

Day 84: Haskovo

Ben told me that I could stay as long as I want to, so I took him partially up on his offer and stayed another night.
We had an easygoing day, slept off, had a burek as aperitif breakfast before getting a kebab. What a start in the day!
Later we visited the tower next to the huge maria statue and enjoyed the view over town. At the north of the horizont we spotted an apartment block with black smoke. Hopefully nobody got hurt by the fire.
What I liked particularly about the statue, was the fact, that next to it, on the small square, was a skateboard funbox. In the village we had trouble to put one on the school yards and here skaters were allowed next to the cities biggest attraction.
Afterwards Ben showed me his office, which hey shared with Ivan who got some EU-grant for working with kids and teenagers on different projects.
In the early eavening we were back in the Jazz bar with two of Bens Bulgarian friends, Louise andd Maggie who spoke very good French.
I had a good time here, enjoying discussions in French. Ben is amogst other stuff a music freak. Half of the time hey asked me if I knew a particular group I had to answer no. So I got some new music for the rest of my way.

Day 83: Kardzhali-Haskovo

After a pleasant eavening that Rado, his girlfriend Nadia, a college of hers Delvina and me passed in a pizzeria, discussing open hardware, politics and stereotypes amongst others stuff, I woke up after a pleasant nights sleep.
Rado seemed ton have time so we had tee and talked a bit more before saying goodbye.
The trip ton Haskovo was a short one, so I had time of laying one the hills and watch the landscape at this mild andd beautiful day.
I arrived around 2 p.m. in Haskovo, had some lunch and continued hanging around in the sun in the urban environment. After some trouble contacting Ben, a Frenchman who accepted to have me under his roof, I finally met him around sunset. His apartment is one the seventh floor, equipped with a balcony from which we could overlook the town and even see the biggest maria statute of the world.
I the eavening Ben took me to a nice little jazz bar in the heart of Haskovo. A friend of his from Bulgaria, Leo, joined us to have a couple of beers there. This place had lived for some time and was packed with old instruments, pictures books or stuff people left there.
Leo was a very chatty chap. And suddenly we spoke about katanas, the name Musashi was mentioned and seconds later he started a long talk about the Edo period in Japanese history naming all the major players of the big clans. I listened perplexed.
It was early morning when the last discussions were exhausted andd we found sleep.

Day 82: Zlatograd-Kardzhali

Must have gotten out of bed one the wrong foot this morning. I had to drag myself these 60-something kilometers to Kardzhali.
The weather was fin though, just a little colder than expected and traffic was low. Can't complain about circumstances really. The road through the hills was easy leading me through worn down villages, where sometimes there was music coming from the center, probably weddings. I didn't dare to intrude and just listened a bit from the distance.
The highlight of the day was then shortly before reaching todays destination. The landscape opened, wide valleys let me see far into the distance, where I saw some mountains with impressive cliffs. The past days, there were always mountains of thick air obscuring this kind of view. It was a nice change.
After having coffee I got picked up by Rado who kindly let's me used his "warmshower".

Day 81: Xanthi-Zlatograd

Yesterdays climbing session turned into a slack-line session for me. Anyway, with the shoes I had, buldering was not really fun. The flat loose shoes I wore did not allow to bring enough pressure one the small structures of the climbing. But it was great to use the fine muscles again, since those got tired rather quickly from walking the slack-line, I presume cycling does not train thise muscles much.
The eavening ended in a tavern with Eftychia and a couple of her friends. We were drinking Tsipuro, a schnapps, that ist made of the remains of pressed grapes. Even though it ist a hard alcohol, it tastes relatively mild. I loved listening too the discussions, mostly in Greek, although somebody always gave me and aggregation of the discussion in English when I looked completly lost. I struck me how beautiful the language is. I heard it a lot as a child, but it has been buried deep in the memory box.
By the time this other, very greek looking Greek finished his talk about the making of Tsipuro, which was probably triggered by use ordering the last round, it was early morning.
I got up at half past eight with quite some difficulty. No headache, but I was a bit unsteady on my feet, feeling dizzy, or like someone was spinning me all night. Lucky Eftychia went back to bed after goodbye and I, envied her a bit.
After a double espresso I hit the road at ten, dreading what I knew was ahead of me.
The weather was perfect, the sun was out, the sky was blue, only little wind and temperatures were unusually mild. I had to take three smaller passes today to get back to Bulgaria. Soon after entering the valley leading me into the mountains, brown became the predominant color again. But the topography of these mountains make the region very interesting. A little color was added by the orange jackets of the hunters crawling through the hills, but most if the time I would just heart them.
Before the second pass I had a snack-break, during which the voice from a minaret was echoing through the valleys. It sounded very nice and I first thought there were two minarets until the last sound lost itself after many repercussions in the many valleys around me.
After the second pass where most of the ascent was a 10% slope to climb I was definitely and completly sober again feeling actually very good. The third pass was then the border to Bulgaria.
In Zlatograd I decided to call it a day. I was not exhausted but tired. It was a magnificent ride today one good roads with low traffic forming beautiful serpentine through the mountains offering enchanting views.

Day 78: Marchevo-Drama

After having diner last night, suddenly, around ten I felt hungry like you do after smoking certain herbs. So I emptied my lunchbox. There is nothing like a good old souper (the french one), only I had olives, sausage and bread, loads of it...
So today I started later, avoiding the morning cold, launching into a beautiful day, with moderate temperatures. Ideal riding weather. The mountains east and especially south looked amazing. Having the sun in the face, they drew lines in different shades of gray through the the misty air. I spontaneously spread my arms oberfrick a downhill stretch and shouted "panta rhei". Felt like flying.
Boarder crossing was easy. They asked me where I go today and tomorrow, but I think it was more curiosity than protocol.
In Kato Nevrokopodi I had lunch break. I sat for coffee in the sun in front of a small barand ended up chatting with two gentlemen, both having spent decades in Germany.
After the break I had a small pass too climb and it was as if the tires had glue on them. I should first eat, then have coffee, instead of having coffee, then eat and jump one the bike.
The ride downhill was nice. Now need for the windstoper layer this time, even though I had a bit of head wind.
Looking at the landscape I realized that there were some colors again and started singing: OUT OF THE BROWN, out of the brown, INTO THE GREEN, into the green..."
Those of you who have the pleasure listening to some german radio station, where you get a lot of advertisements, including for the station itself, probably get the hint.
I was only riding through the outskirts of Drama to stock up food and have another coffee (too fill up the water bottles). The guy from the grocery shop came after me after I left to give me a small bottle of ouzo for a gift, which, was highly appreciated.
On the side of the street there were a lot of white balls, and it took a moment before I realized that, this plane used largely for cotton cultures. I did not know that Europe produces cotten.
I found a spot for camping, not the nicest but in time. Yeah, camping again, last time was in Montenegro. I was looking forward to this after a long period in, the cold.

Day 77: Blagoevgrad-Marchevo

At seven I was on the road! As I was informed the day before, the Kroumovas went too Sofia early in, the morning.
It was freaking cold. And, the sunrise was only half an hour later. So I took a coffee waiting, for the sun to rise. At half past eight, seventeen kilometers further, in Simitli, I went for another coffee. The water in my, bottles was frozen (and the bike was in the apartment over night) and my fingers were close to...
From there the road went steadily up, not steep, but, enough, to make you sweat. Arriving on the pass, I was soaked, pulled my rain jacket on and, went for the next Oismall town for another coffee. These 10km where hell, mostly because my, headband was wet. The cold stung my front.
Big
But in the cafe I could not really lay out my clothes to dry. So I went outside town, found a spot with, trees beside the road, made a piles of wood (thanks to the cold it was dry) poured some petrol over it and had a fire in now time. I had lunch, warmed my, feet, dryed the socks and watched the snow covered mountains east of me... Much better...
With dry feet and a refilled stomach I started for another 50km. But I, got lucky, it was mostly downhill along a small river (steep) that joined a larger one (not so steep).
I was exhausted. The cold demands probably 1.5 times the energy. Beside it was the second day in a row one long distance with 1500+ meters in gain of altitude. And one top of this, because of the time zones, I ended up with bearly six hours sleep.
Shortly before Marchevo I had a flashback again. It's hard to describe what triggered the memories this time to wriggle their way back into the consciousness. When I saw the room in the hotel it was clear, that this ghost has not quite faded yet. Again it is hard to describe. But what is striking though how well certain images from the past match the present. These memories must be from about two decades ago. I certainly dis not realize I was in Bulgaria back then. Fascinating...

Day 76: Vinica-Blagoevgrad

This morning again, I had to give myself a notch to get out in the cold. It was really nice having breakfast in the dining room next to the fire. But at 8 a.m. I was on the road.
The cold air was stinging my nose and there was a cold headwind comig from the small valley I was about to enter.
I wet slow, so I could carefully breath through my nose and having less wind in my face. This mode of cycling was with light gentle moves and the images I saw in one of the BBC planet earth series of a lynx walking through the snow occurred to me. Actually when this cteature walks it looks like he is floating through his environment. The white breath in the cold air is bearly visible. Very inspiring...
The ride was nice, around 1pm, climbing the last 300 m I finally thawed and sweat a lot. Now problems at the border, they waved me through as usual.
Even I was a bit afraid of freezing again one the ride downhill, it turned out to be nice too.
I tried too enter Blagoevgrad on the north east side, but they renewed the bridge and started by tearing down, the old on. So I ended up zigzagging towards the town like to a pass, which annoyed me quite a bit, because I was getting tired and eager too finally reach my destination, the apartment of the Kroumovas my first couchsurfing hosts on this journey.
After circling a bit more around my destination trying too, find it I got a warm reception and was even invited to dine with Stoyan, Ekaterina and their kids. Thanks a ton for the nice eavening!