2965 km greetings from Sofia

Hi all,

Nice to see we are still getting a lot of feedback on the site. As said in the last message we enjoyed a nice day of rest in Baile Herleculare. We definitely needed it 181km with luggage is a bit to much for the ever growing legs ;). During our day of we enjoyed had a look at the town which seems to attract a lot of local tourism. There are all sorts of walking paths in the mountains that people go to. But since it was a rest day no more activity for us. In the evening we met a dutch couple and enjoyed quite a few beers with them. In the end we went to bed around 3.30 in the morning. Ralph and Lisette in case you are reading this, enjoy your trip through Romania and let us know what it was like.

For us it was a late start and we got on the bicycles around 12.00. We decided to go south and have a look into Serbia. This way we get to see yet another country and we also avoid the big turn the Donau is making there. After about 35 km, we crossed the border to Serbia. For the first time this trip some officials were actually checking something and we got a nice stamp in out passports. First thing we noticed is that the Serbians we met where kind and interested. I suppose Serbians don't have too many visitors after the recent past and they welcome everyone that decides to come have a look. Even though we started out quite late we still managed to progress 100km. We settled in a small village Negotin, not to far from the Bulgarian border.

The next day we crossed the border and headed for Vidin (or ридин in cyrillic), there we had our first experiences with Cyrillic writing. It takes some getting used to but by now we can almost read all the signs on the roads and figure out were we need to go. Vidin was only about 50 km from Negotin, but the legs for both of us were not that strong and we did not feel like taking the extra 100km on to Montana which would have been the next place were we could sleep. So it was a short day with some sightseeing in Vidin. First thing we noticed was the signs hanging everywhere. They were pictures of deceased people. It is custom here to inform people this way until the whether takes the signs away. What we also noticed was that the streetdogs are not dangerous, its the domestic dogs you want to be careful about.

The next day was of to Montana, the terrain was already getting a bit more difficult there. But the real climbing still had to start. After that it was of to Sofia, still about 150km, so we figured, it would have been a bit much for one day. On the road to Sofia we passed a Monastery open for visitors near the river and were invited in for a lunch. All totally free of charge and on invitation of the people there. After our meal we were called in by the Bishop and received his blessings. It was nice to see a Christian Orthodox monastery, since we had never seen one before. With our bellies full we continued on our trip. The stop had taken us quite long and therefore (that and the hills) Sofia was not an option for the day. Meaning we still had to cover 45km to Sofia today. We spent the night in Svoge, a nice small town next to the river Iskar. We finalised the last km this morning and arrived around noon in Sofia.

Today we did some sightseeing in Sofia (софия) and saw, The statue of st. Sofia, the Communist Party Head Quarters and the main tourist attraction; the Christian Orthodox Cathedral. It's a nice town to see but we fell we have covered the main tourist attraction and will probably be moving on 2morrow, after exploring the nightlife first of course ;)

Time to move into town to get some food and nice cold beers.

Talk to you all laters....