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//Day 32 /12-04-22 /Kazanlak-Klisura

The weather had changed from grey to sunny.  After a Bulgarian breakfast the hotelman helped me to put some air into Black Horse tires and left Kazanlak with the plan to cycle to Klisura, some 95 K away. 

The cycling today, thanks to the weather, the scenery and most of the time perfect asfalt was great. I’m still on a Bulgarian cycle route which is following the Balkan mountain range, including the Botev mountain, 2376 meters high. The views are great, most of the time I’m on secondary roads, small villages.  One stretch of about 25 K I was send over a more busy road with a lot of trucks, but thanks to the views and asfalt this was not an issue. Again the road went up and down. The last 5 Km I climbed from 400 meters to 850 meters to my destination Klisura, a small village in the middle of the Central National Park, which is one of the largest protected areas in Europe and home eagles, brown bear, dear,…

I’m the only guest in a nice hotel/guesthouse managed by a very nice couple. After a well-deserved  siesta I made a short walk through the small village, not a cat in the streets, but the views on the surrounding mountains are great. The hotel lady made me a dinner which could have fed a family of 4…I’m happy I burned some calories today. 

Today was a  uneventful day but a great cycling day. Tomorrow I will climb to 1300 meters and then descent 100 K to Sofia where I will stay 2 nights. Nothing else to report today  than that I am a happy Balkan cyclist.



























In a small village I passed an old  muslim graveyard. Trees and plants overtaking the ones long-time a ago buried...




Lessons learned :
  • The most friendly/open people encountered thus far : Romania (close call with Serbia and Bulgaria). 
  • The best place to stay : Serbia - Basecamp for Adventures 
  • The best cycle paths - infrastructure wise : Austria
  • The most beautiful views to date : Bulgaria
  • The best non-interested people : Hungary. 

Some service announcements  :
  • When posting comments (which a like) please leave  your name in the comment box so I know who left a comment : someone offered an apartment to stay in Plovdiv, but not sure who…
  • It was a herd of mule….

Comments

  1. Leentje Vanlee4/12/22, 8:35 PM

    Nice photos as usual, glad that weather looks great! Curious about Sofia!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Liliane vanlee4/12/22, 8:35 PM

    Hallo
    Dat moet zeker een prachtige fietsdag geweest zijn en ook heel mooie fotos.
    Ook voor morgen een mooie dag
    Veel groetjes
    Mama

    ReplyDelete
  3. Caroline4/12/22, 11:45 PM

    Not a cat in the street, best quote of the day😆 Good luck with the climb tomorrow 👊 Caroline

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lieve meirsman4/13/22, 7:54 AM

    de manier waarop je vandaag uw verslag schrijft heb je een héél prachtige dag gehad en genoten van een zeer mooie natuur, een welverdiende rust, een goed bed, lekker eten, genoten zoals elke dag van je prachtige foto's

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lieve Halewyck4/13/22, 10:49 AM

    een woord WAW!

    ReplyDelete

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