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Two V-stroms to Turkey and Bulgaria (less one) from Germany – Mike and Beverly Two V-stroms to Turkey and Bulgaria (less one) from Germany – Mike and Beverly
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Ride Tales Post your ride reports for a weekend ride or around the world. Please make the first words of the title WHERE the ride is. Please do NOT just post a link to your site. For a link, see Get a Link.
Photo by Hendi Kaf, in Cambodia

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Hendi Kaf,
in Cambodia



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  #46  
Old 28 May 2014
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Yakima WA
Posts: 146
May-23

As promised, we brought the good weather to the Moto camp.There was no rain over the evening.We woke up to the sun, a tasty breakfast and a stimulating conversation with Polly about Bulgarian politics and the best places to ride.Her father used to be the mayor of Idelevo and she is quite civic minded.She expressed her concerns about the drainage system in the town to the current mayor who said that it would be fixed.

They have a large game room (looks like it doubles as a party barn) that has many motorcycle mementos.This is also where breakfast is served. Polly offered helpful suggestions for our route for the next few days which included getting to monastery at Rila for tonight and Kalambaka the next night.That would leave only 100 miles to Igoumenitsa, the ferry port.We have to be there for a 7AM ferry the morning of the 26th which actually means we need to stay there the evening of the 25th.
We said goodbye but hopefully, we will see Polly and Doug in September when Doug does the Cannonball ride across the United States. Florida to Seattle/Tacoma on bikes older than 70 years. The last leg of the trip begins in our town of Yakima.

We stopped in Sevlivo for some chain lubricant and then took the back-roads to the Troyan monastery The Troyan Monastery is an operating Eastern Orthodox monastery which has many pilgrimages devoted to the Blessed Virgin. Wecut across the outskirts of Sofia on our 200 mile drive to Rila. The area is quite beautiful with snow covered peaks where they have skiing, rivers with fishing and white water rafting.Sofia, a large city of 5 million has been recently noted as a livable and inexpensive area still unspoiled by tourism and high costs.

There is a winery on the way to the Rila monastery.They sell wine in plastic 5 liter jugs for 7 Euros.A bottle is 5 Euros.We considered a few ways we might be able to manage such a jug on the motorcycle but eventually decided on the bottle.The man wrote down the distance to the monastery when we asked for directions.We both saw him write down 2.9 km though it turned out to be 29kms.

The Rila monastery is high in the remote mountains in Bulgaria and is another functioning Eastern Orthodox monastery. We decided to stay at the monastery for the night. The clergy there seemed to be unhappy that they had to put up with tourists and the hotel was marginal. The Monastery is important because during the Ottoman occupation that lasted for hundreds of years, the Bulgarian language, culture and art was preserved here.
The only smile we saw was from the waiter in the morning at breakfast. We asked if they had Wi-Fi and he got this smug look on his face. He said we only talk to Jesus here.Mike suggested that in such o holy place, one doesn’t need Wi-Fi to reach Jesus. It seemed like he was waiting for a while for this lead in.


1.Off we go; we leave the motocamp
2. Beverly at a stop through the mountains
3.Mountain scenery along the way
4.Mountain scenery along the way
5.Which wine shall we get?
6.Going up the road to the Rila monastery
7.Inside the Rila monastery walls
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  #47  
Old 29 May 2014
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Yakima WA
Posts: 146
May 24

The road down the mountain was 30km of Twisties.We crossed the border to Greece and to Kalambaka to the Meteora. Meteora meand hanging from the sky. This is a series of Monasteries built on large outcrops. We really are not on a monastery tour. These places are vital parts of the country’s history.
During the Ottoman occupation of Greece lasted several hundred years. The hermit Monks lived on these rocks and gradually moved up the face of the rocks to keep away from the invaders. They gradually got to the top and started building. These monasteries taught the Greek language and culture and kept it alive. Opinion is that the Greek language and culture would not have survived had these places not existed. Story is similar to the Rila Bulgaria monastery.

There are seven monasteries built on natural formations. This is the second most visited place in Greece after Athens.These particular monasteries are famous not just for their history but also, for their spectacular and unusual geological rock formations.

After a day of tourist work, we headed out for Igoumenitsa to get the ferry next day. We drove through some incredible mountain roads. Three hours we were there. Igoumenitsa is a port town and gets a bad rap for having no character. In addition, this Sunday was election day for the EUand so all the stores were closed. We have a cabin on the ferry and we did manage to find some supplies for our ferry ride from Greece to Venice and retired for the evening. The ferry to Venice leaves at 7:00 and is 25 hours.

1.Look hard to see the rafters launching
2.Rafters
3.Rivers and fishing
4.A family on their work cart near Sofia
5.Posing for a family picture (they also waved and whooped it up)
6. Vineyards along the way
7. Crossing the border
8. A few rainstorms in the area
9. Curvy roads to Kalambaka and Meteora
Attached Thumbnails
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Two V-stroms to Turkey and Bulgaria (less one) from Germany – Mike and Beverly-p1000538.jpg  

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  #48  
Old 29 May 2014
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Yakima WA
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May 25

In the morning, we toured Meteora which we described in the previous post.We then drove to Igoumenitsa.

1.View from our hotel garage
2 – 9 The spectacular sites of Meteora and our visit there
10 Mike our lunch restaurant
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  #49  
Old 12 Jun 2014
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Yakima WA
Posts: 146
May 26

We arrived early to the ferry and drove to gate 10.Only one other biker there.He is the captain of a container ship.When he gets home, he goes out on a 2 month trip to China and other ports.Other bikes soon joined us.Most were German and had been on a tour to Turkey, Georgia and Armenia for the past 5 weeks.The tour was led by Steven.

The ferry started to load at 8:00AM – about an hour late. The loading was routine….well sort of.On the big ferries we have always followed the ramps to the bowels of the ship.This time we parked on the main deck which was usually jammed with trucks.Go up the side ramp, follow the car in big circle…No, instead, the director of traffic motions to make a quick U-turn on this oily deck where trucks park.You can guess what happened next.The bike found one of the many oil spots and we went down.Beverly happened to be filming with her camera, but it doesn’t show any of the excitement because she just stepped off the bike, camera in hand still pointed forward to the deck hands running in our direction.Except for being embarrassed with the other bikers behind us; no harm was done.Those panniers are good for something other than holding our gear.

The sleeping cabin was waiting for us.We just settled in and went back to bed.Later we emerged and spent the afternoon chatting, working on our blog and walking around the ferry.In the evening we talked with Steven, the leader of the German tour group with his company, Global Adventure Tours.He gave us some great information on the best routes through the Alps and we had discussions on European history.
We retired to our cabin for the evening.The ferry should arrive in Venice at 9:30 AM.

1. Two bikes waiting at 6AM
2. Beverly waiting for the ferry
3. Mike and the others waiting
4. The ferry arrives
5. We parked on the top deck – no tie downs
6. The culprit -- oily grease on an already slippery deck
Attached Thumbnails
Two V-stroms to Turkey and Bulgaria (less one) from Germany – Mike and Beverly-dsc_1482.jpg  

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Two V-stroms to Turkey and Bulgaria (less one) from Germany – Mike and Beverly-dsc_1503.jpg  

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  #50  
Old 13 Mar 2015
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New on the HUBB
  
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 1
remember good friends
Hello Beverly and Mike,
i'm wondering why your ride tale stopped so suddenly.
Met you on ferry last year from Italy to Greece.
Stayed also at Seker Hotel Diyarbakir for one night at May, 04. 2014.
I'm preparing to ride again this year trough Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iran and back home on my side-car-bike.
Hope to hear from you.....
Best regards

Guido
hagu@bluewin.ch
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