//the start

In 2018 I ran from Ghent (my hometown in Belgium) to Santiago The Compostela in Spain. 

An adventure which took 4 pair running shoes and 73 days of running to cover the 2700 km. The reasons for my Santiago adventure was the urge to complete a physical challenge (I could have opted for less healthy options to manage my  mid-life crisis), experience  the state of rural France after having seen a documentary on the topic and the need to disconnect from my day to day professional live. 

During my trip I managed a blog with photos I took with my iPhone combined with personal observations on my day-to-day life as runner/traveller to Santiago. It was during this trip I discovered my interest in photography and shortly after my return I enrolled myself into the Ghent academy for fine arts  to study photography.

Around the end of 2020 I started thinking to undertake a new adventure. Not longer with the objective to physically challenge myself but to investigate and document photographically subjects which interest me, meet new people, and go to places I have not yet been before.  After 4 years working, I'm also looking forward to taking a professional brake and experience again the feeling when hours and days  are of no importance as time is evolving around finding a place to sleep, sleeping, finding food, eating, and doing mostly the things you like and make you happy. 

The decision on how to get where I wanted to go was quickly made. The where I wanted to go was not such an easy decision... 

As I wanted to; travel slow, be physical active, able to cover some distance, take photo and camping gear along, .....I decided to travel with and electrical supported touring bike. It took although more time to make the decision where to go as I needed to take into consideration; the time and period I was able to travel, weather conditions, the limitations I found to exist to transport electric bikes easily around and most importantly I wanted/needed to go somewhere that was photographical interesting.

After months of pondering I decided upon cycling through the Balkan (as the title of the blog already have given away to the good observer). I first considered to cycle from Norway to Bulgaria along the Iron curtain route or cycle via Turkey to Georgia....but due to the current covid status, 2022 Ramadan timing , the rather cold weather conditions in East Turkey and Norway during the period I'm able to travel I decided to postpone these adventures for a later date. 

Before explaining the various reasons why I finally decided to go the Balkans we need to have some understanding what is and defines the Balkan. The discussions regarding what and where the Balkan(s) are is one of the main reasons why I decided to go the Balkan. 

There are various definitions of the term Balkan(s). It can refer to the Balkan Mountains, the Balkan Peninsula, a politically determined area, or a South-eastern European cultural concept. It is therefore difficult, even impossible, to indicate exactly where the Balkans begin or end. Geographical criteria to define the Balkans have been added since 1808, on the basis of which countries such as Slovenia and Romania are included in the Balkans. There are criteria such as religion, language or culture and history (a long Turkish rule until the early 20th century). Some countries that are seen as typical Balkan countries do not meet one or more of these criteria. All in all, the delineation of the Balkans is subjective. The Balkan definition I use to "frame" this adventure is the geographical definition,  Including Romania, Greece and the western part of Turkey as used by the Encyclopædia Britannica (which is of course also a subjective choice). If I use the term Balkans (with an s) I refer to all these elements which identify the Balkan (concept). 

Now what we have established (or not) what the Balkan(s) is/are I will try to explain why I decided upon going to the Balkans.

• The Balkans are far away but at the same time close by. Although the Balkans are not so far away (roughly 1200 km) I have never really visited any Balkan country except Slovenia (which is probably the "less" Balkan from a cultural point of view) for a family holiday and some short business visits to Belgrade, Bucharest, and Athens almost 10 years ago. In my hometown the Bulgarians and Romanians are with +/- 10.000  the greatest group of citizens from non-Belgian origin. It will be interesting to learn about their country of birth.
• The Balkan is experiencing a demographic decline  since the fall of the iron curtain. The Balkan have lost a quarter of its population since the early 1990s. The latest census carried out at the end of 2021 shows a population decline of 10 percent in the last two decades alone. Expectations are that some Balkan countries will decrease their population by more than 50 % by 2050. The impact of depopulation is significant on the social health, economic growth, healthcare, and overall stability of the region. My objective is to photographically capture the impact of this demographic decline.
• Reading on the Balkans a great number of "borders" can be identified that have been, and still are, the source of turmoil (and even war) within the Balkan region.  What is the impact of existing "borders" such as: National borders (see post Yugoslavia), Natural borders (Donau, Balkan mountains, Carpathian mountains...), religion borders (Christianity, Islam,…),  Ethnical  borders (Croats, Serbs, Roma, .....) and the  "borders"  from the past such as the Iron curtain ? My ambition is to document photographically if, how and to what extend these "borders" exist and how they impact the day to day live of the "Balkan" people.

 

Besides the ones above there are additional - less serious but even important - reasons - to travel the Balkan ;  

1. Most visitors experience the people  to be very friendly and hospitable.  
2. To check out the food
3. Balkan's beautiful nature and interesting cities
4. Cell phone coverage is not too bad and mostly within the EU roaming area so it will not be too difficult to keep in touch with the homefront. 
5. Any region / identity / cultural- / social concept /... (you choose) having challenges defining itself or is challenging to be defined (again you choose) is worthwhile visiting. I'm looking forward to finding out on who and how the people living in "Balkan geographical concept" define and see themselves.

I will although not start my trip in the Balkan but some 1000 km before, in Passau / Germany. Why Passau? A Bulgarian taxi (there are weekly taxi driving back and forth between Gent and Bulgaria) will drop me off in Passau as it is close to the Eurovelo 13 route, also called the iron curtain route ; a cycling route which starts in Norway and runs through Europe until the Black Sea tracking the route of the iron curtain. My initial plan was to cycle the complete 13.000 Km long Iron curtain route,  as compensation this is  not possible now I will follow around 2500 km of the iron curtain route during my Balkan cycle adventure. 

From Passau I will cycle through Germany,Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary before entering the Balkan. My aim is to visit all Balkan countries with the exception of Moldavia (by some considered to be part of the "Balkan") and possibly Turkey.  Depending on progress and covid status I will be cycling the western part of Turkey as well, but I will decide on that in a later stage.

The countries I plan to visit :

• Germany
• Czech Republic 
• Slovakia
• Hungary
• Romania
• Serbia
• Bulgaria
• Turkey (tbc)
• Macedonia
• Greece
• Albania
• Kosovo
• Montenegro
• Bosnia - Herzegovina
• Croatia
• Slovenia
• Austria

Komoot (routing app)  indicates that the route is approx. 7500 km long, 63.000 altitude meters to be conquered, requires around 412 hours of cycling and 13 ferries. I'm plan to leave Ghent Saturday morning March 12th (you can wave me good-bye around 7.00) and promised Jo and the kids to be back in Belgium latest end June. This gives me roughly 110 days of time and an average of 70 km to cycle each day. 

As from today I will start posting regularly on this blog and my instagram account about my Big Balkan Cycle Adventure - BBCA. Once on the road the hopefully daily post will include my life on the road and (again) important lessons learned and the song of the day.

I invite you to follow my blog and discover the "Balkan" together with me. Please invite friends and family to do the same as I think it will be a great ride ! 

Thanks to Jo and the kids for the opportunity given to go on this adventure. Love ! 

Song of the  day : Asfalt Tango - Fanfare Ciocarla (to get in the mood).

Please visit and share my photography website.

Cheers, 

Thierry.