Tuesday, October 11, 2011

20 years ago today - Day 222


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Friday, October 11th - Blageovgrad to Razlog - 13,228 km

I'm setting off after breakfast at the hostel. Heiko came down at the same time and Gerhardt arrived not much later. They bore a thin veneer of politeness towards each other. I suspect they will get over their differences somewhat, but I am not sure it is wise to combine the company of Dutch and German friends in the same visit. In the past, I have also learned not to mix my Quebecois and French friends.

The lake has disappeared from the main square so I suppose someone has unclogged the catch basin covers. Mud still covers the streets and sidewalks. I borrowed a sponge from the youth hostel to clean off my bike before I set off but three blocks later it looks worse than it did before. The mud is scraping against my mud guards and brake pads and splashing up my legs. It doesn't last long though as I begin to climb out of the city. After a few kilometres the dried mud is cracking and flaking off.


This day will be in two parts. First, I am cycling north from Blagoevgrad to the famous Rilski (also known as Rila) Monastery set in a mountain valley east of Hwy 1. After eight kilometres I follow a side road that leads to the town of Rila, a further eight kilometres along. From there I enter a mountain valley. There is nothing in the mountain valley but the monastery so the traffic is extremely light. It is a lovely valley too, fresh and shaded and following a small river. The road climbs steadily for 14 km, but gradually, so it is not very arduous. This is wonderful cycling.

I have climbed about 700 m by the time I reach the Rilski Monastir. Outside of its walls it does not appear that spectacular. It is dwarfed by the mountains on the
valley floor without a prominent setting – nothing like Meteora in Greece. But once inside I see why the travel guides give it top billing. The architecture is interesting and the painted cloisters and walls inside are stunning, adorned with gold leaf and brilliant colours. Photos are not allowed but I sneak a couple takes anyway, at the risk of being kicked out. A black frocked priest comes into the room shortly after I have taken the pictures. I am not sure if he saw the flashes but he doesn’t question me.

I am not the only visitor. A school bus full of pre-pubescent youths are here with their teacher, a handsome man my age. I chat with him near the parking lot, and he translate the story of my trip to his students. One of the boys is fascinated by my loaded bike and wants to ride it around the parking lot. I give him permission but the teacher is nervous about him damaging my bike or himself so he only lets him make one rotation. I am sure he would have ridden it much longer if we had let him.

Now the fun begins as I get to ride through the whole valley again, but downhill this time. I hadn’t really appreciated how high I had climbed until I realize I don’t need to pedal for the first ten kilometres, and then only lightly for the next ten until I am nearly back at Hwy 1.

I follow Hwy 1, south again through Blagoevgrad, where I stop briefly for a late lunch. Then I continue south and downhill past the high rises along the raised section of road where the hail storm hit me yesterday, through the first canyon to the town of Simitli, where I turn east on Hwy 19. I have already cover 80 km by this point and it is 2:30 pm.

Hwy 19 climbs through another mountain valley, much like the one the Rilski Monastir is in, but the climb is more gradual. I gain the same height but over 35 km. The autumn colours are quite colourful at points, especially at the pass which is 1130 m high. From there it is downhill into Razlog, a ski town set at 830 m altitude. It is a pretty setting in a broad valley, but it is already moving towards twilight when I roll into town about 5:30 pm.

There is a youth hostel in this town too, thankfully. It is off-season for skiing and for summer tourism so there are available beds. In fact, the hostel is only half-full, even though this the start of the weekend. It is a fairly new hostel, built in the latter part of the communist period when there was still money around. My dorm room only has four beds and I am the only one staying in it tonight.

The town has several restaurants. I chose an Italian one, though the food scarcity here has also limited the menu. I get a simple pasta with Alfredo sauce and tomatoes. It is a better meal than I have managed to find so far in this country. There isn’t much open other than a couple pubs, but I don’t check them out. After my 137 km today I would fall asleep if I drank anything and I would be yawning in everyone’s face. I retire to my dorm in the hopes there will now be some others sharing my room I can talk with. More guests are arriving for the weekend, but they are definitely groups of partiers set on getting drunk. They don’t hang around long. Thankfully, I am not sharing my room with any of them. I suppose they will make enough noise to wake me up when they do stagger back in.


PHOTO 1: town of Rila
PHOTO 2: the road to Rilski Monastir
PHOTO 3: the valley near the Rilski Monastir
PHOTO 4: the entrance to the monastery
PHOTO 5: the inner courtyard of the monastery
PHOTO 6: a turret in the monastery
PHOTO 7: painted cloisters
PHOTO 8: more painted cloisters
PHOTO 9: inside the chapel at the monastery
PHOTO 10: one of the incredible paintings with gold leaf
PHOTO 11: more gold leaf
PHOTO 12: the school kids

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