Wanderings: One bike ride, 3 Alphabets

May 22, 2019

After a train ride to the Border Town of Svilengrad (1), I loaded my bag onto my bike and headed for Greece. I soon reached the border, where there is a very long (it must be over a mile) no-mans-land between the two countries (2). Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet while the Greeks (of course) use the Greek alphabet

This area of Greece (between Ormenio and Kastanies) is very quiet and agricultural with gently rolling hills, a road with a very wide shoulder and very little traffic. There was one hill with a radio tower at the top, or at least I thought it was the top. Unfortunately, when I got there there was a bend in the road and more up (3).

Upon reaching the Greek border town of Kastanies, I sought some lunch. Being Ramadan in Turkey, I wasn't sure how much food would be available during the daylight-hours fast. The Greek town was practically deserted and it was hard to tell whether restaurants were open or not. At one restaurant, a cat was dozing peacefully on one of the tables. I eventually found an open place where I was the only customer. While the proprietress did not speak English, we did had enough French in common for me to order a meal.

After Crossing into Turkey (where they use the Latin Alphabet) a cobbled road leads past fields and forests until you make a turn. There in front of you is a stone arch bridge and a view of the bustling City of Edirne (4) and its signature building, the Sulimeniye Mosque, built by the architect Sinan on the 1700s. The sultan wanted the mosque to rival the Hagia Sofia, which was built by Christians in late antiquity in Constantinople (later known as Istanbul). The building was quite beautiful inside with ample natural light streaming in through the dome windows.

At Sunset, I found a cafe and ordered Manti, which is the Turkish equivalent of ravioli. I didn't like it very much so I only ate about a third of the meal. The host and waitress were very worried there was something wrong with the food but I just said with a shrug "I tried it and I didn't like it." They said I had to try some dessert and I got a big smile and two thumbs up from the waitress when I told her I liked the Turkish tea.

(1) Svilengrad borders both Greece and Turkey. The three countries are all so close that I was in Greece for well over an hour before I got a text message welcoming me to Greece, signaling that I had left the Bulgarian mobile phone network. I also got a welcome to Turkey message on my mobile phone long before I actually got to Turkey. While I was in Greece for well over two hours, I was connected to the Greek mobile phone network for only 32 minutes.

(2) I'm not certain, but the large gap between the border posts may be a relic of the Cold War when Greece and Bulgaria were on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain.

(3) When I reached the summit I decided to spend an extra few dollars to stay at the hotel in Turkey with a whirlpool (a).

(a) It was a rather a hot day and the bike I was riding was designed to ride around Sofia, not really for a 35 to 40 mile run through 3 countries (i).

(i) There is a border crossing directly from Bulgaria to Turkey but it is on a busy highway and is full of trucks. Thus, while the ride through Greece may be slightly longer, I'm sure it is more pleasant bike ride.

(4) The city, dating to at least Roman times, was known as Adrianople throughout much of its history.