Slept well, John on his super firm wire base bed and Liz on her's with the hollow sag. The dormitory building is used by construction workers in the summer and school children in the winter. A good night's sleep until 4am when the skies were brilliantly lit up and we had sound effects to accompany! The wind had started around ten pm and it had got cloudier, so we knew there was a storm brewing and hoped it would happen before morning. Torrential rain, and the temperature dropped. So hope that is all for the next five days.
Began to get light at 5am, accompanied by roosters crowing and dogs barking. Got up at six, breakfast was at 6.30. John mended his first flat tyre. We set off at 7am, with the temperature a cool 13 degrees. It was up and up and up, straight into a 11km climb on a rough road to the border, through forested hill country. For the first time in weeks we had jackets on, it was 13 degree when we started.
We were checked out of Bulgaria and moved through the Green Zone to the Turkish Customs. Australians paid €15 to get their visa, Canadians €45 but NZers are free. So we waited in line for a stamp on our passport for 1\2 hour, then we were all processed and ready to go.
One more stop to have the passport checked, and up hill again for a few more ks before descending. There were major roadworks underway and the road was very muddy so we had to take care. Once out of the forest area we rode up and down through scrubby hill country, with lots of rocks and scrub. It was a easamt view over the hill tops. There were a lot of places where roadworks were underway.
The first town after the border provided us with Turkish coffee, Turkish delight, and baklava. The shop owner came over to be in the photo, then produced his business card with email address to send a photo to. John had another flat tyre to change. There was a food stop after 35ks, at which four young police turned up to sit and watch us. The temperature climbed up to reach a pleasant 27 by lunchtime.
Then it was up and down hill all the way. There was one 3.5km downhill on an excellent road surface. We arrived in town at 1.20 and easily found our hotel. John had one local say "welcome to our country" as he cycled past. There was a policeman waiting at the street corner to show us the hotel. Showered and changed, we went for a stroll. The hotel is in the centre of town, there are about 80000 people here. It is mostly pedestrian area with narrow streets. Full range of clothing from latest Western fashion to women wearing burkas. A huge number of stores selling gold jewellery. Lots of Turkish food outlets, selling pastries and wraps and other traditional foods. Came back for a siesta, then went for a drink with Alan. At seven we were all collected by bus to go to a municipal reception. We were shown a number of restored Greek wine merchants homes from the early 1900s. This is a local tourism initiative. Then we went to a restaurant for a meal and reception provided by the mayor and deputy mayor. It was a delicious meal, soup and main course of chicken and rice with vegetables, in a very nice restaurant, with gypsy music for entertainment. It was very much appreciated that the city put on a civic reception and dinner for us all. They are working very hard to get more tourism here. Then we all walked back to our hotel, and retired to bed at 10.30.
Began to get light at 5am, accompanied by roosters crowing and dogs barking. Got up at six, breakfast was at 6.30. John mended his first flat tyre. We set off at 7am, with the temperature a cool 13 degrees. It was up and up and up, straight into a 11km climb on a rough road to the border, through forested hill country. For the first time in weeks we had jackets on, it was 13 degree when we started.
We were checked out of Bulgaria and moved through the Green Zone to the Turkish Customs. Australians paid €15 to get their visa, Canadians €45 but NZers are free. So we waited in line for a stamp on our passport for 1\2 hour, then we were all processed and ready to go.
One more stop to have the passport checked, and up hill again for a few more ks before descending. There were major roadworks underway and the road was very muddy so we had to take care. Once out of the forest area we rode up and down through scrubby hill country, with lots of rocks and scrub. It was a easamt view over the hill tops. There were a lot of places where roadworks were underway.
The first town after the border provided us with Turkish coffee, Turkish delight, and baklava. The shop owner came over to be in the photo, then produced his business card with email address to send a photo to. John had another flat tyre to change. There was a food stop after 35ks, at which four young police turned up to sit and watch us. The temperature climbed up to reach a pleasant 27 by lunchtime.
Then it was up and down hill all the way. There was one 3.5km downhill on an excellent road surface. We arrived in town at 1.20 and easily found our hotel. John had one local say "welcome to our country" as he cycled past. There was a policeman waiting at the street corner to show us the hotel. Showered and changed, we went for a stroll. The hotel is in the centre of town, there are about 80000 people here. It is mostly pedestrian area with narrow streets. Full range of clothing from latest Western fashion to women wearing burkas. A huge number of stores selling gold jewellery. Lots of Turkish food outlets, selling pastries and wraps and other traditional foods. Came back for a siesta, then went for a drink with Alan. At seven we were all collected by bus to go to a municipal reception. We were shown a number of restored Greek wine merchants homes from the early 1900s. This is a local tourism initiative. Then we went to a restaurant for a meal and reception provided by the mayor and deputy mayor. It was a delicious meal, soup and main course of chicken and rice with vegetables, in a very nice restaurant, with gypsy music for entertainment. It was very much appreciated that the city put on a civic reception and dinner for us all. They are working very hard to get more tourism here. Then we all walked back to our hotel, and retired to bed at 10.30.
The hotel is very tired. The lifts are interesting, they have only an outside door so you need to keep back off the wall as you move through the floors. We are on the fifth floor and have an air con unit,which most people do not have. Though double glazed, there is a lot of noise through the windows.
It was a short ride today of 50ks in 2 hours 42 mins, at an average of 18.3.
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