here is the lovely couple in the aya sophia in istanbul. probably the biggest, uglyest building ever!!! ha just kidding. it was awesome, kinda makes you gasp and then shut up because it is so amazing on the inside. we make it better though:)
so pipers camera broke after the big rain storm in kitten bulgaria so we can bring you up to date on photos until that point, and from there on words will just have to do:)
after the storm of the century( which didnt break our big agnes tent!! ) we set off for burgas, the third largest city in bulgaria ( better know as the "bulg" ) we had a great time biking through historic sozopol to get there and in the morning we were craving coffee!! we needed a little american coffee shop but none could be found. but do you know what the bulg has?? tiny little esspresso vending machines!! how perfect. 0.30 leva, about 20cents american you can get a piping hot perfectly brewed vending machine espresso!! we were in heaven!! "piper, quick, how much change do you have? espresso is only 30 cents!!" and now we come to our interactive part of the blog. the bulg has named their coins "stotinki" so we leave it up to you guys to make up the best rhyme/poem and you need to make sure you rhyme with the word stotinki...such as stinky or pinky:)...have fun and be clean!!
so biking from nesebar bulgaria to shipka was great. a flat gently inclined road with a great road surface. definatly beat all the roads in turkey!! we passed through a mini city called sliven that had an interesting landscape. a nuclear power plant in the distance and farmers on horse and wagon in the foreground. quite the dichotomy, quite the contrast. we climbed up and over shipka pass ( pipers story ) which was pretty easy. 8 miles up and 3000 ft climb. we topped out at 1300meters and a sweet view with a huge communist shrine at the top to commerate a huge battle between the russians and the turks where the russians won. russian shrines are very blocky, very rough.
we descended the pass and found our selves in an akwardlittle city called gabrova where we got a little "missplaced" but this guy riding a bike pointed us in the right direction and then asked us where we were from. when we told him "america" he bust out in joy, reached for tims hand, pulled it to his lips and kissed it!! he then rode away screaming "VIVA LA AMERICA!!" woah. most people roll their eyes after we tell them where we are from. this was a nice supprise:)
we stayed at a little creek side monastary tucked into dramatic canyon country that night. there was a qurious little drain under our window thatpointed to the creek. tim noticed that when you took a shower the drain proceded to dribble. hhhmmm...quriousity. what happens when you flush the toilet?? yup you guessed it! no bathing in this creek!! here is a gross image for you: watching out of a second story window your toilet flush quickly draining, falling 2 stories, splashing and your poo floating down a bulgarian stream into the unknown. bon voyage little poo!! be safe and godspeed!!
from the monostary i think pipe has filled you in with the bulg's president and the highway ho's, so enjoy, and until next time!!
timo-
total miles: 1206.3miles
total ride time: 132.23hrs
oops- this image came up somehow...it is a fresco from the aya sophia. piper and I a completely bored with frescos now... we've seen too many, now they all look the same...
