After our visit to Magura, we cycled, downhill all the way, to Dimovo and a train to Vratsa. Then a day off cycling, with our friend Petar who among other things chose a fabulous red wine on the second evening with him.
Which does not say anything about mountains. Vratsa is at the base of part of the Balkan mountain chain, and we had to be within the chain. I won't say on top of the mountains as that implies mountaineering, whereas we just ride bikes. But we had to get ourselves plus bikes up there. We now began to grasp the meaning of the word "uphill" in Bulgaria. The road up was a main road and not too steep, up a river valley. We stayed on a pension not yet fully "up" and the next day arrived in Dragoman, pretty much on top as towns go. Next day, a fabulous down - one of the joys of cycling is such a descent - followed soon after by a grinding up - one of the reasons ebikes are essential for our age group.
We travelled through Dragoman, Tran and Kyusyendil, eventually getting to Rila Monastery. The was much going up, and much going down. The descent into Kyusyendil I will always remember. The mountain scenery is magnificent. The ride down the gorge of the river Strumika was wonderful.
Rila Monastery in the next posting.
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