After a rather disappointing stay in Sofia, which hasn't much more to offer but a traffic chaos and some government buildings, I was pleasantly surprised to find an extended pedestrian area in the rather small town of Pazardcik, and even more in Plovidiv, with its beautiful old town, its large central park in addition to a newly renovated pedestrian area.
From Plovidiv I took minor roads a little back from the main road to Turkey in the hills of Bulgaria. Because the country did not have much more to offer, nor a campingsite, nor a hotel in an attractive town, I decided to set up my tent again for the night.
When I was just about packing up from having dinner at a water source, which ran out of water, there was a shepherd coming along on the other side of the road. He left his flock of sheep to come and check the water source. With quite some disappointement he noticed, that it had run out of water, and with just as much astonishment he noticed all my baggage on my bicycle. I gave him the rest of a water melon, that I received a little while earlier from a bulgarian man, who had dinner at the waterplace with his family, and that was on the way for a holiday at the black sea with an old rusty van. Despite those nice encounters with local people from Bulgaria, I decided, that there was too much of coming and going at that place, so I continued another 3 kilometers before setting up my tent.
On the next morning, I made my way down to Harmanli, onto the mainroad to Turkey, and with wind from behind and 30 km/h I raced towards the border. After passing at least 4 bulgarian and turkish checkpoints without any problems, I found myself in Turkey and on the motorway to Edirne, which was actually not all that unpleasant, as there was a large cycling lane on the side of it, even though it was probably rather designed as an emergency lane.
Arriving in Edirne, with its many tall Minarets, there is no doubt anymore, that Turkey is an islamic country. It is also in Edirne, where I visited for the first time a mosque, the Selimiye Mosque, whose 4 minarets with a height of 70m are said to be the tallest of Turkey.
I was stunned by this building. It is at the same time huge, and appears so light in the inside. It's simply wonderful. The carpet under the bare feet is pleasure on its own, and gives you a feeling of being connected to the building.
Edirne was also a very pleasant town to stay, because the lively atmosphere in the streets and in the busy bazars contrast enormeously to the rather melancholic villages and countrytowns of Bulgaria.
(to be continued) |
