Tidbits from the last two days…

Noteworthy food:
I had a thin crust hand formed pizza with pancetta, very finely sliced chili peppers, and a handful of arugula on top. It was fantastic!

I don’t think a day has gone by without me eating at least one Shopska salad, the one with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, green peppers, and white cheese on top. They are very tasty!

One other interesting meal I had was called a chicken steak, it was basically a chicken boneless thigh flattened out, and then cooked with a strip of bacon on either side in the pan. A great idea and it was very tasty! Bacon is universal!

Other:
We drove to Nessebar about one hour away, a UN world heritage site. Pretty cool, but like with many world heritage sites I have visited, it is dominated by souvenir shops and restaurants.

We came back and went out to the beach near the complex were staying in. Saw what appeared to be a team building exercise, A group of about 10 people who shouldn’t be running on the beach were doing a relay race, looking like they were going to be sick! They asked Paul to take a group picture of them.

I swam in The Black Sea several times during the two days we were here. It is very cool and refreshing, but very nice to sit out on the beach in the sun and get hot, go in the water and cool off, come back out and warm up in the sun again. Duh, humans really enjoy being at the beach for this reason!

Spent a lot of time hearing about some of Paul’s more interesting current and past court cases, he is a trial lawyer and it’s interesting to hear how his mind works in dealing with people who are involved in fraudulent claims of injury trying to get money from business owners or insurance companies.

We have to drive back to Sofia today, doing the same 4 Hours we did a couple days ago. It is somewhat clouded over today, so we’ve been lucky to have hit the weather pretty well!

We stay in a hotel tonight, get up very early in the morning for return flights of many many hours…

The trip is inevitably winding down with long travels awaiting, but it’s been great to see so much of Bulgaria, and appreciate the good health and great fortune that allows me to hop on a bicycle for days at a time…

In Sozopol… Lots of walking around the old city. Also swam in the Black Sea!! Very nice weather!

Our last cycling day 😂

Official:
Day 9 – Dospat Dam – Velingrad Today we ride among three beautiful dams, century old coniferous forest and vast meadows and finish in Velingrad, the spa capital of Bulgaria. There are over 90 curative and preventative springs and another natural phenomenon as well as the Kleptuza, the biggest Karst spring in Bulgaria, with an average discharge of 1200 litres of ice-cold water per second. Relax in the thermal water pools to recover and reflect on a great ride before our farewell dinner. Spa Hotel Dvoresta. Ride 65 km. 700 m ascent/700 m descent.

Me:
There are biking days, and there are glorious biking days that remind one’s soul of the gift that cycling travel and good health really is. Today was the latter…

Cycling around two lakes formed behind two dams, we rode uphill as much as down. about 700 m up total today, that’s the equivalent of riding up Hatcher Pass. But somehow the downs seemed to go on forever!

(Speaking of Hatcher Pass, I forgot to mention that yesterday when we were riding through the steep canyons, part of it reminded me of that old narrow part of HP road before they exploded the road wider. You know, the part where people used to spray paint things on the rock wall? Remember Rory? Ha ha!)

At our lunch break, Pano had horse meat sausage. An unusual opportunity that he said tasted “interesting” but his tone suggested no need for me to ask to try a bite. I had a grilled chicken thigh and absolutely delicious grilled potatoes with dill and garlic. Scrumptious!!

About a dozen German motorcyclists arrived after us, glad we had ordered already. They were uniformly overweight compared to our group.

On arrival at the Dvoretsa Spa Hotel, I quickly showered and did laundry, then went to the spa place to get a 30 minute massage which the guides had asked at lunch if we wanted one. Valerie, Herb and I agreed to get one. It turned out to be an excessive oil skin rub, my least favorite style, not much depth to it at all. Well, you never know until you try! Valerie just showed up poolside and said her massage (by the same woman) was too hard! Whatever…

For a while, all of us hung out by the giant pool at this hotel, there’s probably enough rooms to fit 500 people here, but it appears there’s only about a dozen! Gorgeous sprawling pool and on one end and it was an entire structure with waterslides and such on the other end. Paul and I ordered a Gin tonic poolside, that was nice! After hanging out by the pool for a little while, we all cleaned up and grouped for the final dinner together.

We walked a short distance through a very nice park from the hotel to the restaurant that we had seen advertised on the ride in.

The meal at the restaurant was fantastic, everyone raved about the food, it was very similar traditional Bulgarian menu as usual, but very very well done. I ordered shops good salad and a pig knuckle that was slow roasted and very delicious. Bulgarians eat very well! We added a local Merlot that was delightful, topped it off with a bit of rakia and I had fresh strawberries over Vanilla ice cream. Very very good!

There was a really good five piece band actually playing background music at the restaurant, some traditional Bulgarian music, Greek music, and Gypsy music as they were all gypsy musicians. That opened a discussion at the table about gypsies in Bulgaria, the perceptions and realities of who they are and what they do. But apparently it’s common for them to be outstanding musicians! These guys certainly were!

Stan was too sleepy to continue so he walked back to the hotel with Pano, the rest of us took a quick loop around the town with Orlan before heading back to the hotel. There is a great pedestrian walkway through the center of the town square lined with restaurants and shops, most of which were already closed. It is about a month early for the tourist season here, but it’s obvious Velingrad is a happening place in the heart of winter and summer! After all, it is billed as the spa capital of the Balkans!!!!!!

Some nice toasts at dinner to thank our guides for their efforts over the past 10 days. Hard to believe this trip is over already, but all that remains is the few days for Paul and I to see the Black Sea. All of us will drive to the airport in the morning, Paul and I then will get a rental car and drive the four hours to the Black Sea arriving there around dinner time.

Bulgaria has been very nice, I would certainly return here to explore more. We talked with Orlan about doing another bike trip here or Romania or Greece, he can organize all of those so we’ll see if any of that talk materializes into another trip someday…

Yesterday:
First a couple comments about yesterday since I was too tired last night to write any notes. The start of the day was a downhill ride for nearly 20 km through Alpine ski country ending at a small village where we had a fantastic lunch! A small village that reminded me of my perception of Bavaria! Tho I’ve never been to Bavaria…

The end of the day was a spectacular ride through narrow canyon carved by a river through the marble mountains. The Devils Throat!! Ooohhhh… But spectacular! We also toured a huge cave that the river runs through, it was pretty cool, but if you’ve been in caves before, well, then this was yet another one…

We stayed in a guesthouse up in the hills, nothing to do up here but hang out, and our dinner was served at the guesthouse as well. The only heated room in the guesthouse was the restaurant area, so the bedroom was very cold! Thankful for extra blankets!

I think the most interesting component of the evening was meeting up with a couple that we first saw at the cave who are cycling around Asia and Europe for a full year. (They were on Surly Ogres, which is the bike I have on order!) Australians are permitted sabbatical from their employers every 5 to 7 years, it is very common apparently. Wish to hell America could get on board with this idea! How fantastic would that be?

After dinner, Bularian soccer finals match came on the television, most of us stayed up to watch for a while, it was fun to watch the guides excitement about it! Then to bed and almost instant sleep…

Today Official:
Day 8 – Rodopi – Dospat Dam Today will be nothing short of spectacular! Back on our bikes for a descent back through the 300m high walls of the Trigrad Gorge before a gradual incline takes us up into and through Bulgaria’s longest gorge, Buinovo. Known by locals as the The Wolf’s Leap, the 10 km-long gorge narrows to several metres at some points as the river cuts through the marble rock. You’ll spot entrances to many caves along the way and we’ll stop to visit the beautiful 5-story tall Yagodina cave filled with fascinating formations. We end our ride today at Dospat village located picturesquely on the shores of a dammed lake. We look out onto the dam from our hotel. Hotel Panorama. Ride 45 km. 800 m ascent/700 m descent.

Me:
After a tasty breakfast of paper thin pancakes with apricot jelly, fig jelly, and delightful honey, we started down the hill in the very crisp mountain air!

Yada yada yada riding, yada yada yada riding. Eventually we got to Yagodina cave. Now this was a real cave, nearly a kilometer long hike through this cave, was not terribly interesting but hey, a kilometer long cave? How many of those are around! So pretty cool really…

As usual the vendors selling all kinds of tourist junk on their stands around the cave entrance. One of the more interesting things I had was three tastes of honey. One was regular honey, tasted very light and sweet. One was called what the woman said was Viagra honey, it had a slight minty flavor. I might’ve misunderstood what she was saying, for all I know she was saying something completely different than what I heard, but that’s the word I heard. The last Honey I tasted was strawberry honey, and it was absolutely amazingly good! You could taste the hint of strawberry flowers in it, I really don’t think it was flavored honey I think it was honey produced from bees housed near strawberry plants. Fantastic! But of course I can’t buy any and bring it back, customs won’t allow food items to be brought in.

We had lunch at a nice restaurant in the sun under umbrellas near the cave entrance, I had a bowl of tasty beans soup which is a common Bulgarian favorite, and a lasagna that was made with minced pork in layers of potatoes and onions with some cheese on top. Very tasty as I am a huge potato fan! The Bulgarian version of Greek moussaka I believe…

The cycling in the afternoon was pleasant, lots of uphills and down hills, almost an equal amount of climbing and descending, mostly through hilly farmlands was very peaceful to cycle through. Eventually we ended up at the Panorama hotel in Dospat which overlooks the lake behind Bulgaria’s second largest dam. The scenery is spectacular that is for sure!

We passed many people in groups of motorcycles today, or maybe I should say they passed us; apparently the same route we’re on is fancied by motorcycle groups. I must admit to a little bit of bias against them, they really don’t do any more work than somebody riding in a car except for the wind in their face. Yes, I guess I am revealing my bike snobbery.

On arrival at the hotel, the restaurant was sunny and the three of us that arrived first had an ice cold Shomansko beer and a plate of hazelnuts. Priceless!

Today is the point in the trip in which I suddenly realize it’s almost over, tomorrow is our last cycling day. The day after that is departure day for all the group. This is definitely a shorter trip than I usually take, two weeks is the common duration, this being only 10 days it definitely went quicker.

Another nice dinner, I’m pretty sure there’s more of me now than I was when I started this trip! Seems like the food has been fantastic and high volume! The dinner lingered for quite some time, a bottle of ball Garian wine helped to slow things down as well as a massive delay on the main dishes. I was 90% done with my dinner before Stan and Paul got their chicken dish. There were some nice sunsets out of the lake from the restaurant, hopefully I captured a good photo below.

Everyone else faded out and left, but I remained with Orlan and Pano to talk about their lives a bit. Both entrepreneurs, doing the cycling trips and other jobs as well. Pano 25 and single, Orlan a bit older and married w 2yr old daughter. It was interesting talking with them about laws and customs in Bulgaria, somehow we got on the topic of cannabis, alcohol, and small-business ownership. I’m sure we covered other topics, those are just the highlights of the ones I remember. Always an interesting conversation with the guides when they relax a bit.

Ok, amazingly tomorrow is our last day of cycling. Should be a good day, about 700 m ascent, 700 m decent, about 64K. I will savor every rotated inch…

Day 7 – Plovdiv – Rodopi An amazing day awaits us! We transfer up to the Pamporovo Ski Resort in the Rodopi Mountains, stopping on the way to visit Bachkovo Monastery, the country’s second largest, with its unique 17th century dining room. We jump on our bikes at Pamporovo and ride down to the village of Shiroka Laka with its many authentic Rhodopean houses. These two-storey homes feature a small cellar with a hiding place and thick white walls to conceal the courtyard from the outsiders. We have lunch in this quaint town before we continue our ride upstream along the Trigrad River and the stunning marble rock gorge it cuts through. Once we reach

the famous Rodopi village of Trigrad we can enter the thrilling Devil’s Throat Cave which features a 40 m high underground waterfall. We spend the night at a cozy family hotel and feast on local Rodopi specialties at dinner. Zdravets Guest House. Ride 52 km.

Me:

Too sleepy and cold for a post tonight…

hhh

Official:
Day 6 – Plovdiv City Rest Day A day for rest and sightseeing as we transfer to Bulgaria’s second city – Plovdiv. “The City of the Seven Hills” is one of the world’s oldest cities and has a fascinating history incorporating Thracian, Greek, Roman and Ottoman rule. Plovdiv is among the few cities with two ancient theatres; remains of the medieval walls and towers; Ottoman baths and mosques; a well-preserved old quarter from the National Revival period with beautiful houses, churches and narrow paved streets. There are numerous museums, art galleries and cultural institutions. After our lunch we take a tour of the old town of Plovdiv visiting the Ethnographic Museum and the Ancient Roman Theatre: probably the best-known monument from antiquity in Bulgaria. Our accommodation is in a charming hotel in the old town. Hotel Alafrangite.

Me:
Transferring the roughly 90 minutes from Hyasar to Plovdiv, we drove through fields of Apples, Grapes, Hay, Roses, wheat. The outskirts of Plovdiv are marked by numerous industrial and manufacturing complexes and lots of car dealerships!

Once in town, we found our way to the older portion of the town, some of it built centuries ago, but most restored and rebuilt since the late 1800s.

On arrival, we immediately embarked on a multi-hour walking tour of the old town, then dropped down into a newer portion of town that had more contemporary shopping, lots of that overpriced purses and watches type of crap. It was interesting to see a nearly complete Roman amphitheater still in use, there was an impromptu choir that sang two songs while we were there, the unamplified acoustics for that size space were pretty incredible.

After an unremarkable lunch, the group split a bit, Paul and I walked to a large city park that had some very interesting water fountains in it; public park spaces are always interesting to me as the modern United States seems to have forgotten the value of large public park spaces that aren’t dominated by retail business.

After a needed doze at the hotel, I regrouped with the gang to head out for dinner to a beautiful restaurant that has indoor and outdoor seating, great food, and the main attraction is every weekend they have traditional dance performances. Watched a mummers dance and several others that were very interesting and beautiful.

Just as we were arriving, there was a wedding celebration occurring at the restaurant as well. It was very cool to watch the celebrants dance in a single line that wound around all the tables on the main floor of the restaurant.

The food was very good, I had a Shopska salad as always, and then ordered a combination meat and vegetable dish that turned out to be about 90% meat! Pork and chicken and veal, all grilled and marinated and very tasty. Orlin also ordered our favorite pickled hot peppers! Yummy! The table shared a bottle of local Bulgarian wine, a merlot. Paul and I had a tasty gin and tonic! It’s always served with the gin in the glass, comes with a can of tonic on the side and a bowl of ice. You basically organize your own drink. Very good!

Driving back in the van, it was hilarious watching Pano hold the bikes in the back of the van from banging against each other as we drove up the hill over very rough cobblestone street. Then, just as I get into my room, about seven minutes of fireworks shoot off just behind the hotel. So I went out into the street and they were pretty cool to see. While there is certainly no barking dog right here, there is the boom boom of music from a bar just uphill from the hotel that keeps getting louder as it gets later. Truth is I dislike any disruptive noise when it’s sleep time, I will take booming music over a barking dog any day! At least with music, you don’t have to worry about when the next bark, I mean next beat will occur!

Overall a good day in Plovdiv. There is much more to see than we did, thankful for a day off here. The weather was good all day, moving into a warm trend this week, should be pleasant!

Enough for today…

Official:
Day 5 – Koprivshtitsa – Hisaraya After breakfast we visit two famous ‘house museums’ to learn more about this Bulgarian town, steeped in literary, political and philosophical history. We then saddle up and pedal through rolling terrain among the vast meadows that frame this land. A long descent into Strelcha town passes the ”Crooked Beech Tree” and some interesting rock formations once used by the ancient Thracians for their sacred rituals. On the way we visit an ancient Thracian cult temple from the 5th century B.C. and have lunch at a local winery. From here on the road rolls calmly all the way to our next destination – Hisarya, famous for its thermal springs and Roman ruins. End the day with a relaxing soak. C Comfort. Ride 67 km.

( Note the house tours in the summary above we actually did yesterday… )

Me:
Pretty tired after a long day and another big meal for dinner. So just some bullet points on the day…

A nice descent started our day and clear sky greeted our morning.

We stopped to see a huge beach tree, possibly a couple hundred years old you’ll see in the photos below. Amazing!

The rose oil factory at the bottom of the hill was very interesting, the Rose leaves are picked in the morning from 5 AM to 10 AM only, while moisture content is highest. Once picked, they are put into large bags and brought to the factory and weighed for payment. Essentially they are boiled in water, and then the same process of distilling alcohol is used where the Rose oil vapor is captured. A kilo of rose oil can cost close to €9000!

After this we continued cycling through a portion of wine country. Bulgarian wines are world renowned, we stopped at a winery restaurant that had fantastic food and an incredibly wonderful house wine, a Cabernet/Merlot blend. Because we were visiting a Thracian monument after lunch in the van, versus getting on the bikes right away, everybody elected to have a glass of wine with lunch. Normally nobody drinks any alcohol at lunch ever, it doesn’t mix well with biking at all. But the lunch and the wine was spectacular!

We rode another 20 km to Hyasar where we are staying the night in a pretty nice hotel. It is a town surrounded by remnants of a fourth century wall that is pretty amazing when you think of how old that is!

Along the way we saw at least four stork nests, always perched on top of a very high structure, whether it be a power pole or church steeple. Pretty cool!

Unfortunate:
Paul and Valerie had bought a few bottles of wine to share with the group later in the trip at the winery. As Orlan the guide was offloading the bags from the van at the hotel, he accidentally knocked the box over and four bottles of wine broke on the ground. Tragic!

After that we walked around the city park and a portion of the town, also saw other Roman ruins that are still present.

Fortunate:

You may notice in the photos right after the picture of my room, there is a picture of a dog standing on top of the doghouse. That dog is about 20 yards from the balcony of my room. I’m always so comforted when dogs are that close to me… It always makes me feel very very special! And so fortunate…

For dinner, the guides took us to a restaurant they highly recommended, but it was one of those ones you can sort of tell was organized for foreigners. Much more expensive than we normally eat, the quality of the food was moderate, but there were some interesting things to order such as grilled salmon. Consequently however, no photos of our dinner as it was not noteworthy in that sense…

Tired after a relatively long day of cycling, perhaps the most pleasant cycling day so far. Happy to be alive and well, able to do trips like this!

Tomorrow we transfer to Plovdiv for a rest day. Looking forward to that!

The official summary: After breakfast a short transfer takes us to the highest pass in the Balkan Mountains; the Beklemeto Pass at 1500 m. This was the ancient Roman Via Trayana (Trajan road), and some of the Roman remains can still be seen. We make a short ascent to see the Arc of Liberty, symbolizing the liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 from the Ottomans during the Russian-Turkish War then it’s time to freewheel down into South Bulgaria and the Valley of Roses. In May the fields are blooming and the petals are picked early in the morning and distilled into rose-oil. We take a short off road section along a stream for some variety. After a picnic lunch next to a river it’s on to Koprivshtitsa, the best preserved 19th century Bulgarian town studded with characteristic architecture and a vivid revolutionary past. Gozbarov’s House. Ride 63 km.

Today started with the transfer to the top of the pass, when we got up there it was completely fogged in, you couldn’t see more than 100 feet ahead, so we drove down about 2 km to where the fog broke and then hopped on the bikes. I think we had 16 km down to go riding, pretty steep and high speed and was very nice, though cold. Today was the day it was most likely to rain and very pleased that it did not!

One of the interesting things we saw today was a rose field, this area is known for its rose oil production. The roses are a particular variety from Syria I think, very pungent and almost citronella to my nose. We will see more tomorrow I’m sure, plus a Rose oil production facility is on our list tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing that! (Also saw a beautiful field of red poppies near the roses.)

Today was a great mix of off-road and paved, the off-road sections reminded me of how cool the great divide ride would be! It’s so quiet out there, you see butterflies and hear the birds, and no cars whizzing by…

63 km total, definitely plenty of climbing but it was all reasonably gradual. And it up in the town, in a house built in the 1800s that is converted to a hotel. Very peaceful place overlooking the Town, peaceful except for the barking dog that is below my window, since that’s required feature of my cycling life. I asked the guy to be sure to put me in the room nearest the barking dog, since that’s what I’m accustomed to…

This town was one of the centers of the revolution against the Turks in the 1800s, Bulgaria has been invaded repeatedly over the centuries by different people’s, the Ottoman Turks especially brutal. We toured some of the historic houses many of which have been restored and contain artifacts of interest. Interesting…

After touring the houses, and the villages well which is old cobblestone streets, we stop for a beer out on the main plaza. Beer here for the large bottles, half liter, is equivalent of about $1.20 US.

Tonight the owners of the hotel will cook us dinner and their downstairs restaurant, not sure what is on the menu but I’m sure it will be good. I’ve especially enjoyed eating food that I normally never prepare myself, that is cucumbers and tomatoes and cheese. It is very tasty salad, and a little oil and vinegar and pepper and it’s fantastic! I guess the reason I would never prepare something like this in Alaska is because tomatoes are pretty much impossible to find in any state of acceptable ripeness.

Dinner was good, rice and meat wrapped in cabbage leaves, the cucumber tomato green pepper onion salad of course, giant sausage, and bread with cheese. Very good!

The two guides are the business owners. Herb the wealthy businessman is constantly giving them advice on how to do it better. Come to think of it, Herb is often giving advice on how to do just about everything better!! Anyway, the guides are Orlin and Pano. Pano turned 25 today and Orlin arranged a cake which we all chipped in on. Was nice…

PS: Photos not in order of occurrence…

ss

Day 3 – Bogoi Pass – Chiflik
A stimulating morning of riding as we ascend from Ribaritsa (630m) to the highest point for the day – the Bogoi pass (1185m). It’s a challenging 12 km ascent to the summit but the riding is through idyllic countryside making for a scenic climb. We have a glorious descent and have lunch in a small spa resort set amidst pine trees. We end our ride at the spa town of Chiflik and recommend taking to the warm waters to relax your legs.

Ok, that’s the official summary of the day. Sounds harder than it was… My main thought for the day is that I need to be more careful about choosing warmer climates for bike trips! Thankfully no rain today, but some sun with many clouds. Tomorrow rain is predicted which sucks.

Riding through this countryside, we are in an area that seems to be a destination for Bulgarian city dwellers to escape the hot city temperatures into the mountains. Lots of hotel spa type places around today, a river and many swimming pools along the way.

After lunch, the group split, several going down to Trayon, a small town which according to them according to them was largely unmemorable. Stan elected to go straight to the hotel, another 8 km from the split point, I chose to go with him, it didn’t seem right to leave him riding alone. He is a very very interesting character, has done and seen a lot in his 86 years.

The hotel has five pools, three of them are the exact same temperature, one is warmer, One is cooler. I guess I’m not a big spa guy, after about 30 minutes I was done with that adventure.

One thing Paul noticed riding today, we’re on sort of a rural area, there were no children, teenagers or even young adults visible at all all day long. Just older folks…

Meeting the group for din as always and we will drive to a restaurant nearby for dinner.

OMG, what a feast! The menu of this grand meal is below, I don’t do the flavors or ingredients combinations justice whatsoever in my description. Copious amounts of food! And the homemade wine was fantastic! Soooo good! Seems like we’re not biking a room near enough to be eating as much as is being offered! The restaurant was beside the river, a very old place that obviously has been in business a long time, and the food really was very very good!

Up early and out the door at 7:30 AM, 45 minute van ride to the top of the pass, not sure why we don’t just ride it, but we don’t… but trying to do most of the biking day before the predicted rain hits in the afternoon. I hope we make it! (The now noisy bar at the hotel is very near my room, hope I can get to sleep!)

Roasted pork leg
Pork bits w onions
Fried potatoes
Fried potatoes W cheese
Grilled Chicken
Cheese garlic bread
Tomato pepper salad
Hot peppers pickled
Lettuce salad w tomatoes
Tomato cucumber salad w cheese
Beef w mushrooms
Homemade Bread loaves
Homemade wine

mnogoelesna

The day started with us driving out of Sofia about 90 minutes to Yablanitsa, a small town out in the country. The weather looked like it was getting better until we actually got to where we were to begin and then it was very grey and cool. We rode about 20K mostly uphill through beautiful forest to Glozhene monastery perched up on the hill. It was a beautiful place with centuries of history that had been rebuilt several times due to destruction from earthquakes. We had a delicious lunch up there, lentil soup, tomato and cucumber salad, Bellpeppers stuffed with rice mixture, and barbecued meats again. Very tasty! And like many monasteries, they are famous for their alcoholic beverages, this one famous for plum brandy. We didn’t taste any at lunch, that’s always a bad idea one cycling, but we got a bottle to share at dinner tonight!

About the time we finished lunch is when the sky opened with rain. We rode down the same hill we came up, went about 7 km and everybody was so completely absolutely soaked through and through, and COLD, we were looking for shelter to get out of the rain. We found a closed store with a generous overhang. The rain didn’t look like it was going to let up at all, we still had 30 km to go for the afternoon, so we all agreed to put the bikes in the van and wimp out the rest of the way, but riding in cooler temps soaking wet is not good.

We ended up in Ribaritsa small village set in a valley with beautiful green hills around and so thankful to have plentiful hot water to get the chill out of the bones.

Not much to do or see around here, we will meet for dinner at 7 PM in a couple of hours, spend the night, and tomorrow’s forecast is much better!

Herb and Paul constantly talking about other trips to take and invited me along of course. I’m sure I could take at least five trips a year with either or both of them if I could muster the time and money… Lao, Georgia, Albania, Madagascar, Tazmania just a few of the many spots being discussed with a small amount of bicycle drooling…

After arrival at our hotel, the sun came out for a little while but it’s raining again now, not a good omen for tomorrow. We did have a nice fried trout dinner, which was very tasty, and the guide brought out the plum brandy from the monastery. Had one nice glass of that!

Didn’t take many pictures today due to the rain, and no Wi-Fi here so will upload a few pics at another time…