(Bulgaria) I have to say goodbye to Europe now.

[15/05/13~28 (D+1366)]

The last country with my bicycle was Bulgaria. Yeah!

It was really good to see green every day. But actually it was suddenly hot. It seemed that the spring was gone in a second and the summer came with hell speed.

I put my tent at local people’s house after getting permission. They smiled at me and I thought they were opened mind. I asked them “Could I take shower?” as usual. But they told me “No”.. Oops.. maybe I misunderstood their smile. I was thinking about it and the conclusion was it was my first time to be denied for taking the shower after asking.

I had to cycle long distance today, but I was not good. I was kind of sick and I could not sleep last night well, so I was too tired from the morning. I drank Red Bull a few years ago in Canada. At that time I could not sleep all night. So I never tried drinking again. But today I did need energy, so I bought and drank. I hoped it gave me some energy. (I was drying my wet tent while eating breakfast around my bicycle)

I saw really weird thing. Were they dead on the field????… I stopped and looked at them. Actually they were taking break time. I wish I could lie down together. It was really hot afternoon!

I saw another weird thing, so I stopped again. I thought who the hell threw the garbage at people’s tombstone? And then I was sad when I saw who died. They were too young, so I guessed the bread and drink were the thing they liked.

There were two ways, so I had to choose between highway and small road. I thought bicycle would be forbidden on the high way. But actually small road was much dangerous because there was no shoulder.

I chose the high way and it was the best choice. There were less traffic and wide shoulder.

It was weird advertisement. I thought it was porno website or mannequin company.

(I checked their website later and they were selling mannequin and some other thing for warehouse.)

I just learned new thing! 4*4=6

I made another new record today. The time of pedaling was twelve and half hours. I was on the road more than 18 hours. It meant I started in the early morning and finished late night. haha

I booked the hostel on online, so I wanted to take shower and sleep at the mattress at the end of day. That’s why I cycled harder today.

But unfortunately I was too tired to sleep well. Sometimes if I am too tired, I cannot sleep well.

I took the rest for a few days at the black sea, and I cycled again.

It was another hot day that I sweated lot. I decided to stop at very small village.

A local people let me set up my tent at their yard. At this time I didn’t ask about the shower. There was the tap at the garden. So I washed my arm and it was so cold in the night. Then the owner of the house called me and said “Take shower at our house”. Thank to them, I felt fresh after taking shower.

The baby’s eyes were so beauturiful. It seems that four generations live together at three different houses.

Today’s my hotel I booked on online was only 60 km (37.5 mi) far. So I didn’t need to hurry.

After hard uphill, I could see beautiful black sea and downhill.

I thought there was no more uphill, but actually there was.

After hitting the sea level, I decided to eat something.

I only ordered two menus, but the owner gave me chicken for free. I was too hungry to take the picture at the beginning. It was around 3~4$

Once I enter to the city, there were lots of resorts and hotels.

This was the place I would stay!!!!!!!! OH!!!YEAH!!!!
Actually I saw on online that many hotels had discount at this city because it was just before the season.
My hotel had 40?60%? discount. That’s how I stayed there. (I could not remember how much I got discount.)

Actually I booked sofa-bed one room, but they gave me large room which had bed room. There were kitchen and air conditioning.

Bed room was quite big.

The toilet was not bad and not good. Just soso..

And there was pool. It was only $11!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I didn’t check online, I must miss this chance. But actually there was reason it was cheap. The pool was too cold to stay longer. The sea was also cold. But it was enough good to lie down at the beach.

One disadvantage of my hotel was that it was far from the city center. And a taxi was too expensive even at the slow season. I cannot imagine how much they will charge at the busy season. Some local people told me they have to make money at the summer and live with this money for eight months.

There were not that much people..

There was another small city and it was quite cheaper than the city center.

I bought some sandwich and the guy was really funny.

The video of a local guy making donner

It was about 15 minutes to that small city and had good view of black sea.

The light was beautiful in the night. It was my first time to stay at the resort on the trip, which was actually my dream. But I thought that it was not that much special. I felt like I was staying at the apartment. The neighborhood was too close to each other and even they were at the opposite site.
When I opened the balcony, the noisy came from neighborhood. I guessed that it would be too noisy at the busy season.

It was the view from my room. The empty building at the left side looked a bit disharmony, but anyway it looked peaceful. The resort was so cheap that I stayed over week.
Actually I had many things to do. I had to organize the trip with my mom which would come after three weeks soon. I had to decide and book the route, flight ticket, hotel and so on. It was really too much work. I did admire the people who go to backpacking trip for short period such as two or three weeks. It was really endless work. It was pressure that I must have the schedule for two weeks trip before the trip.
My mom already had the trip in South Asia and Turkey with her friends. But she had never been in Europe
Frankly speaking, I was thinking about Southern Italy and Greece. And then I realized that this place was the one I wanted to go. I decided to give up those places and change my mind to take her to the most famous place which I’ve been. The result was like this
Italy (Rome-Florence-Venice) – France (Paris) for 15 days
I’ve been all cities except Rome on this route.
I made most of schedule at the end of staying on the resort and wrote a post on my blog. Now I had to cycle again to Istanbul.

I also found the place to stay and leave my bicycle in Istanbul. Almost everything was done for the next month.

There were not many cars to the border. It was really peaceful road.

I found a restaurant at a small village.

It was less than 3$. I didn’t expect much because it was cheap. But it was good.

Video of food. lol

I bought some emergency food at the small village. After that I saw some pig. It was very interesting that the owner put the pig out to pasture. I tried to find the farmer, but I could not find. I was curious that the pig knew where they have to go back.

So cute little creature

I felt sin when I looked at the animal, because we ate them :'(

I thought that I would be back to a vegan when the spring comes. But the problem was I could not find fun anymore for a vegan. I just felt sorry to them.. that’s all…. Who knows I would be vegan again one day..

cute pig

One died tree was between alive trees. Maybe that taller one got thunder?

Before going to the border, there was a small village. But I felt a bit scary that some people beg me and house looked really old. I pass there as soon as quickly.

Some weird horses

There was really hard uphill to the border. I must pass this hard road to reach the border today.

Before the border.. just vlog

After hard working, I got to the border before the sunset. I asked the immigration for the tent, but they said it is not allowed at the government place. I was thinking to cross the border and ask again Turkish immigration. But then I was afraid of going a new place in the night. I usually get nervous to cross the border and get a new country.
I decided to sleep at the parking place at the in front of checking point. There was a police that I thought it would be safe.
There were also street dogs with sad face.

Last night it was raining so I put a plastic bag on my leather seat.

===================================================================
Route
Days in Bulgaria = 16 Days
Distance of cycling in Bulgaria = 498.51 km (311.56 mi)
Cities I stayed in Bulgaria = 5 Cities
Tsar Kaloyan, Varna, Rudnik, Sunny Beach, Malko Tarnovo
Expenditure in Bulgaria = $370
($1=1.75 Lev)

Vlog

Finally the bicycle trip in Europe was finished. Many people told me European are cold. But I’ve met so many lovely, friendly, and kind people like other place. I’ve made really good friends as well. Actually I realized in Europe that I am more like a cat. One of things I loved was that European tried to keep the distance. As cat, I felt relax on the road at the most of times in Europe. It doesn’t mean cycling was easy all the time. I had many hard situations in Europe as well, but I mean I really got less stress from the people.

The last thing I want to tell here is “Thank you all whom I met in Europe so much for being with me. Many thanks people who donated me and supported my trip. Thank you for following my long journey on online. Thank to you guys, I could cycle 18,000 km (11,250 mile) over one year and four months. Thank you so much!

Follow me until I get home!