July 14-17 Varna to Kirklareli

Our last rest day before we arrive in Istanbul! Kirklareli is a bustling Turkish town about 40km from the Bulgarian border, and a world away in terms of people and culture. This is the fourth year of the Orient Express bike tour, and the annual migration of foreign cyclists through Kirklareli is officially watched for and recognised by the municipality. There is even a photo of the group of two years ago in the town brochure -- tourists attracting tourists! Yesterday evening we were invited to a tour of a historic part of the town, and a very pleasant restaurant dinner hosted by the mayor.

We had left Varna on Monday morning, following the main road south toward the ancient coastal city of Nesebar. The road winds through the hills with only occasional views of the sea, and a gruelling 30km climb before the steep, spectacular descent to the coast. Nesebar is a tourist trap with shops and cafes smothering the few medieval buildings, but the peninsular setting is very pretty. That part of the coast is undergoing furious development, though still seemingly in the early stages with more building sites than completed tourist infrastructure. That night we stayed at a tourist hotel in nearby Aheloi. It had a swimming pool, and a band played for an evening of karaoke and dance -- one of our best.

The next morning we followed the flat but very busy highway hugging the coast through the town of Burgas, then branched off onto a quieter secondary road through the hills to the town of Malko Tarnovo. The terrain became progressively more rugged and hilly as the day became hotter (high 30s), making it one of the harder cycling days of the tour. Malko Tarnovo is a sleepy little town. We stayed in dormitory-style accommodation at a hostel -- plain but clean with a pool and refreshments nearby.

There was a thunderstorm that night, and it was cool and rainy when we set out for Turkey on Wednesday morning. The border is high in the nearby range of hills, presumably reflecting the last stand-off point of warring peoples. It took a while to get through, with visa formalities in a cavernous hall ovelooked by the stern portrait of Ataturk. The ride into Kirklareli was short but even more hilly and rugged than the previous day. The first village after the border had vendor stands selling Turkish coffee, baklava and Turkish delight -- a delightful change indeed after the austerity of Romania and Bulgaria.