+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Sofia to Plovdiv, never ending sunshine.

Somewhere in the 600 kms that separate Sofia from Istanbul, lies a place called Plovdiv.

Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria, and was to be my first (and probably last) stop, before arriving in Istanbul.

Peter, wishing to stay a little longer in Sofia, will catch up. Either on the way, or in Istanbul.

It was time for a little solo riding.

As I packed my bags and waved goodbye to my hosts in Sofia, I looked to the cloudless sky above, and then forward, to the 150 kms ahead.

It was indeed a beautiful day.

+ 6 - 0 | § ¶Belgrade to Sofia, over the hills and far away.

So there we were, in the middle of a muddy field.

It was dark, it was raining, we were cold, exhausted, and we stank.

The day before, we had left Belgrade in a haze, waving goodbye to Ivan the Tooth Maker, and to the good times he had provided.

"Listen to me, you will have fun." I remember him saying... and we did, Belgrade had been fantastic. Ivan had been an excellent guide.

A day later, about 100 kms south-east of Belgrade, after enduring non stop rain, and cold, we were feeling humid, and tired.

+ 4 - 0 | § ¶Belgrade, a city of good vibrations

From our first moments in Belgrade we realised this would be a city difficult to comprehend! Our feeling of arriving by bicycle is that Belgrade is a city of chaos! Cars and buses rule the way through the clogged up streets that are lined with buildings of little character marked by the traces of pollution.

We felt so small on our bikes as we competed with the traffic in search of the meeting place that Ivan Nicolic proposed to us. But to our pleasant surprise the meeting place was the first of places where we would discover the characteristics of Serbian cuisine: a cuisine ideal for cyclists in search of energy!

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Szeged to Belgrade The North - South expedition

Szeged is a beautiful town, and unfortunately we could not spend the time we wanted there as we had to move on. We started this trip 4 months ago, and we thought we would be further from Paris by now. I guess we re finding out we need to take the time to meet people and understand our whereabouts, which makes the balance we need for the trip.

In Budapest, we met an Irish chap called Shaun. He left Budapest by bicycle, and it took him just 4 months to get to Delhi via Iran and Pakistan! His style of travelling was one of extreme adventure - sleeping in a sleeping bag and moving forwards every day on his bike. For us and for the project, we try to keep a balance between discovery between cities, and taking the time necessary within the cities.

And Szeged deserved this time but we chose to move on to Belgrade which would be the city we would spend that time.

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Budapest to Szeged, flat riding and horse riding

It was indeed difficult to saddle our bikes again, and it did take a while too.

As we waved goodbye to Attila, David, Bolo and the rest of the crew that made our friends in Budapest, I couldn’t help but to feel a little nostalgia as memories of thermal baths, nights out and home made pálinka (Hungarian schnapps) crowded my confused mind.

All had served to make our stay longer than it should have been…