pics #2019 - #2055

Saturday January 21st - Red Electric Skywalker
This morning, I am lazy to stand up, which always happens on rainy days. Temperatures being below zero, we have snow. task of the day: clean around the house and the path, to the stable and to the road. Three visitors arrive for midday and I happily follow them for lunch, my belly is also happy: they brought banitsa, ayurvedic cake, ... While those people enjoy the sun and sliding on the snow with inflatable boats, I got back to clean the path. I come home for a tea, yoga practice and diner. Last long talk at night with Rosen.

           Six week old puppies

Sunday January 22nd - White Self-Existing Wizard
Today: Leaving the farm. Friends of Nadia are joining for breakfast. Once more it is a delightful meal. While cold wind blows and some snow falls, Rosen suggests me to wait for better days to cycle, but I am determined to go, besides tomorrow temperature will rise above freezing point. So back on track, on a snowy mountain road. During a upward slope, two dogs pass me and are accompanying me until the top. They are clearly waiting for me, amazing.
I am careful while going down, but turns wide and the little snow are of no danger. I have a bit of knee pain, only on the right one. Nothing compared to the pain after leaving Prague in December 2010. The road follows in the flat. After being confirmed that there are hotels in Borovets, I go up there for a last climb. It is a ski station, with high class hotels. I treat myself with a four-star with swimming pool, for 70Lv or 36€. The groom offers me to park my bicycle, for which I handle him my vehicle keys. It's funny to be along the bourgeoisie! Some time relaxing swimming, then out to buy vegetables. As usual in a hotel, I cook with the stove in the bathroom, taking care not to be betrayed by the smoke detector

           The dogs who followed/guided me

           Closer to Rila mountains

Monday January 23rd - Blue Rhythmic Eagle
I go down for breakfast, eating in prevision of the long step to be done to Kardhzahali: muesli, bread, salads, next to cakes and banitsa. Then downhill, after changing my brake-pads, but the handle is now blocked when I used it. Thus going down a rather cleaned but steep road with only one brake. As appears the central Bulgarian plain, I discover green fields, a color that stayed hidden under snow up till now. It also means that it is possible to camp from now on! Tonight I have hosts in Pazardzhık where I arrive under a discrete Sun, perfect for a 9000km picture. Nıkolay is Bulgarian and Natasha is Russian, and the calm Labrador dog and a cat. Nıkolay is dynamic happy and communicative. Artist, environmentalist, with strong convictions, we have quite some subjects to talk about. Natasha is a devoted and discrete hostess.

           Green fields, Rodopi mountains in the distance

           9000km

Tuesday January 24th - Yellow Harmonic Warrior
This resting day starts ideally, with yoga practice and porridge. News on internet give me the following weather forecast: Wednesday, covered and rain, Thursday, covered and wet snow, Friday, covered and snow. My project to pass the lower mountains in the South-East to enter Greece becomes risky. instead I will take the direct route to Edirne, Turkish city on the border with Bulgaria and Greece. The other bad news concerns EU ceasing to import Iran oil. The question is not whether Nato will attack this country or not: the question is when? This is not going to make it easier to get a Visa for Iran.

Tonight these worries are forgotten: it is Nikolay's birthday. An opportunity to taste his home made Raikia, around a good diner, with his parents and friends. The evening ends in music: he plays percussions to support my guitar playing and introduces me to French Reggae bands.

           Pazardzhik

Wednesday January 25th - Red Resonant Earth
Nikolay left early for work. Natasha follows me down with Clara the dog to give me a warm goodbye hugh, and fruits. The weather forecast was right: it is a constant drizzle. Such and unpleasant rain that I go through Plovdiv without giving it a look. My priority is to ride the longest distance before camping. With such a weather the touristic aspect is replaced by a simple steady riding pace. A good step each time. It keeps raining after camp is set. I got wet today, except from the feet: my new shoes are good.
When the noise of rain stops, I prepare dinner. But rained did not stop, with the dropping of temperatures at night it became snow. This combined with a strong wind makes it impossible to light the stove. I have a raw diner, raw onion makes tough guys, good for tomorrow.

Thursday January 26th - White Galactic Mirror
It is quite cold this morning. Inside, it got narrower due to the weight of the accumulated snow. Everything is white outside. I have breakfast while snowplows regularly pass on the road. Packing the tent is difficult: my fingers lose dexterity with the cold. Then I have to free the bike from the snow and get all my stuff to the road, walking in 20cm of snow for the least. The bicycle can ride, but the gear-shift-cables froze, so I can't change speed. There is an accident on the road so I am in a lane of stopped vehicles. The men from the truck behind invite me to load the bicycle and give me a lift to Haskovo. Left at a gas station, I will warm and dry my clothes there before getting on the road by myself: the road covered is still ride-able and tomorrow's weather should be worse.
Snow keeps falling. Not much traffic on the road. Tonight on TV, I will see that there was a storm alert on the region. In order to manually change speed, I must break the frozen derailleur cables. Once more, this Rohloff speedhub proves it is well-thought! Drivers honk at me, waving their hand, cheering me. Others slow down to take a picture. Tonight they will publish it on Facebook to show off to their friends. Do they realize that I struggle in difficult conditions? No, I am a circus monster. I fall several times, sliding in the fresh snow. It is not hurting as my speed is competing with the one of a sprinting slug. With the cold, snow froze on my jacket, making it rigid. In Harmanli where is today's stop, a big building is homne of three hotels. At the entrance of this building, a woman helps me to get the bicycle up and pushes to give me a room. I intend to explain her that I do not have the requested 30Lv: it is all what I have left and I need to keep some for food tomorrow, and eventually train. Her only English vocabulary that she keeps repeating is "No problem". The other people around do not give any help. Soon, I am in a hotel room, a shabby one but it is warm. In such a situation, cooking is done in the bathroom. When I go down to pay, this time the woman is unhappy with the insufficient money, and it is my turn to make use of many "no problem".

           Morning view from the tent, camp 77, the first of 2012

Friday January 27th - Blue Solar Storm
I go down to the hotel reception to get my ID back, preparing my argumentation to not pay the complete price: the air-co blows hot air, te cold, then stops, the bath -a pretentious jaccuzzi on their documentation- leaks in the bathroom which door does not close, last one: the key ring is a dickhead. But there is no one at the reception. I load the bicycle outside and wait while discreetly looking for my ID. As the employees of the surrounding desks do not give me the slightest attention, I take more freedom and end up finding my ID in a drawer. Proud and happy, I leave the hotel.
But the bicycle can't start: the cold blocked the lock. I push the bicycle in the sun, lifting the back wheel as Dutch bicycle thieves do - the back wheel lock is blocked. Thinking that the law of karma makes me pay for my dishonesty with the hostel. With he help of the sun and WD40, the lock gets free and I can ride on a well packed snow, in the sun, to the Greek border. I do not go there to support their economy: I already did by buying a heavy majority of German made gear. No, I go to withdraw Euro that will be exchanged for Iranian cash. In the latter country, put aside from the international community by many sanctions, there are no cash machines: travelers must exchange their paper money to obtain Riyals, Euro is the most favored currency.
I ride without troubles until entering Greece. There one must stop its vehicle and walk to the customs' desk, while in other countries, those where right next to the road. In Greece the landscape is hilly, it goes slowly up and down. The wide road is deserted and cleaned from snow. The sun disappears and a face wind blows. I have to stop regularly to manually change my speed on the hub. The snow that accumulated on Bulgarian roads freezes and forms small stalactites. I reach the border village where I withdraw Euros before passing through customs. I cross a no man's land, road fenced on each side and dogs on the other side. With a presence of soldier, that looks serious! Shortly after the last guerite where a Greek soldier "is of duty" appears a guerite where a Turkish soldier who "is of duty" too. The custom officer stamps my passport with a gracious movement: not only uneducated brutes are in the army. Now a last stretch to Edirne where I arrive when the muezzin calls to prayer. First shock: I am finally in a Muslim country! But i do not see many faithfull ones rushing to mosquees, despite being on a Friday, which is the holy day in Islam. I must find an internet cafe to read my hosts answers from Couchsurfıng, Warmshowers and Bewelcome. First, withdraw Turkish liras, but I already reached my daily maximum so I got some from an exchange office after crashing three ATMs -running under windoz. I find no positive answer while logging in the hospex websites, so I write a mass of last minute requests. Half an hour later, I am rescued from hotels by Alıcan. We meet in the center and go to his place, loading the bicycle in a taxi.
Student in medicine, quiet and hospitable, he introduced me to his friends and room-mates. Beer, cigarettes and good 70's rock. I get acquainted to eat sunflower seeds their way. We get to bed late. A pleasant first introduction to turkish hospitality.
There I am in Turkey, in advance on my plan! More accurate: in advance on this year's plans, because when I left Utrecht I was planning to celebrate my 29th birthday in Istanbul!

           Bulgaria

           Greece

           Turkey

Saturday January 27th to Sunday January 28th
Yellow Planetary Sun to Red Spectral Dragon
Each morning, I enjoy a copious Turkish breakfast, which is based on the fantastic fours: olives, tomatoes, tea and cheese. Then we go to the city -and my host refuses that I pay anything- in a small bus decorated with the arms of modern Turkey and Ottoman Empire. I clearly feel a difference of culture, people are more friendly, e.g. the bus can stop 100m further if we ask for it; We do not push buttons to stop but just call it too the driver. It is freezing in the street, very slippery in places. We wander near the bazar, going to a pub.
Edirne is a pretty city, we find a big mosquee built atop the hill: the great Selimiye Camii which cupola is wider than the famous Hagia Sophia of Istanbul. It is a student city with many pubs and cafes. It has always been the crossing point of various people, and many of its citizens have a european ascendency. Turkish leaving in Balkanic countries, that once were ottoman belongings, my interlocutors tell about their grand-fathers coming to Thracia from today's Serbia, Bulgaria, or Greece.

           Edirne
Turkish influence on Europe stayed as can be seen in Budapest hamam's or Serbian tasty burek. The refusal for entry in the EU is simple: with its size, Turkey would have the same power that  Germany or France have, and this would break Western European monopoly in the Union's power. Besides, integrating Turkey means having borders with Iran, Iraq, Syria, which would force European foreign relationship to consider those countries as partners rather than remote enemies. Nowadays the stance blindly follows ZeUnitedStates's. But Turkey is not interested anymore with EU. It has witnessed what happened with the newest members: they are nothing but new markets for big companies based in Germany, France, Austria, Italy, as seen from many stores' and banks' signs in central and eastern EU. Turkey stopped playing Brussels' loser's game, who kept demanding new laws to be passed prior to consider its entry in the EU.
I also learn about the branches of Islam in Turkey. There are rather strict Sunnis, and more free Alivites, similar with Shias. The Alivites do not go to Mosque but to a praying room lead by a "Dede", a "grandfather": he is more of a spiritual counselor than a leader. Although I am in a Muslim country I see less head-scarved women than in my district in Utrecht, populated with many Morrocan families- which was enough to make it a dangerous area in the eye of Dutch sissies, who are afraid to see three young men talking in the street with a Morrocan accent.

           Selimiye Mosque