Learning Bulgarian

Stage 18: Istanbul to Haskovo (Xackobo) (391km)
Day 1: 92.4km beyond Gumuspinar
Day 2: 103.1km beyond Uskupdere
Day 3: 90.6km near Rizia (Greece)
Day 4: 105.3km Haskovo (Bulgaria)

What a wonderful way to leave Turkey, a country that has been so, so, so good to me (three 'so's is roughly equivalent to two 'very's). The countryside was rolling hills, but not monotonous, the roads were good, and a light tailwind helped me on my final two days. I even met two other cyclists travelling the other way who spoke English. Adrian was heading to Cape Town, and Vaude to somewhere in Asia (he didn't yet know). These were the first cyclists I've spoken to since bumping into Thibault the far side of the Dead Sea. I passed two Russians in Cyprus who couldn't speak English, and I passed one guy in Turkey who simply waved as he sped downhill in the other direction to me. He was lucky he was travelling fast; having not spoken to anyone in about 3 days, I wanted nothing more than to pelt fist-sized, pointy stones at him!

I even got a bit of good news at the internet cafe in Edirne (close to the Greek and Bulgarian borders). The Irish government (or a subsidary thereof), in their infinite wisdom, have decided to fund me my PhD! Woo woo. I now have something concrete to return to: 3 years of looking at mud down a microscope. I'm excited!

Feeling invincible, I made it to the quiet border with Greece. I could have easily gone straight into Bulgaria, but the 40km road in Greece ticks one more country off the list. I breezed through the Turkish side, and returned to Europe proper. Simple.

Not quite. An hour's wait, with my bags open and on the ground in front of Greek customs (I'd made it through passport control) ensued, while I watched the Greek custom officials walk up and down in front of me doing absolutely nothing. Eventually the second most indisciplined sniffer dog I have ever seen was brought out to slobber all over my bags...twice. Another short wait, then the most indisciplined sniffer dog I have ever seen was brought out. Rather than sniff my bags, this one preferred to bite them and drag them across the ground.

The response to my shrug of shoulders (a what the "F" fashion) was greeted with a little smile and a rub of thumb against fingers. I took this to mean he wanted a bribe, so reached deep into my pocket, pulled out my camera and took photos of each of my bags should futher damage occur. 10 minutes passed while the customs guys played with the dogs to get them all excited, then I was informed that I could proceed.

But hey, at least I was in a Christian country. I mean, they're the good guys.

Right?


My perfect introduction to Greece was compounded by the presence of enough mosquitos to force me to eat my dinner in my tent. Let's just say I was glad to reach the Bulgarian border the following morning.

"You can definately NOT use Euros in Bulgaria" was the response of Vania, my host, to my question. It kind of explained the reason why there had been change bureaus at the border showing an exchange rate with the euro, why the shopkeeper in the fruit shop had responded with surprise when I pulled a 5 euro note out of my pocket, why the bookshope vendors in Haskovo had pointed me to the change bureau when I had tried buying my Bulgaria maps (one in English, one in Cyrillic) with a 20 euro note and why the price of petrol seemed extortionate at about 2 euro 20. Somehow, my conversation with the Bulgarian diplomat on the boat from Israel where he had mentioned that prices had increased recently in Bulgaria, combined with my knowledge that Bulgaria was in the EU had convinced me that Bulgaria used the euro, and nothing was going to change my mind. But I guess that one and one does not always equal three.

I met Vania through Couchsurfing. Those who don't know it, check it out (www.couchsurfing.com); quite possibly the very, very best way to travel. An excellent host and introducer to Bulgaria. I've been here barely 24hrs, but am sure I'm going to like this country!

The busy road into Haskovo convinced me that I didn't want to follow it to Sofia, so am using my brand-spanking-new maps to get me through the minor roads, around the highest mountain in Bulgaria and into Macedonia.

ps. lack of photos because I don't think the computer can take it (not that it's an antique, it just doesn't have java or something or other that makes putting photos up here easy. I don't really know because I don't really know how computers work. I see a screen, I see a keyboard, I see a black box and I let the geeks deal with the rest). It's a pity, because I passed a cracker of a sign.