Roman mosaics at Sofia

May 28, 2019

While strolling about last night,  I noticed an exhibit on Roman mosaics at the nearby National Archeology Museum. The museum has some mosaics found in Bulgaria, which they supplemented with some Roman mosaics on loan from the Capitoline Museum in Rome for this special exhbit. These mosaics have been remarkably durable, surviving largely intact for thousands of years.

Roman mosaics

To the airport & home

The branch line to Peshtera

May 27, 2019

The 10:00 Train from Asenovgrad to Plovdiv connects with the local from Plovdiv to Peshtera. The ticket seller (in English) and the conductor (in Bulgarian) both warned me that the connection time was only 12 minutes. I had already been to Plovdiv station and I knew the layout of the station (1), so I was not too concerned.

The Peshtera branch line climbs the foothills of the Rhodope (2). We passed many strawberry fields where the pickers seemed delighted to see the train, smiling and waving as we passed (3). Peshtera is pleasant, with a pedestrianized area in the town center. I found the Museum of the Cars of Communism and went to have a look. The cars were well-preserved and the museum also featured propaganda posters, &c. from the era. It was a bit kitschy (4), but fun.

After lunch and a walk to the Ottoman-era clock tower, I hopped on the bike to ride back to the main train line at Pazardzhik. There was a short but steep uphill section, then downhill for miles. Peshtera is at 450 meters, while Pazardzhik is at 200 meters, so lots of elevation lost over less than 20 kms. I stopped to buy some strawberries from a woman sitting by the side of the road at Radilovo. She also gave me a handful of cherries. While I do not normally like cherries, these were so fresh and juicy, they had all the sweetness of Spring in each one.

I arrived at Pazardzhik station in plenty of time to buy a ticket and hop on the next train back to Sofia where I dropped off my rental bike (5). Nearby, there was a crowd spilling into the street and lots of noise in front of one of the fancier hotels in Sofia. Judging by the mortar boards and tassels on the balloons, this was a rather loud graduation party.

(1) At some bigger Bulgarian train stations (like Plovdiv) there are "stub" tracks for local trains originating at the station. The potentially confusing part is that they share numbers with non-stub tracks. So, there could be track 1 and stub track 1 that are completely different (a).

(a) This is further complicated in Sofia with east and west sections of the same track. So, at Sofia central station, you could have trains leaving from stub track 2, track 2 east, and track 2 west, all around the same time. 

(2) Unlike the rather abrupt beginning of the mountains at Asenovgrad further east, the mountains here begin more gently with foothills.

(3) Strawberry plants are low to the ground, so the pickers were probably glad to have a reason to stand up.

(4) I could not tell whether the museum was set up to be kitschy or nostalgic. Not having grown up during communism, it appeared kitschy to me.  

(5) While the Bike Shop from which I rented bike officially closes at 6:00, the guys were still hanging out when I got there at 7:00, so that's one less thing to do in the morning before I fly home.

Peshtera Station

Museum of the Cars of Socialism

The Communist Nations of the Warsaw Pact stood together

Come visit the Bulgarian coast, formerly known as the "Red Riviera" 

(old advertisement at the Museum)

Stork Nest atop a church Steeple at Peshtera

The Ottoman-era Clock Tower from 1620

After climbing up from Peshtera:

View of the Rhodope Mountains behind me just before my descent began

Thracian Tomb at Aleksandrovo

May 26, 2019

A quick bike ride downhill to Svilengrad this morning. I saw 2 cars and 3 bikes on the road. While the road goes almost directly by the back of the train station, there is formidable razor wire fencing (1) requiring me to go a few miles around. 

The morning train took me west to the small village of Nova Nadezhda, the closest station to the Thracian Tomb at Alexandrovo. A fairly steep ride up to the top of the ridge brought me to the Thracian museum, funded mainly by the Japanese government. 

The museum includes a reproduction of the nearby tomb (2), including colorful paintings and a small collection of artifacts found at the site. The Thracians controlled the area before the Greeks and Romans, but little is known about them; most of our knowledge comes from paintings and artifacts found in the tombs. The museum was well developed, but does not appear to have many visitors. The site of the tomb and museum is on a ridge with commanding views in all directions.

I rode westward along the ridge then descended back to the river at Dimitrovgrad, passing by the aptly named "Eastern Industrial Zone." One factory smokestack was belching smoke that was an unearthly grey/yellow/green.

Connecting at Krumovo, I arrived by train at Asenovgrad, where the Thracian plain abruptly ends and the steep Rhodope mountains begin (3). 

There is a pass through the mountains between the Thracian plain and the Aegean Sea that ends here at Asenovgrad; fortifications in the area date to antiquity. Tsar Asen built the fortress still visible in remnants today during the 1200s on a high cliff above the town at the entrance to the pass. I walked up in the company of many locals, who view the hike up to the Fortress and beyond as a good way to get some exercise on a Sunday afternoon.

(1) This is the closest station to the Turkish border and the fencing is designed to prevent illegal migrants from hopping off trains and disappearing into the countryside.

(2) The tomb itself is too small to visit without causing damage to the original paintings. 

(3) On the north side of the Thracian plain, there is a similar very abrupt transition between the plains and the Balkan Mountains (a)

(a) According to Greek Mythology, Rhodope was the Queen of Thrace. Her husband, Haemus, compared himself to Zeus and his wife to Hera, which offended the Gods. As retribution, the Gods transformed the couple into the Rhodope and Balkan/Stara Planina mountains, forevermore to see each other across the Thracian plain, but never again to touch. 

Scenes from the tomb reproduction

Gold items. Thracians liked their bling 

Views from the tomb site

The descent to Dimitrovgrad

The Church at Asen's Fortress

The Church and Fortress

Martenitsa on tree at Assenovgrad

The pass the Fortress defended

Mezek, Bulgaria

May 25, 2019

The once-daily train up the Evros River (1) valley ends ar a small Greek village called Ormenion. I stopped in a local café for a drink. The locals (all men) seemed pleased to see someone new and we chatted amiably in broken English about what I was doing in their village.

At the Bulgarian passport control station, the official asked me with a grave face for my vehicle registration papers. I pointed at my bike and said "вело" (2) (bike). He broke out in a wide grin, laughed, and stamped my passport.

The turn-off for Mezek is just past the border. The well-paved, tree-lined road had little traffic and a nice bike lane. I soon arrived in Mezek, which is the most pleasant Bulgarian village I have seen.

A climb up a modest bluff behind the village brought me to the Mezek Fortress, dating from at least the early 1200s during the Byzantine era (3). The fortress affords sweeping views of the Maritsa River valley, and served to guard Adrianople/Edirne and Constantinople/Istanbul from the northwest. There was a school group and a number of families wandering about, climbing on the walls, and taking pictures in period costumes.

I walked back down the hill, grabbed my bike and headed to the nearby Thracian tomb dating from the 4th century B.C.E. The tomb was discovered in 1931, and has a very long, stone-lined corridor leading to the burial chamber. The corridor is lined with holograms of the various objects (wine containers, candle holders, &c.) found at the site, the originals of which are in various museums. The burial chamber is a tall, beehive shaped structure, which has managed to survive intact and unscathed for almost 2.5 millenia.

At the winery named after the village, I  bought a bottle of Thraki wine, a red blend including Mavrud, a local grape. The bottle fit the bike rack perfectly, as if the rack were designed for the purpose.

There was no restaurant in town, so I stopped at a small grocery planning to buy some bread, cheese and maybe hard sausage. I greeted the young lady with my best здравейте (4) (zdraveite). She told me they had a small electric grill and that she could cook up any meat I wanted from the meat case. I was pleasantly surprised and went back to the guesthouse to grab my wine. The chicken on skewers was quite tasty; I ate two-thirds, while the neighborhood cats got the rest.

As I sat at the small table outside, everyone in the village (5) seemed to come by, including other diners whose meat was cooked on the electric grill. The shop owner sat down with the diners, brought out a pack of small chocolate muffins and shared one with me as we all chatted as well as we could (6). I offered to share my wine, but I had no takers.

Back at the guesthouse, I offered wine to the other guests. Still no takers, so I drank most of the bottle myself (7). Colin and his father were fellow guests and we chatted about music tastes. His father, who grew up in the 1970s under communism, says the music from the late 1970s is best. He was forbidden to listen to the decadent western music, which made him want to hear it all the more. Colin showed me a video of a concert he attended by Slavi Trifonov, a Bulgarian folk-rock singer. Colin's wife was a former dancer for the band.

(1) Known as the Maritsa in Bulgaria and the Meçis in Turkey. The river rises in the Rila Mountains in southwestern Bulgaria and eventually forms most of the border between Greece and Turkey (a).

(a) The one place where the river does not define the border is near Edirne, where the river runs quite close to the city. There is a small zone on the west bank of the river that was ceded to Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, presumably to keep the city out of range of Greek artillery.

(2) Pronounced "velo," which is the same as the French word for bike.

(3) Although there is some belief that the site was use for military purposes as early as the Thracian period in the 4th century B.C.E.

(4) I was pleased when she subsequently told me she thought I was a foreigner until I spoke, then thought I was Bulgarian. Apparently, my Bulgarian "hello" is not bad.

(5) Plus the border police stocking up on snacks and coffee for their night patrols.

(6) This consisted of me naming a place, then saying the Bulgarian word for either bike or railway, depending on how I got there.

(7) I can't let good wine go to waste and I had no way to carry it with my bag also on the rack.

Last stop in Greece

One of the reasons I'm not sure how far I cycled.

Tree-lined road up to Mezek

Arrival at Mezek

Views from the Fortress

Panorama from Fortress

Period display at Fortress

Long corridor leading to Thracian Tomb

In the Tomb

Boar figure found at Tomb that has become the symbol of Mezek

View from Tomb Site

 Aging the wine

Painting in the winery by wine-maker's Uncle

Fits perfectly on my bike rack

The cats helped me eat my chicken

Back to Alexandroupoli

May 24, 2019

An overnight electrical storm left some lingering rain in the morning, but the afternoon was expected to be drier. While sitting at dinner last night, I had grabbed a map and planned a bike ride of about 25 miles to explore the island. There was a ferry at 18:30 on Fridays (1), so I had the day to explore. I double checked on-line at breakfast, and only the morning ferry run was shown; I pedaled to the port to check. 

Rather whimsically, they had two schedules posted to the door of the Ferry ticket office: one with and one without the 18:30 Friday departure. Upon enquiry, I learned there was only the morning ferry, and no more ferries until Sunday (two days away). While I liked the island, there are other places to see, so I reluctantly took the morning ferry back to Alexandrpuoli. Alexandroupoli is a small port town, with a recently-renovated seaside promenade lined with Cafés and tavernas.

(1) At this time of year, there is only 1 ferry scheduled per day, except on Fridays, when there are 2 ferry runs, and Saturday, when there are none. 

The Ferry at Samothraki

Thunderheads lingering over Mt. Fengari

Arrival at Alexandroupoli

Passengers waiting to board the ferry back to Samothraki

Samothraki, view from Alexandroupoli

The ferry to Samothraki

May 23, 2019

The morning clouds burned off as I pedaled back to Greece. The Greek border guard seemed surprised to see an American on a bicycle crossing from Turkey (1). I had plenty of time before the train came (2), so I took the road that Google says goes north to the next town (Marasia). Perhaps the road does go through during low water when the river is fordable, but it definitely was not today. 

Along the way I stopped to take a picture of a large field of poppies. A man approached me and started talking Greek, which I don't speak. So he mimed for me to take a dirt road around to the other side of the poppy field to get a better picture due to the angle of the Sun (3). As I approached the poppy field with the sun behind me there was a remarkable droning noise as hundreds, perhaps thousands, of bees were busy gathering pollen from the poppies.

Back at the ford in the river, the Athens Vespa club had arrived as part of their week-long tour of the Thracian region of Greece. The organizer told me there were also two Austrians along for the ride. They stopped here and were enjoying coffee at the large riverside Café. Behind the café, a park was overrun with what appeared to be 6th graders on a school field trip. Their teachers had gathered a bunch of tables together and were enjoying what appeared to be some sort of iced espresso drink (4) (5). 

From the riverside park, I saw the train heading northbound (6). While I was enjoying the scene, it was time to go to the train station. At the old train waiting shed, I was asked by a bedraggled-looking American how to get to the border with Turkey. I pointed the way and showed him on my map. He seemed a bit confused about where the coast was (50+ miles away) and said Jesus had told him to get off at this stop. As he began telling me that 9/11 was an inside job by defense contractors, I signaled an end to the conversation, walked into the concrete waiting shed, and put my bike between myself and him. I watched the birds and butterflies flitting about as he rambled on about free fall rates, military grade explosives, and the melting point of steel. 

Thankfully, the train soon arrived and some Greek teenagers helped me hoist the bike onto the train (7). The ride to Alexandroupoli was near the Turkish border most of the way, and I noted a military presence in many locations, presumably to deal with border security in light of the large number of refugees in Turkey. There were a number of poles with wire baskets affixed to the top for nesting storks. Many of these were filled with Mama birds feeding young mouths.

The train arrived just in time to catch the ferry to the Greek Island of Samothraki. Boarding was a busy affair, with cars backing on, passengers carrying on all sorts of cargo: a lawn mower, 4 pick-up truck tires, rolling racks of plants, a washing machine on a dolly, etc. All this activity was happening simultaneously. The passengers appeared to be about 2/3 island residents while the rest were tourists (8). The most common language I heard (other than Greek) was Bulgarian.

The Aegean sea was almost dead calm. About halfway through the 2.5 hour journey, a pod of dolphins appeared alongside, flying out of the water. Samothraki is a very quiet island with a population less than 3,000 people. The most prominent feature of the island is Mount Fengari (a.k.a. Mount Saos). Thankfully, there is a narrow flat area along the west and north coasts, and I cycled a few miles to my resting place for the night.

As the sun set, I heard what sounded like gurgling water from the woods behind the hotel. I was perplexed for a while until I realized the sound was the combined clanging of the bells on sheep as they headed in for the night.

(1) "Do you live in Turkey?" (No) "Are you going back to America?" (No, I'm going to Samothraki.) "Samothraki?? OK"

(2) I always leave plenty of extra time when there is a border crossing involved. There is only one train a day and I definitely did not want to miss it.

(3) As the man spoke, I discovered there was one Greek word I actually knew "Helos" (sun).

(4) The kids had been given a few balls. As near as I could tell, the instructions to the kids went something like this: don't get too close to the river (a) and don't bother us teachers unless someone is bleeding.

(a) Plastic tape was hung between the trees to mark the closest the kids could get to the river.

(5) I decided I would also try one of the iced espresso drinks and ordered one by pointing at someone else's. As I sat and enjoyed my coffee, more buses arrived and disgorged what must have been every 6th grader in the region.

(6) The train heads north a few more stops, then turns around and heads back to the seaside town of Alexandroupoli. 

(7) I was pleased that Jesus had not told the conspiracy theorist to take the train back to Alexandroupli and continue to try to convince me of his theories.

(8) As we approached the Island, I heard English for the first time this trip (other than when people were talking to me). There was a group of 20 Americans (including a woman from Maine I chatted with) on a organized bus tour of Greece. "Isn't it wonderful, they pick all the hotels and restaurants and organize everything for us." (I'm sure the sixth grade field trip at Kastanies was not on their tour). I had to explain a few times that I had rented a bike in Sofia, Bulgaria ("Where?") and was poking about on my own.

Not Flanders Fields; Kastanee, Greece

No fording today

Vespas touring Thrace

School field trip to Ardas River Park

To the train station

The train arrives

Dolphins guiding the ferry to Samothraki

Mt Fengari, 5,285 feet, Samothraki 

Kamariotissa, Samothraki's diminutive port town

The main road, Samothraki

Sunset at Kymala, Samothraki