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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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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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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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