Goodbye Turkey, Hello Bulgaria

For the princely sum of 9TL, I crossed from Asia to Europe and stayed in the same country. This morning, I decided to see the battleground of the doomed 1915 adventure to supply Russia and open a Balkan front against the creatural powers by trying to eliminate Ottoman Turkey. This hare-brained idea was concocted by one Winston Churchill. After 46,000 allied deaths and and estimated 86,000 turkish, the scheme was abandoned. The whole site of the battle is now a national park and a dotted with cemeteries and cenotaphs. And the Turks come from far and wide to visit this place, this group were from Antalya. they were very curious as to why I was there….

I visited quite a few of cemeteries and became increasingly depressed. The legend "Their Name Liveth For Evermore" seems very hollow when the majority have no know grave. Of the grave stones that I could see, they were mostly for your lads in their early twenties. This place holds a special significance for the Aus/NZ and memorial ceremonies are held here every ANZAC day. There is a famous quotation from Atatturk inscribed "Heroes who shed their blood, and lost their lives. You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country". Given what the allies tried to do to the county, this is a remarkably conciliatory gesture.


I wandered north and headed for Edirne near the Bulgarian border. I got a bit confused by the signs at first until I realised that everything seems to the a 'stan' here…..Yunanistan is Greece. I had 9 Lire to spend before the border and I was hoping to find a nice motorway services and eat something tasty but it all went to pot and I dended up in a Burger King eating rendered chicken. What a way to finish!


The Bulgarian border was a breeze and I found out I don't have to by a vignette for the road systems as bikes are free. Everyone else had to queue up again at the exit to pay to use the roads. Result. All along the road road for about 100km either side of the border, there are huge sunflower fields. They are probably my favourite flower and make me feel quite warm and upbeat. That's a lot of margarine.


I headed for Plovidv I for some reason had remembered was worth visiting but couldn't remember why. When I got there, I arrived at a 1960s soviet concrete jungle and it looked crap. I rode round it thinking there must be something….but all I saw was crumbling concrete. As it was 6pm, I decided to call it a day and looked for a hotel anyhow….too damn hot to pitch a tent. The thought of sleeping in 30C+ in a tent was not for me. I found a hotel for 18 euro and began wandering. Turns out Plovdiv is the site of ancient Phillipopolis and and some very fine ancient bits including the is theatre which is still in use today. They have tunnelled under them so I missed them on the ride round.

The Route
View Balkan Trip Day 37 Canakale to Plovdiv in a larger map