The Route of the Nomad
an adventure
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Sofia: Big city, reputable for crime and pollution. Hey, I went here because this is where the plane landed. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2011/09/why-go-to-bulgaria/ -
Near this mountain town is where, while descending from the high country on a steep gravel road, I crashed - twice in five minutes. Beat that. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2011/09/how-to-recover-from-two-bike-spills/ -
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After spilling twice off my bike on a mountain road near Samokov and straining my right Achilles tendon and suffering a minor calf tear, I spent four nights at the Hostel Mostel reading books in bed and icing my injuries with packets of frozen vegetables. Plovdiv features a historic old district and a thriving culture of young cosmopolitan folks, and you couldn't ask for a nicer town in which to recover from an injury. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2011/09/how-to-recover-from-two-bike-spills/ -
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This beautiful place is high in the backcountry. A man named Giorgio may be watching over it. Dirt roads and hiking trails lead here, and in August the raspberries are glorious. It's an invigorating climb to get there. Thankfully, Giorgio had a ready supply of wine when I showed up without. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2011/09/uphill-all-the-way-in-the-rhodope-mountains/ -
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I stayed in a hotel - a real crummy one - after a long and weary day in the mountains. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2011/09/uphill-all-the-way-in-the-rhodope-mountains/ -
Ah, Zlatograd - the town where I was turned away from the border crossing into Greece. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/page/2/ -
Here, I crossed into Turkey - trading, among other things, espresso for tea. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/page/2/ -
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Heavy traffic, fat dogs, men fishing from the Galata Bridge - and 12 million people doing so much else. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2011/09/istanbul-the-maddest-city-in-europe/ -
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High and wild mountains flank this town to the north and south. I even found a set of pull-up bars along the road out to the north. Pullup bars are hard to come by in this nation and always mandate a quick stop. I did 16 at a go. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2011/09/the-wild-world-of-the-black-sea/ -
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If you want to encounter a bear in Turkey, this may be a likely place. Locals, when they heard I would be camping, warned me of the bears. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2011/10/tea-and-bear-talk-in-turkey/ And there is a reason that the animals teem here, so close to the villages: The local chicken ranchers dump bird bodies by the sack-full off the road into at least one gulch that I know of. Bears and pigs come at night to forage (and passersby can smell the decay and, if they're a bit clueless, camp among the mess). The animals leave tracks everywhere. Locals have a ball shooting at them. It's a thrill ride for all parties. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2011/10/the-bear-and-the-bullet/ -
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Just west of the heart of Cappadocia, this pretty little town offers hotels - like Bir Kedi, where I stayed - as well as fast access to the surronding wildlands - in which I camped the night following. -
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The beautiful lake north of the town is surrounded by apple orchards and mountains. -
The west shore is gorgeous and isolated. Paved roads lead the way, and village markets carry all the meager rations an adventurer may need. Fig trees are huge and accessible for roadside foraging. -
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A crowded tourist destination, Pamukkale features pools of spring water amidst stunning walls and cliffs of white limestone. Wear sunglasses, as the blazing white light will otherwise nearly blind you. Perhaps you'll meet the man at the gate who keeps a camel dressed in a top hat and some other ridiculous garments. He asks 3 lira for a photo. I told him I could find better camels elsewhere. -
Not much happening here - except that it takes a long, steep, exhilarating climb to get there. The land levels out to the north for a while - a fine camping plateau. -
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I asked a man in the street here if I could buy cheese, as there was no store. He took me to his home where he and his wife seated me to a long breakfast - then gave me a block of cheese. -
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Bushwhacking on the local goat trails carrying a touring bike is an experience not to be missed. -
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Slept here in a field outside the village, ending two hungry days in the Murat Mountains. -
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From here the beautiful Bozdag Mountains first became visible as I headed west toward the coast. -
I rode with a roaring tailwind as well as a long stretch of downhill as I blazed westward at 25 miles per hour for more than an hour - but I brake for figs, which many vendors along the road sold in beautiful heaps of green and brown. -
It takes a serious half day of climbing to get here. The mountains and high valleys of the area were among the highlights of the trip. -
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I first saw the volume of the region's fig production when I dropped into this canyon, out of the Aydin Mountains. The trees covered almost every square yard of the land as far as I could see into the canyon and into the valley below. -
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Here I was informally detained by police for two hours while they held my passport and made me drink tea in the guise of hospitality. -
Here, a dirt logging road ended in the woods one evening, forcing me to bushwhack by the guidance of the sun for two hours until I came across asphalt again. -
I was served an awkward dinner here, ogled by at least 20 curious people. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2011/11/the-final-sprint-to-istanbul/ -
Here, rain fell on me all night, I had my first flat of the trip, and my pump broke. In town, a man fixed me up for free. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2011/11/the-final-sprint-to-istanbul/ -
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- total distance: 1,809 miles (2.911 km)
Main Location
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Sofia, BulgariaPlace | 0 followers
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