Journey Through Bulgaria

🚲 Sofia 🚌 Plovdiv 🚞 Sofia 🚲 Central Balkan National Park 🚲 Troyan 🚲 Veliko Tărnovo 🚲

I arrived in Bulgaria with an 80-mile ride to Sofia ahead of me. At the border, I met a wonderful couple named Dave and Elly. I later discovered that they were also bicyclists and were spending some time in North Macedonia. They had taken a day trip to see the border crossing, which I thought was a funny destination… but to each their own.

Elly approached me as I waited in line, and then Dave eventually followed. I enjoyed sharing stories about my adventure and hearing about their many bicycling excursions. They explained that they had met on a cycling trip and had been on multiple tours of different parts of the world since. They were so warm and kind, expressing interest in following my adventure. We exchanged information, and after quite a while of talking and laughing, we took some photos together and went our separate ways.

These interactions always make my day. What wonderful people there are out there!

I arrived in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, at around 6:00 PM on April 27th. It had been a pretty smooth ride, and I made good time. I checked into Hostel Mostel, the most popular hostel I have been to on this trip. This place is massive, and operationally it is the best hostel I have stayed at. They serve dinner from seven to eight in the evenings, which also includes beer, and they serve breakfast every morning. All of this is included in the price for a bed, making it awesome for travelers on a budget. The communal meals also provide a perfect opportunity to mingle and meet other travelers. If you are traveling to Sofia and enjoy interacting with fellow travelers, I highly recommend staying here. Hostel Mostel became my home for the next week.

On my first day in Sofia, I took a free walking tour that showed me much of the city. These tours usually last two hours, and I always leave with some basic knowledge of the city’s history, as well as a better orientation of the city itself. This sets me up for better wandering the rest of my time in the area.

During the next couple of days, I also took a communist tour offered through the same tour company. This tour lasted three and a half hours and took us to different locations around the city, focusing on the specific history of communism in Sofia. The tour guide was one of the founders of the touring company, so he was very knowledgeable and passionate about sharing the stories. I was grateful to have such a great guide. He tried his best to share the history in an unbiased way and challenged us to guess where he stood on communism at the end of the tour. I quickly recognized his stance, which was consistent with most of the younger people in the city. In these cities, people’s opinions on the communist era often depend on whether their families benefited or were hurt by it. Most educated people were negatively impacted by communism, and most of the youth are very much in favor of capitalism.

Along with the tours, I did some bicycling around the city and feel as though, after hours of adventuring on the bicycle, I really know my way around Sofia. I also spent two days with Matt and Nagisa, drinking beer, playing cards, going to the new Avengers movie, and doing some serious wandering. They eventually left, and I met another really fun group of people that I spent much of the next five days with.

Look closely for the communist star

During those days, a group of us took a day trip to Plovdiv, taking an hour and a half bus ride there and the last train back to Sofia. Plovdiv used to be the capital of Bulgaria and is now considered Bulgaria’s Capital of Culture. The city is beautifully built around seven hills, all significant in the history and spirit of the city.

Upon arrival, we walked directly from the station to the meeting point of the free walking tour. On the tour, we saw a massive Roman-era stadium that could seat up to 30,000 spectators. Much of it remains underground because the city was built on top of it. The Ancient Roman Theatre of Philippopolis, completely excavated, is also there and is said to be one of the most well-preserved ancient theatres in the world.

In addition to the Roman ruins, Plovdiv is filled with beautiful old houses with large gardens, protected by tall cement walls. It’s interesting to see the architecture and learn the reasons for certain building styles. For example, many buildings were smaller at the bottom and then expanded on the second floor over the streets. This was for tax evasion purposes, as taxes were only required to be paid on the square meters of the base floor of the house.

Following the tour, we had a massive meal on a balcony overlooking the city. The food was delicious, and after filling our stomachs to the brim, we walked towards the train station. When we arrived at the station, we had a group vote and decided that the big thing we were missing was beer for our two-hour train ride. We bought as many beers as we could carry and hopped on the train. We were lucky to get our own private room where we could talk and play cards while enjoying our Bulgarian beers. We did not pay for more than the general ticket, but I think these sections were empty and the staff did not care.

Another day, a couple of us climbed a mountain near the city. At the top, there was a beautiful waterfall and a view that overlooked all of Sofia.

After a full week in Sofia, I packed up my trailer once again and set off towards Veliko Tărnovo. I estimated it would take me three days to get there, and I planned to camp in the Central Balkan National Park, which surrounds a beautiful mountain range. I also planned to camp somewhere near Troyan, a small city with a beautiful monastery near the mountain pass.

The first day back on the road, I struggled to get back into my biking groove. I had enjoyed a week of relaxation in Sofia, and my body was feeling it. I forced myself to continue and biked until around 8 PM when I arrived at the national park. I found a nice field beside the road where I would be invisible to passing cars. I remember hearing wolves howling as the sun disappeared and darkness fell upon me. I set up my tent and ate the bread and cheese that I had left. I did not carry any cooking equipment, so my meals while camping were almost always dry, usually consisting of bread, cheese, salami, and some mixture of nuts with dried fruit.

The next morning, I woke up to birds singing and the sun rising. This is my favorite way to be woken up in the morning. I took down my tent, loaded up the trailer, and sat down for some meditation before setting off again towards the mountain pass. The trip was long and the day was hot. The sun beat down on me as I worked my way up the mountain. At the top, the sun and heat quickly changed to fast-moving winds and rain. Due to the quick change, my stuff was not covered, and much of it got wet before I could cover it.

Instead of enjoying the view from the top as I had hoped, I continued down, hoping to get out of the way of the dark clouds that were pouring on me. As always, I was grateful to let gravity help me out as I descended. I was able to outrun the rain and continued until Troyan, where I had a quick hot meal. After dinner, I rode another 20 minutes before setting up camp outside the town. The following day, I woke up with the sun again and arrived early afternoon at Hostel Mostel in Veliko Tărnovo.

Veliko Tărnovo is a must-visit if you are in Bulgaria. Although it rained every day during my stay, I still managed to enjoy it. I did a free walking tour on the first day. We enjoyed about 20 minutes of sun before it rained on us for the rest of the tour. I also visited the fortress, which is surrounded by canyons. If I were in Bulgaria back in the day, this is where I would have wanted to be. The protection from the canyons not only made it a beautiful place but also a safe haven from any invaders.

That night, because it was a national holiday in Bulgaria, there was a cool light show that I was able to see. I really enjoyed the show with its music and changing colors.

After two nights in Veliko Tărnovo I set off towards Romania. I biked all day before stopping to sleep in Ruse and then moved on to Romania the next day.

ROSE

I was able to meet such an amazing group of people while I was in Bulgaria:

Charlie and Ameli are gold miners living together in Cyprus. Charlie is from Bristol, England, and had endless stories about his past eight years in the gold mining industry. Ameli is French but had spent quite a bit of time in Africa before getting involved in the gold mining business. Both of them had spent extended periods in Africa and used their knowledge and memories to convince me that I need to visit that continent in the near future. As some of you may imagine, I was not too hard to convince!

Aleena is a girl from Pakistan who was in Sofia installing some software. It was fascinating to hear about Pakistan and understand a bit more about a part of the world that I know very little about. She was fairly shy, so I think at times my endless questions about Pakistan drove her a bit crazy. At the same time, I think she appreciated the interest and curiosity about her home country. I took the opportunity to learn as much as possible.

Kevin, an Irish guy, has discovered how to live the life of a digital nomad. He has been traveling all around for a very long time and continues to work 8 hours, 5 days a week from his computer. Although he has to work odd hours in the countries he visits, he manages to make it all work while enjoying himself.

Alex is from South Africa but spends most of his time now in Australia. He has been studying in Luxembourg and is a riot to be with. He is a unique guy and very entertaining in his own way. He was extremely outgoing and constantly smiling! As we discussed our experiences, I realized that we had many different perspectives on certain topics. It was interesting to listen and attempt to understand how his experiences in South Africa and Australia have shaped some of these views.

I met a German guy named Thomas who has been traveling for a month on a 49cc scooter. He does not have an end date for his trip, so he expects to spend a lot more time on this 1981 scooter in the coming days. He bought it for 200 euros after being told that it was the most indestructible scooter he could buy. He explained the number of times he had small issues but managed to fix them.

I hope you can see the pedals in the photo. He told me that there have been times when he had to pedal because of engine issues, but only until he could get to an area where he could take a closer look at it. It really reminded me of the value of good dependable equipment. This scooter was built to run and to last a very long time!

BUD

In Sofia, it became apparent that the busy season had finally arrived. For months, I had been booking beds at hostels for a night or two maximum with no problems. If I wanted to extend my stay, it was always really easy because I was usually one of the only people there. Many times they wouldn’t even ask me how long I was staying because it really didn’t matter at all.

During my time at Hostel Mostel, however, I had to move three times as the hostel continued to be full in each room I had been in before. It became harder to live completely on the fly. This is where the shift occurred, and from that point on, hostels tended to be fairly full for the rest of the trip. I had to start booking places a day or two in advance if I wanted to be certain to stay there. Before then, many times I wouldn’t even book and would just show up at the door.

THORN

I spent some time with Aleena, who is from Pakistan. As I mentioned earlier, she was working in Sofia for a few weeks doing software implementation for a company. The struggle for me was seeing a person who is highly intelligent, full of curiosity, and very much like all the other travelers around, yet she can never travel the way we do—at least not right now. Pakistanis can go to 33 countries in the world without a visa or with a visa on arrival. To give you a comparison, North Koreans are able to travel to 42 countries. The 33 countries that Pakistani tourists can travel to tend to be places most people never go to and may not be safe to travel to. If you are interested in seeing a list of the countries, please click the link here: Henley Passport Index.

On this trip, I have “illegally” entered countries with permission from foreign officers, never had my luggage checked, and have never once been questioned about what I am carrying or why I am traveling to each place. If I were truly transporting illegal substances, I would have had perfect success. It may be partly because I am on a bicycle, so people think I am harmless, but there is no doubt that the color of my skin, as well as the words on my passport, play a big role in that too.

Many people take the ability to backpack from country to country for granted. We do not always realize how lucky we are to have a passport that gives us the freedom to travel. For those who do not have a passport, I encourage you to get one and venture to some of the places that so many foreigners, like Aleena, would give anything to see. The countries with the most freedom to travel are Japan, Singapore, and South Korea.

I have since met people from Syria, Iran, Kosovo, and Iraq who all deal with similar struggles and restrictions on travel. These restrictions and hurdles not only prevent these people from backpacking and extreme traveling but also from starting businesses that could help their countries’ economies. I am always saddened to see good people struggling, dealing with the consequences of the actions of a small group of people from their country or in association with them. At the same time, I understand that there have to be consequences for certain actions.