14. – 17.06.2012 Varna - Border Turkey 237 km

 

Sonja:

After my bike was repaired, we could proceed with our journey along the Black Sea to the south with typical Bulgarian rose jam and rose water in the luggage, which we had been given by another couchsurfer. The first 7 kilometers out of town we cycled illegally on the highway, where we met two funny cyclists from Poland, who were still hungover from the previous night and had slept only 3 hours .... and then cycling uphill in this heat, which is hard enough sober. But all day we had a very motivating goal in our minds: Our CouchSurfing host Nikola had recommended as insider tip a beach with campsite, which was not marked on our map, and we could not wait to jump into the cool water. And indeed, in the late afternoon we finally reached Irakli Beach with a beautiful sandy beach with only a handful of people and on the cheap campsite were just one tent, a caravan and a camper. We could enjoy pure peacefulness, cool ourselves in the floods and were able to enjoy our beer almost alone at the beach bar, as only one other couple was sitting there. Just as we had imagined it, far from the tourist crowds.

Unfortunately it did not remain this peaceful and quiet. The next day we headed for the major tourist resorts in Bulgaria. First of all, a visit to the old town of Nessebar (World Heritage Site) was on our agenda. Sadly, we were very disappointed, because the whole beauty was very hard to perceive and to enjoy, since it was hidden behind countless souvenir shops, pushy souvenir sellers and crowds of tourists. One trader however was very interested in our bikes and our trip and gave us a lucky Eye of Fatima as present. We continued to Burgas and Pomorie where you find one huge hotel complex next to the other, a true paradise for sunlounger occupiers and parasol hunters, but not the right thing for us.

After that day of pure mass tourism, we then decided not to go further along the coast through the countless vacation paradises, but to take the direct route to Turkey. In the evening, while camping in the woods, we had a funny encounter with 2 guys who came marching through the forrest, armed with three 11-liter jerrycans of water. Our question, what they were doing, they answered grinning: "We protect the forest." Olli's comment: "All right. They are watering their marijuana plants. "

We've been busy with cycling over the small border mountains between Bulgaria and Turkey for a whole sweaty day. As we arrived in the border village late in the afternoon completely out of breath there was a nasty surprise: To reach the actual border it's another 9 km and 250 meters of altitude difference along endless switchbacks. We had the feeling that it's intentionally made hard to leave to Turkey or to enter the EU?

 

 

Thanks to Nikola from Varna for this video - "That´s the shit" ;)

 

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