Greece cycling trip, Day 2

 Day 2, 12.10.2013, Radovets-Mezek

DST-62.6 km, AVS: 15.5 km/h, TM:4:01 h

Heading from Radovets to the tower where Baldwin was defeated nearby Matochina in the beginning of the 13th century I crossed a very beautiful landscape. Unlike Strandja there are no forests and you have a broad view over the terrain. That's something I adore. BTW, the road between Radovets and Varnik was, despite expectations, not shown on my Bulgaria Garmin GPS map my karta.bg .

Trail between Radovets and Varnik

Varnik

A few more words about my hosts. They made me a great breakfast-several slices of bread covered with salami and thick layer of cheese. Two of them they put on my bag although I kindly asked them not to do so :) Vankata took me to the spot where the trail begins since as mentioned above it was not on my map. Later on he even called me to check if everything was going well. Perfectly nice people!

According to Vankata there is no bridge between Lesovo and Radovets over the river (Tundja). In the past there used to be such but has been destroyed by the river. Pay attention because on the Domino map of Bulgaria it is there waiting for you!

A perfect example for waisting public money-information centre in Matochina-closed, no visitors, no people.

Жадна съм.

Искам и аз!

 И аз искам!

The view from the tower is wonderful, 360 degrees.

view from the tower

village of Matochina

selfexplanatory

These guys just making me aware of my flat front tyre 5km before Svilengrad

Прочетете надписа! Евала. А съг нема веке такъви работи :(

Next I visited the Thracian (as it later will turn out in Greece they are called Makedonian) tomb in Mezek. The guys at the reception were very nice and kindly suggested I should sleep at the fortress as there was a guardman throughout the night which I embraced as the memory of the theft in Romania was still fresh. I shot a forbidden pic inside.

Entrance

Street art on the way to the tomb

There is a cycling path between Svilengrad and Mezek. Mezek is the village with the best preserved in Bulgaria fortress with original walls and towers up to 6 m above ground level. Back to the cycling path. It was a part of some EU funded project. However! I saw no people using it. I only met two guys on bikes but they were paddling next to that cycling path, not on it. Two problems: number of people cycling in Svilengrad too low. Second-the path itself is rubbish! It is made out of concrete. Consequently uneven and unpleasant. Some standard needs to be adopted in Bulgaria regarding cycling path construction and commissioning. Because you can see such rubbish in even in Sofia. I'm wondering if releasing payment for such an execution isn't some kind of abuse.

The fortress of Mezek is really great! Part of a project executed by the Municipality (together with the said cycling path but more successful). Entrance fee 3 BGN, was free until August this year. The road to the fortress has about 20% inclination!! Tough for a cyclist. There is free water down across the shop, so first take your water and then go up to spend the night, don't do like me-I had to go down and then up again...

perfect view from the fortress over the village of Mezek

inside the best preserved tower

I mean this one ;)

In the evening I am wondering which way to take the next morning-to the fortress of Lyutitza and Villa Armira or directly to Ivaylovgrad or go a bit back and enter Greece from neaerby Svilengrad...The next morning I'll be having more to wonder about :))

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Northern Greece Cycling Trip

Day 1, 11.10.2013, Fakia-Radovets

My Greece cycling trip started deep in Bulgaria. It took me more than two days to step onto Greek ground.

First thing I noticed was no frost after Momina carkva. Several days before here in Fakia we had a very severe frost that ruined all our vegetables. Obviously that's the river's influence. So if you plan to build you a house or a bungallow somewhere try to avoid places nearby rivers. They bring frost.

Down on the road I saw a luxurios camper similar to the camper used in the movie "Meet the Fockers". It came from Hungary. Its owners have probably won a great amount of money, knacked some jackpot maybe and now they don't need to work. They can only travel around the world, they do not feel the need to build up something. Unlike such people ordinary people constantly strive to achieve, to create something, we are ambitious. Why would people do that? My opinion-in order to get someone's attention, approval, sympathy. CONCLUSION: ambitious people are weak. If you've got an ambitious boss at work he/she is an asshole, don't forget this.

Last time when I passed through Elhovo (this year's spring) I again ate at the "Biraria". There was a problem with my steak-it was too small compared to the weight stated on the menu and it came with a great delay. And you know how important is time management to a cyclist. I complained to the manager, he excused hisself. This time he came first to me recognizing me and even shook my hand saying he was happy to see me again in his restaurant. He even gave me a can from those energizing drinks.

Two stories I'd like to share from Radovets.
1) A neighbor of my host (the host is the family of a friend of mine Tonkata) was attending a wedding ceremony in Kazanlak. A guy from Sofia sat next to him and started talking stuff like Sofians are the greatest, they've got all the technologies, people from the villages are stupid etc. Our guy naturally wanted to revenge and he decided to do this by making him drunk. So he started drinking together with him rakia that he brought, 55 degrees. While the Sofia guy drank hard (бая поемал) our guy just touched the glass with the tip of his tongue and even added some water into the rakia. Consequently the Sofia guy got drank quite fast.

BTW, My hosts were wonderful again. They are extremely friendly and helpful in any direction. Apart, they have a great rabbit meat from which I ate two large portions (I felt ashamed) with marinade peppers and garlic. Very tasty!!

2) Radovets and Ustrem are close to each other. In the past, in order to bring some rain people used to make a kurban. People from Ustrem stole a Radovets' sheep and made the kurban out of it. Then in rained indeed, however only in Radovets :))) (By Tonkata)

Tabac is a means of living here

Nice view at the Tundja river bank

I always spot garbage next to the road. This time it was a full one!

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