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
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