Orient Express Day 44 Varna Rest Day - 0km

We awoke to glorious sunshine and enjoyed breakfast in the top floor restaurant of the Cherno More Hotel while admiring views of the sea.

I went for a walk around Varna and was disappointed by the huge amounts of graffiti and lack of street art although I did manage to find some examples which are at the end of this post.

Most of the riders I spoke to are enjoying the day off after some gruelling days and in the knowledge that tomorrow's ride will be hot and hilly - just for a change.

Enjoy the photos!

Inside the Cathedral

Cathedral of the Assumption

Nice melons....

Yesterday's dinner

Today's lunch

Clever. Check the sign to the top left

Best camouflage of a meter box!

Orient Express Day 43 Shumen to Varna - 108km

It was going to be another hot hilly day so, rather than ride solo as I did yesterday, I set off for the day with Stirling into the somewhat cooler morning. As expected, there was not much to see apart from sunflowers...

Navigation was a bit tricky because of the signs being in a foreign alphabet and, even though the main turns had been flagged by our guides, the main group missed a crucial turn and a couple of locals waved Stirling and me after them even though I saw the flag for the turn. When the main group headed back towards us, having reached a dead end, we tacked on to the first drinks stop.

Unfortunately, our novice rider Kim must have missed several turns and despite search parties being sent out through the day and the van even going back to Shumen, she was nowhere to be found until she miraculously appeared in Varna around 4.30pm. Paul (who fainted yesterday) took the day off and Rudolph threw the towel in before the lunch stop where I feasted on watermelon.... just for a change.

I received a warning on the road about what to expect when I reach 60 in a couple of years.

on the skids and frosty

 

 

 

 

erectile dysfunction

The coolish morning turned into a quite hot afternoon and the roads played tricks on us pretending to be flat but really going uphill. Hills, more hills, a great descent and then more hills and we finally got to Varna around 1.30pm in time to shower and head out to the pedestrian areas outside our hotel for lunch - three kebabs with chips and salad, iced coca cola followed by ice cream.. http://www-en.chernomorebg.com/

John and I then headed down to view the Black Sea, as one must in Varna, had a walk around, more drinks and back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. I decided to try the local Macdonalds Italian style burger meal... not bad! (There are at least 4 Maccas in town..)

John

Moi

Alice's Henry

Tomorrow is a rest day in Varna and I believe, being a Monday, all the museums will be closed. What a pity.

A nice old building flying the flag

Orient Express Day 42 Ruse to Shumen - 118km

Bulgaria is a country full of surprises. Today we discovered the perfect wine for cyclists... and that there is not much to see between Ruse and Shumen other than endless fields of sunflowers and the heat rising from the asphalt.. It was a really oppressive day with many hill climbs, unrelenting sunshine and drinkstops few and far between.

We had a very interesting selection of drinks at the "lunch stop" today. I managed to keep both down and I had about 8 pieces of watermelon.. I stopped at the nearby petrol station for some peanuts and a cold Coke.

The sun beat down with more ferocity as the day unfolded and I stopped another 3 times for Coke and water and a bit of shade. It was a long tough day and I was happy to make it in to Shumen before 4pm. Why me??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shumen

This apparently reads Shumen - go figure!

 

 

 

 

 

News from today:

I omitted to mention that Alice's husband  Henry joined us in Bucharest as a "non rider".

Paul (aged in his mid 70's) found himself on the side of the road staring up at a policeman who took him off to the hospital . Apparently, Paul was feeling a bit woosy about 10km from the hotel and pulled over to the side before passing out. No damage but he will have a couple of days off.

Rudolph confessed to having a screw loose - he believes it is in his cleats...

Esther's birthday so we celebrated with a four course meal.

Cold cucumber & yoghurt soup

Salad

Vanilla & chocolate semifreddo

Stuffed chicken

  

I took a walk after dinner to check out the "tourist gateway to Bulgaria" (according to the hotel's website) and here are some of the highlights....

Orient Express Day 41 Bucharest to Ruse - 87km

It was with no regrets that the convoy departed Bucharest just after 7am to escape the heat but the traffic was still heavy as we headed out to cross into Bulgaria. We welcomed Kim from America who is on her first bike trip having just completed residency as OBGYN and is relocating from Houston to the Napa Valley CA.

Kim

The plan was to cycle around 65km to just short of the border and most stopped for refreshments at a motel on Highway 5 which was, unfortunately, on the opposite side of the 4 lane highway. Edna had a close call traversing the crossing but everyone made it through the day safely.

After "lunch" at 10.30 (where Ricardo presented me with my own personal avocado and choice of watermelon), we headed off to cross the Danube for the last time.

The first thing you notice in Bulgaria is sthat you can't read the road signs as they use the Cyrillic alphabet!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_alphabet


We found our way into the town of Ruse and stopped to change money and then have ice cream, drinks and a look around. The directions to our hotel spot were fairly vague and I found my way there with a little help from locals and two petrol stations.

Our hotel tonight is the Luliaka which has a very nice pool and bar and we enjoyed an afternoon sunning, swimming and drinking and a fine early dinner in the outdoor restaurant. http://www.luliaka.com/ENG/Default.aspx

Orient Express Day 40 Bucharest Rest Day - 0km

As several from our Group set off on an expensive private 4 hour tour of Bucharest, I made my plans for three separate tours today.

TOUR 1 - GUIDE FRANCOIS    TOUR 2 - SELF GUIDED     TOUR 3 - GUIDE ANDREW

Francois led me on his own personalised tour of Bucharest having explored the city yesterday. We hit the high spots and all it cost me was a cup of coffee. Bucharest is dominated by the Parliament/Palace and here is one angle:

We parted company and I took the usual array of photos as is customary for rest days. Highlights at the end of this blog...

After a quick lunch near the hotel and some internet research, I headed back to the old city for my self guided Jewish highlights tour. Bucharest is drab and depressing all by itself but the recently completed Holocaust memorial is quite horrible.. It is very missable if you don't know where to look and almost in the middle of a car park. It is impossible to have an overall view and I was the only one there apart from a janitor who was washing down the concrete..

Then there were three synagogues to visit, none of which was open. The Great Synagogue is hidden behind apartment buildings. I took photos but easier to look at these links:

http://www.inyourpocket.com/romania/bucharest/sightseeing/jewishbucharest

http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/bucharest,synagogue

I then joined my guide Andrew for the Free Walking Tour which took 2 hours and was greatly informative. All up cost - a tip of 5 euro..

And as it is a rest day, selection of photos for your enjoyment.

AND, FINALLY, LIFE IMITATING ART.....