A THREE-COUNTRY CYCLE RIDE
AN
8-DAY CYCLE TOUR IN THE THRACIAN BORDERLANDS OF BULGARIA, GREECE AND TURKEY
449 km or 281 miles in June 2019
by Margaret Williamson
Note: A full description of earlier Rides in SE Bulgaria (May 2009),
which covers some of the same ground, can be found elsewhere on this website. In addition, there are 32 photographs of the ride on our MagBazPictures website.
 | | Map of the 8-Day, 3-Country, 7-Hotel Borderlands Bicycle Ride |
A most excellent guide to this whole area from Thracian times to the present day is Bulgarian writer Kapka Kassabova's book, simply called 'Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe'. Barry's review of her book for the Guardian is on this website. There is a Kindle edition available from Amazon for £6.83.
 After acclimatising to the heat with a couple of one-day rides from a favourite
campsite, Sakar Hills seen at the left in the village of Biser in the south-eastern
corner of Bulgaria, we leave the motorhome in Matt's care to cycle more
extensively in the borderlands and Rhodope mountains. Preparing for a week's
cycle tour, the main problem is carrying enough water. With only one bottle
cage on our new Volt bikes, and daytime temperature now over 35°C, we pack
extra bottles of water in the rear panniers, along with plenty of sunscreen,
and vow to make an early start (not our strong point!) Regarding the strong sunlight
as more dangerous than light traffic, I replace my cycling helmet with a
broad-brimmed Australian hat and carry the helmet in case of rain (which never
came). For the first time on a cycle tour, we have to remember to pack a charger for the batteries on our e-bikes, mutual presents from last Christmas.
DAY 1: 76 km - Sakar Hills Camping, Biser (Bulgaria) to Hotel Electra, Orestiada
(Greece)
Leaving on Friday 21 June, the Summer Solstice, my UK diary notes 'Summer
Begins'. It has already arrived here in Bulgaria, with temperatures well into
the upper 30s throughout June.
First stop is along road 8, for cold drinks in Ljubimets, then on to the Bulgarian/Greek border at 25 km. We wait behind a truck for our passports to be checked on
leaving Bulgaria, then again as we enter Greece after crossing the empty
no-man's land, reminiscent of the Soviet era when this was an Iron Curtain
frontier. At least the Greek border guard does not claim that cycle helmets are
compulsory, as on a previous occasion here (!). It's another 6 km to the first
Greek village, Ormeni, where we turn off to its single Kafenion. In the shade
of the veranda, swallows are busy maintaining their nests and feeding
fledglings, while the local men sip strong coffee and ask where we are from. We
always answer 'near Manchester' for the standard reply 'Manchester United?' We
eat our sandwiches, buy drinks and watch the thermometer outside the nearby
pharmacy rise to 37°C.
Continuing southeast on the E85 dual carriageway, the rolling highway is broad
with very little traffic. An occasional truck sounds a friendly toot, the
fields are gilded with sunflowers, and the strong wind feels like a blast from
a hairdryer. It's a relief to pause for
drinks and ice cream at a filling station, the only place for a break on the
way to Orestiada, Greece's most northerly city, in northeast Thrace.
 The central Hotel Vienna is full, the Hotel Estia near Lidl, which we've used
before, has closed down and we finally get the last room at the Electra, just
off the main square. The helpful English-speaking receptionist greets us with 'You
are lucky, we're full tomorrow'. We had unwittingly chosen the weekend of the
town's annual festival, commemorating the opening of their railway station
early last century! The bikes are locked up in the hotel basement and a
comfortable en-suite room, including generous buffet breakfast, costs a very
reasonable €56.50. Later we dine at the Gusto Bistro by the main square,
sitting outside to watch the dancers and musicians perform on a warm evening as
we tuck into welcome bowls of chicken and pasta.
DAY 2: 32 km - Orestiada to Hotel Ermis, Didimoticho (Greece)
A good breakfast and a late start, after calling at Lidl for more snacks and
biscuits (not chocolate, which melts in minutes in this heat). South down the E85, almost empty on Sunday morning, to Didimoticho (= twin walls). After much needed drinks and ices, we climb steeply cobbled streets up to the castle ruins above the Evros River.
Down in the town, the only hotel we find has a good en-suite room at €67 including buffet breakfast; the bikes are stored in the foyer. I notice that the sole of one of my cycle shoes is coming off, as the heat has melted the adhesive! It is soon fixed with a tube of superglue from a nearby mini-market. Over the road, the circus is in town with camels grazing near the Big Top! The hotel restaurant only offers breakfast, so we are directed to the nearest small taverna, around the corner: Greek Salad (of course) with chicken fillets and chips. DAY 3: 50 km - Didimoticho (Greece) to Hotel St Konstantin & St Helena, Ivailovgrad
(Bulgaria)
 The splendid buffet breakfast again provides all we need for lunch! On a
very quiet back road between fields of crops and sunflowers, we ride northwest
via the tiny Greek villages of Ladi and Zoni, with one stop at a dusty
Kafenion. The lane north from Zoni is a new link to a minor Bulgarian border crossing
at Slaveevo, where we show our passports and take a break in the shade.
Ivailovgrad, a small town 5 km west of the border, lies on the eastern edge of
the  Rhodope Mountains which straddle Greece and Bulgaria. We check in and quench
our thirst at the hotel on Armira Street (which leads to the 2ndC AD
Armira Roman Villa, a few km out of town, visited previously). The hotel, which
we've used before, remains a bargain at 45 Leva (or €23 – both currencies accepted)
for a good en-suite room including a simple breakfast. There is some difficulty
over storing the bikes, which we don't want to leave in the garden as
instructed. Eventually I talk to the English-speaking manager on the phone and
she tells the reluctant caretaker to open the garage for us. The hotel is named
after the two most popular Orthodox Saints, reminding us that the town is
predominantly Slav and Christian. As we ride further into the Rhodopes, this
will change.
With the bicycles safely stored, I take a walk along the road to find a bank
machine for Bulgarian currency and the nearest shop for supplies and ice cream.
The humble town doesn't have a centre, just blocks of flats on the hillsides.
The day ends with a surprisingly tasty meal of Kavarma (pork & veg stew)
and 'cake of the house', eaten in the hotel restaurant's garden.
DAY 4: 58 km - Ivailovgrad to Hotel Divna, Krumovgrad (Bulgaria)
2,877 ft of climbing Maximum
height 2,648 ft Minimum height 588 ft
Over a breakfast of toast, coffee and juice in the hotel garden, the
manager comes across for a chat, amazed that we are cycling in this remote
corner of the world. She presents us with a souvenir: a fridge magnet showing
the hotel in glorious technicolour!
.JPG "2._Bulgaria_(25).JPG") Today's ride takes us west along rd 59 into the Eastern Rhodope Mountains, the
most ethnically Turkish region of Bulgaria, to the next town: Krumovgrad. The
road is empty except for an occasional border control vehicle. As we climb
between woodland and sun-baked fields, the crops include wheat and tobacco,
whose cultivation was introduced by the Turks. There are some cattle and horses
but no obvious villages and the only shade for a break is by a small locked
church.
In Krumovgrad, where only a quarter of the people are ethnically Bulgarian and mosques
are more evident than churches, we find a central café for cold drinks. The
young waitress speaks some English and directs us to the Hotel Divna, behind a
market that is packing up. The receptionist there speaks Turkish, Bulgarian or
Russian (while we try English, German or French) but we manage to get a
spacious en-suite 'apartment' with air conditioning (essential) and a light breakfast
for €40 - and only Euros, in cash. The bikes are locked in the empty dance hall.
Strolling around the town centre, with no alternative place to eat, we dine at
the hotel: some sort of chicken and rice, with an ice cream dessert.
DAY 5: 55 km - Krumovgrad to Hotel Raj, Madzarovo (Bulgaria)
2,534 ft of
climbing Maximum
height 1,392 ft Minimum height 402 ft
After breakfast in the hotel (coffee and toast, plus juice for an extra
charge) we eventually find a small shop to stock up on snacks and buy another
drink at the central café. Leaving the town, more Turkish than Bulgarian, we
ride north on a minor road. After the sparsely inhabited Kovil village we climb
a pass at 1,392 ft, pausing twice on the way to rescue a tortoise in the middle
of the road. Placing each of them carefully on the verge, we hope they found their
way (or each other!) The trees and tobacco fields have given way to deroded
deforested expanses, the dry land used for mining minerals rather than
agriculture.
 Descending, we find a drink at last in Potochnitsa, a village with an old
café/shop and a new mosque. Here the
road turns west to Studen Kladenets: not so much a village as a settlement for workers
at the hydro-electric dam on the Arda. Turning north, we climb through the
Studen Kladenets Nature Protection Area (famed for its vultures, conspicuous by
their absence) to the top of the dam, then across the eerie guarded bridge. The
onward route east re-crosses the Arda and then roughly follows the south bank
of the river: very roughly towards the end, with 7 km of dirt road before the
final 4 km of tarmac into Madzarovo. It's a dreary mining town of grim flats
but it does have a shop, a café and a once-grand hotel, the Raj (meaning
Paradise!), where we stayed 10 years ago.
We have no language in common with the old couple running the empty hotel  but
we make it clear that we want a good room with bath and air-con, and they make
it clear that they want 80 Bulgarian Lev in cash (and none of those Euros).
Bicycles in the garage. Done! The heat has now melted the glue holding the sole
of my other shoe, so our host very kindly sticks it together, before directing
me to the only shop to get more superglue. He is touched when I bring him a new
tube as well.
In the evening a table is laid for two in the courtyard, a menu in English is
produced and we point to our choice. The couple consult in the kitchen and
produce two plates of fried chicken nuggets with chips and a dish of tomato
ketchup – not exactly what we ordered, but we try to appear grateful.
DAY 6: 51 km - Madzarovo to Gebran Guesthouse, Svilengrad (Bulgaria)
1,964 ft of
climbing Maximum
height 1,722 ft Minimum
height 226 ft
 A simple breakfast is served at the same table, with smiles all round. Leaving Madzarovo, we cross the Arda River and continue northeast to meet the road from Ivailovgrad. This climbs north reaching today's maximum at over 500 metres before descending past the track to the Silent Stones, with a useful picnic shelter at the corner.
As we drop down into Malko Gradiste, thunder rumbles in the Rodopi Mountains behind us. We take a welcome break with coffee and buns at the village cafe, under the suspicious eyes of the regular (Roma) customers, then ride on through Lozen to Ljubimets when the threat of rain has passed. Now on 'home territory', we could easily return to Sakar Hills in Biser but we had already taken the precaution of obtaining Turkish visas (multiple-entry visa, valid 90 days, 20 US Dollars each on-line) in case we wanted to extend the ride into Edirne.
Sitting at our favourite café by the park in Ljubimets, I search for accommodation in Svilengrad and phone the well-placed Gebran Guesthouse, which offers a double en-suite room for €25 with breakfast. I also book a room for tomorrow at the Edirne Palace Hotel in Turkey. How nice that both calls are easily conducted in English, as booking ahead had been impossible for the previous overnight stops.
Road 8 to Svilengrad (= Silk Town) is reasonably quiet, now that the E80 motorway carries the heavy trucks and traffic. Gebran guesthouse lies off to the right of the main road, 300 metres before the old bridge across the Maritsa River. Christina, the welcoming owner, greets us warmly and serves tea (yes, tea) and a slice of her home-made cake in the garden before showing us the best room with air-con and en-suite. The other guests are uniformed border guards, though we don't discover which of the two frontiers (Turkey or Greece) they are guarding.
Later we stroll along to the Mustafa Pasha Bridge (the Stariya Most) to admire the 13 arches spanning the river on the old Silk Route. Still in use for pedestrians and cyclists, it was built in 1529 on the order of the Ottoman Vizier. The Casino Restaurant at the start of the bridge has outdoor seating overlooking the river – and very good burgers.
DAY 7: 55 km - Svilengrad (Bulgaria) to Edirne Palace Hotel, Edirne (Turkey)
Christina generously fries eggs for breakfast before we leave with a large
bag of grapes from her garden. The accolades on Trip Advisor are well deserved.
Most traffic between Svilengrad and Edirne takes the E80, crossing the border
into Turkey at Kapitan Andreevo/Kapikule. We did cycle back this way from
Edirne 10 years ago but the highway has now become dangerously busy, so we opt
for the longer but quieter route via Greece.
We ride briefly back in the direction of Ljubimets, then turn left at the
traffic lights and on, once again, to the Greek border we crossed on Day 1.
Pausing in Ormeni village for coffee and water, the patrons of the Kafenion are
at a loss to understand why we have reappeared, once again wishing us Kalo
Taxidi. It's good to be in Greece, however briefly. Continuing southeast on
the broad dual carriageway of the E85, the next stop is again for drinks and
ice cream at the filling station, where the puzzled assistant remembers us. I don't
suppose she gets too many cyclists coming by, as we have seen none all week!
This time we turn off well before Orestiada to the border village of Kastanies
to enter Turkey at Pazarkule, a much quieter border crossing than Kapitan
Andreevo near Svilengrad. The guard checks our passports and the visas Barry
had printed, then waves us through with a welcome. It's only another 5 km or so
to Edirne, crossing first the Maritsa River and then the Tunca, the road
getting steadily busier.
 As we don't yet have any Turkish currency to buy a drink we head straight into
the chaotic grid of narrow lanes in the medieval centre, in search of the
splendid Edirne Palace Hotel. The polite English-speaking Receptionist unlocks
a storage shed across the road for the bicycles and shows us a spacious double
room, complete with TV, fridge, WiFi, kettle and tea/coffee etc. The price is
€50 including a very generous buffet breakfast. Tempted to stay a second night,
we discover that the hotel is full tomorrow: it's weekend again! The hotel will
exchange Euros, though at a poor rate, and we guess we can find a change place
when we go out. (We guess wrong!)
In the cool of the early evening we walk round the centre of Edirne, visiting
the magnificent  Selimeye Mosque surrounded by four slender minarets, the symbol
of the city. Completed in 1575, it was designed for Sultan Selim II by Mimar Sinan,
the Ottoman architect responsible for the earlier Sulemaniye Mosque in
Istanbul. We also view the plain but impressive Eski (old) Mosque dated 1414.
Both are quiet and peaceful at this time of day, with no donation or entry fee.
Just leave  your shoes at the entrance and enjoy walking the thick carpets under
soaring domes. You may be asked to cover bare legs or female hair, for which
cotton scarves and wraps are available to borrow.
We find nowhere offering currency exchange and no cash machines. This is not
Europe!  There are numerous places to eat around the centre (the city's
speciality is fried liver), though they don't look the kind of place that would
accept Euros or a bank card. Hunger drives us into Burger King, where the young
man speaks English and willingly changes 20 Euros at a better rate than the
hotel! We buy a meal here and have some change left to spend in the bazaar.
This isn't the first time that BK has saved us, as we fondly remember the
miracle of Nazareth. Fresh off the ferry from Cyprus early on a Sunday morning,
we cycled all the way  rom Haifa to Nazareth without any food or drink outlet
being open. We arrived in Nazareth at 9.45 am; everywhere was closed except
Burger King which opened at 10 am. The assistant was amazed at our joy! But
back to Edirne …
We find a specialist Turkish Delight shop and buy a gift to delight Matt, back
at Sakar Hills Camping. The evening ends exploring the wonders of the Ali Pasha
indoor bazaar, where I treat myself to a gift pack of 3 boxes of apple tea.
Barry points out that it doesn't actually contain any apple but I love it!
Other typical souvenirs are baskets of fruit made of scented soap, which don't
contain fruit either,
DAY 8: 72 km - Edirne (Turkey) to Biser (Bulgaria)
A very good buffet with a wide variety of food for both Turkish and
European taste is  ample for breakfast and lunch! As we collect the bicycles
from the store, we were presented with two bottles of mineral water: a nice
touch. Then we ride back from the centre of Edirne to the bridges over the
Tunca and the Maritsa, and so to the border at Pazarkule. Stopping for drinks at
a small shop/pavement café before the border, we talk with the only customer, a
gentle old man who speaks some German. He tries to pay for our drinks but allows
us to treat him when we explain that we need to spend our last few Lira, which
just cover the bill. The shopkeeper, observing this, treats us all to a second
cup of coffee!
There is no drama on leaving Turkey, where our passports and visas are stamped
again before crossing the frontier zone to the Greek border post at Kastanies.
Then we cycle back along the now familiar and very quiet E85 highway, past
Ormeni village to the Bulgarian border and into our third country this morning.
What an intriguing corner of Europe!
We celebrate our 8 days of wonderful and varied cycling over coffee and ice
cream sundaes in the café in Ljubimets before riding the last few km along rd 8
to Biser. Our motorhome waits patiently under the shade of a tree at Sakar
Hills. 'Hi, you guys' calls Matt 'How did it go?' But how do you explain to a
non-cyclist, who (rightly) thinks it would have been much easier by car?
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