I crossed the border to Bulgaria as the sun was setting down. Luckily it wasn’t too far to Melnik where I had booked a guesthouse for the night.
As I woke up next morning, I though I’d do a quick hike to the Melnik Pyramids, weirdly shaped sandstone rocks surrounding the town. Oh no, itโs too hot for hiking ๐ฅต Maybe thereโs a lookout point somewhere along the road (cheating but oh well)? The owners of the guesthouse said: yes, there is, almost next to the road, you just have to walk about 5 min. 5 min? Really? I can do that!
Well, it was more like 20 min (one way), uphill, +35 degrees, and no shade ๐ฌ
If I knew it I wouldโve skipped. And missed out on a fantastic view! Iโm glad I didnโt know ๐
Then I went to visit the Vanga House Museum in Rupite, not exactly on the way (more like opposite direction) but I really wanted to see where the great prophetess lived. A very special and beautiful place, in the crater of an ancient volcano, with hot springs and mineral water springs right next to the very modest tiny wooden house.
All of a sudden I realized it was 4pm and I hadnโt advanced towards the next destination at all, actually I got further away ๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ Time to ride!
One mountain pass after the other. With some awesome curves and incredible views! At times the asphalt was just perfect, other times it was as bad as in Serbia ๐ The last 20 min or the last mountain pass we did in complete darkness, riding at something like 25km/h, as the road kept on presenting unexpected surprises in form of sand, gravel and countless potholes. But we made it all the way to Smolyan!
Two days of hiking and riding around the Rodopi mountains, amazing canyon roads and happy curves ๐คฉ
Bulgaria youโre just incredibly beautiful! So many cool things to do and awesome places to visit, and the people are so kind ๐ฅฐ
Two highlights of the last day riding towards the Turkish border: Thracian complex Orlovi Skali and The Stone Mushrooms rock phenomenon – I had never seen anything like these two before.
Spent almost an hour at the border crossing, the longest one I’ve experienced so far… so many checksโฆ ๐ฌ๐ฎโโ๏ธ and although there were not so many cars, the process took forever.
