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1 USD/$ = 100.40 RSD/dinar as of today.
Overnight flight from Buenos Aires on Iberia Airlines, arriving this morning in Madrid. Late afternoon flight to Belgrade, arriving 22:05 (65 minutes later than original schedule). In baggage claim area, changed $100 to 9500 RSD, then bought A1 mobile service for 1000 RSD (100GB good for 10 days). Ground transportation information available on Belgrade airport website.
7401 RSD thru booking.com for night at Kopernikus Hotel Prag in central Belgrade. Chose this hotel because 24 hour front desk, allowing for late arrival, and because close to old and no longer existing bus station. Took bus 72 to Zeleni Venac, not far from hotel.
[In future, take bus A1 or 600 to hotel near new Belgrade central bus station, such as Hotel Pyramid, which has 24 hour desk and is 30 minutes from bus station by foot. Maxi supermarket across from hotel. Pullup bars nearby along river at Gandijeva Street.]
Slept well for over 5 hours, but felt weak in morning due to jet lag. Did pullups and ate in park, then walked to new bus station. Walking helps acclimate body to heat. Bus to Niš for 2280 RSD. Changed $300 to RSD at exchange office near bus station. Bought bus ticket for Sofia for 2320 RSD, leaving 4:40 morning Friday. 9280 RSD through booking.com for 3 nights at Hotel La Casa. Stayed here previously in 2023 and has advantage of being close to bus station. Made hotel reservation in Sofia.
Slept poorly last night and had to force myself to get up at 6:30. Pullup bar at northwest corner Bulevar Nikole Tesle and Aleksandra Medvedeva.
Still not sleeping well. Medical tests at Medilab for 12750 RSD. Added ApoB and Lipoprotein(a) tests, hence more expensive than previous years. Lp(a) is high but ApoB normal, so probably okay. Testosterone slightly lower than usual, probably due to jet lag. Calisthenics near pullup bar in northeast corner Park Čair.
1 USD/$ = 1.69 BGN/lev as of today.
Rain and occasional thunder in early morning. Very little sleep. Bus to Sofia. Pullups in Park St Nicolas. At Mall of Sofia, changed euros, dollars and RSD to Lev, then bought A1 mobile service (12 lev for 13GB and 500 minutes for 30 days, thereafter 10 lev for 15GB and 500 minutes for 20 days, or such of my understanding of complicated terms and conditions). Bought food for today and next 3.5 days. 80 BGN at Hotel California.
Slept okay. Awake and out of bed at 6:30. Skipped exercises other than pushups and chinups (in park behind church at Blvd Cherni Vrah). Drank 2L while eating in park. Caught bus 66 at 8:00, 2 BGN. Beautiful sunny day. Drank 1.5L while eating and carried 4L from spring along E4, 2.6 km south of Hizha, running strong. Camped at usual spot.
Slept well and awake at 6:30. Weather beautiful again: sunny and mild. Drank 2L with breakfast. Spring below road running .5L/min. Collected 2L to add to 2L remaining from yesterday, so left spring carrying 4L. Camped at usual location.
Slept poorly but awake at 6:30. Drank 2L with breakfast and loaded up with 4L on way into Klisura. Bought 2 meatballs, loaf of bread and orange soda at cafe in Klisura. Continued on E4 and camped in pines 4km south of Klisura at 1400m altitude.
Slept well. Skipped morning exercise other than pushups (plus pullups later in Samokov). Left camp at 8:00 and arrived in Govedartsi about 11:15. Caught 11:45 bus to Samokov (2.5 BGN, additional buses leave Govedartsi at 13:15 14:20). 120 BGN through booking.com for 2 nights at Hotel Niko.
6 days to Razlog or 4 days not counting first and last. Canned fish, kebabs, yogurt, tomatoes, 220g fresh bread for eating in town. Additional food for town and backpack: 3 * 830g bread, 2 * 200g cheese, 5 * 200g peanuts (plus remainder from yesterday), 6 * 85g dark chocolate. Plan to buy lunch at Ribni Ezero and Semkovo huts, possibly buy breakfast at Makedonia hut, so only need to carry 3 days bread, 2 days cheese.
11:15 bus to Govedartsi for 2.4 BGN. Camped at usual spot in forest near Mechit Spring, which is running strong.
Drank 2L with breakfast. Stream on descent to shelter running slow, but managed to collect 2L. Stream on descent to campsite also running slow, but collected 1L. Camped at usual campsite.
Lentil soup, 3 meatballs, 10 slices bread at Ribni Ezero hut. Camped at usual site.
Shopska salad, 3 meatballs, 10 slices bread at Semkovo hut. Camped at usual site.
Picked up 4L water at Makedonia hut. Camped at usual spot.
Walked to Razlog. Pullup bar in park at Alexander Stambolski and Gotze Delchev has been removed. Managed to do pullups (but not hanging knee raises, using children's swing equipment). Other options are football goal at playground along route through town and gate at hotel. 86 BGN through booking.com for 2 nights at Hotel Nadezhda. There is also Matterhorn Family Hotel, 0888 803 458 in case Hotel Nadezhda has no vacancies, or hike to Bansko which has numerous hotels.
Used gate at hotel for chinups: works very well.
Left town with 6*90g chocolate, 1000g peanuts, 2*600g bread, 3*150g cheese. 30 BGN for bed in dormitory at Yavorov hut.
Skipped morning exercises other than pushups. Omelet, 8 slices bread and 1.5L water for breakfast. Should have eaten more bread. Carried 1.5L from hut. Sunny and mild. Picked up 4L from spring in valley, 30m downslope from cabin. Almost certainly more water than needed, but easy to carry extra weight downhill and better safe than sorry tomorrow. Camped below road, near river, 1km before bridge.
Lentil soup and 6 slices bread at Sinanitsa hut, 3 meatballs and 6 slices bread at Spano Pole hut. Ate 150g cheese at campsite and felt disgusted afterwards. Bring extra bread and peanuts next time instead of extra cheese. Camped at usual site.
Warden at Begovitsa hut only willing to sell 5 slices bread (along with chicken soup and pork steak). Need to carry more bread, like 3*600, and maybe more peanuts, like 1200g. Camped at usual site. Forgot to pick up water at spring on way down from summit. Fully hydrated for today but only washing up water for tomorrow morning.
Beautiful weather continues. Delicious lunch at Tritn Reki hut of grains and vegetables soup, chicken with broccoli, 7 slices bread. Loaded up with 4L and camped at usual site. Ate remaining cheese and some bread as afternoon snack. Maybe I didn't bring too much cheese, just too little bread and peanuts.
Omelet, lentil soup and 4 slices bread at Tevno Ezero hut. Didn't order much bread because ate maybe 100g with breakfast and 600g remaining in pack. Ate part of remaining bread and peanuts as afternoon snack. So food carried from town was exactly what was needed, but then I was lucky with food at huts and can't rely on that. Camped at usual site. Started raining shortly after setting up tarp, stopped about an hour later.
Walked to Bansko (pullups in city park and Ploshtad Oborishte). 143 BGN through booking.com for 3 nights at Guest Rooms Grachenovi.
Exchanged 1000 USD for BGN at exchange office, at 3% discount. Quite a few such exchange offices here in town because of tourism. Should have converted in Sofia for better rate.
Spent all morning buying airline tickets. Day will come when this is beyond my capabilities, due to plethora of complex scheduling issues (plan for delayed flights, avoid unreliable airlines and airports, minimize connections to minimize chance of lost luggage, avoid early morning initial flight to minimize sleep disruption, work around Día de Andalucía, avoid Saturday arrival in USA, avoid very late arrival in Spain because of need to buy SIM, etc). Everything should be simpler if and when I settle in Kyiv and then have simple round-trip between there and San Francisco every two or three years, versus these multi-city flights.
Finally settled on Turkish Airlines for SOF-SFO, SFO-MAD for $876 and United Airlines for SFO-RNO, RNO-SFO for $363. Because of Día de Andalucía, need to advance purchase/reserve Madrid-Granada bus, hotel in Granada, hotel in Lanjarón. Do that in January.
Walked to Razlog. 105 BGN through booking.com for 2 nights at Hotel Nadezhda. Auto repair closed Saturday, so need to appear at rear entrance.
Left town with 2*850g bread, 2*150g cheese, 5*90g chocolate, maybe 1000g peanuts, 2.5L water. Didn't need so much water, because fountains along way. Camped at usual spot just before Dobursko hut.
Warden out when I arrived at Makedonia hut at 14:40, so ate cheese and bread. Loaded up on water. Camped at usual site.
Kitchen closed at Semkovo hut, but able to load up on water. Several piped springs shortly past hut on road to Yakoruda, in case hut locked. Ate remaining cheese and bread for lunch. Camped amid pines at location identified last year (about 3km past last year's campsite).
Picked up water at fountain on way into Yakoruda. Bought 3 meatballs, 6 slices bread at grill place, plus some fruit at store. Added 10 BGN to A1 mobile account at EasyPay store. Picked up additional .5L at slow running fountain near 2023 campsite. Camped about 5km further on, amid young pines at 1440m.
Picked up water on way into Yundola. Bought bread, cheese and fruit at store. Fountain running at forestry school but not at piped spring next to shelter at 1500m. Camped at usual spot.
136 BGN through booking.com for 2 nights at Къща за гости Шошови, same hotel as last year.
Camped at usual spot.
Bought food on way to and in Batak, picked up water at fountain in Batak and again at Hizha Teheran. Camped at usual spot.
Picked up water along route. Camped at usual spot.
114 BGN through booking.com for 2 nights at Къща за гости Милиса.
Camped at usual spot.
Camped at usual spot at 1900m.
Rained during night so skipped most morning exercises. Cold all day. Waited out afternoon rain in shelter not far before usual campsite. Rain resumed after setting up camp.
Rain stopped in morning, but everything wet and cold, so again skipped most morning exercises. 80 BGN for 2 nights at Family Hotel Katerina in Smolyan.
Drizzling in morning. Started with 4*270g cheese, 4*650 bread, 6*85g dark chocolate, about 1000g peanuts. Ate most of first day's food in town, along with about 2L water. Picked up 2L at piped spring for tomorrow. Raining all day and forecast of rain tomorrow. Clothes all wet when I arrived at usual camp at 1600m. I knew it would be raining today and tomorrow, but for some reason I was determined to hike today instead of remaining in hotel. Maybe I wanted to experience rain, which we've had little of in Bulgaria since August.
Heavy rain in early morning. Quilt and other gear all soaked by condensation. Decided to hibernate (remain in place and fast). Skipped all exercises.
Quilt dried out during night. Skipped morning exercises other than rows and pushups. Hunters about, so donned blaze-orange hat cover. Cool and cloudy, with occasional drizzle. Picked up water on ascent to Presla hut. Camped about 100m from last year's campsite. Stealthy location in forest, on soft flat well-drained ground.
Skipped all morning exercises. Sunny and mild. Picked up 2L at highway, before ascent to Akvatepe hut. Camped same place as last year. Forecast for heavy rain next 2 days/nights.
Raining in morning. Ate under tarp, packed up when rain stopped. Skipped all morning exercises. Picked up 2L at piped spring along road before Sini Vrukh, then waited in nearby shelter when rain resumed until it stopped again. Arrived at usual campsite after Hizha Sini Vrukh with clothes dry, then rain resumed in late afternoon.
Rained all night, continued raining in morning, forecast for rain all day with an hour of tremendous downpour in late afternoon. Decided to hibernate again. At least clothes and quilt dry this time. Running low on electric power due to excessive internet use. Made hotel reservation for Thursday, in case of possible internet problems between now and then.
Rain stopped during night. Cloudy, chilly, dry and mostly still air in morning. Did all morning exercises, including squat jumps. Strained lungs on running in place exercise. Drank 1.5L with breakfast (bread leftover from Monday, chocolate and peanuts) but this was not enough. Luckily, piped springs running so drank some more along way to Panichkovo and arrived there with 4L. Pullups using football goal. Bought bread, cheese, mackerel and fruit at store. Started drizzling as I approached usual campsite, then light rain after setting up tarp. Both powerpacks drained but smartphone still at 81%, which should be enough until I get to hotel.
Carbide tip of hiking stick broke off. Stick was new as of Feb 2023, so lasted 2 years.
BGN 152 through booking.com for 2 nights at Family Hotel Victoria Gold in Mineralni Bani.
Started day with 1800g bread, 2*250g cheese, 1000g peanuts, 6*85g chocolate, plus canned fish, yogurt and fruit for eating in town. Filled bottles at spring just before usual campsite.
Created 2 GPX detour tracks: bg-sultans_detour1.gpx and bg-sultans_detour2.gpx. First detour has some bushwhacking where old dirt road is increasingly overgrown. Second is well-used dirt or gravel roads. Loaded up with water at shelter. Camped at usual site.
At store in Iskra, bought 2 * 600g bread, 2 * 250g cheese, 400g peanuts, can of mackerel and fruit, 3L water. Camped at usual site.
"Cheese" I bought yesterday was actually butter! Discarded in town of Lenovo and replaced with 200g cheese and fruit from store there. Camped in forest, along shortcut detour from Sultan's Trail GPX.
Bought bread, mackerel and yogurt in Cherven. Camped in forest on way to Asenovgrad.
Seem to have picked up some chigger or other type bites, scattered over body, not too many or too itchy, fortunately. Pullups at outdoor bars along route into Asenovgrad. Bought food at store and ate in park. 138 BGN through booking.com for 2 nights at Hotel Tedi.
Pullups in riverside park.
Following green/white trail to waypoint of campsite. Start with 4L water, 3*650g bread, 2*220g cheese, 1000g peanuts, 4*85g dark chocolate, plus canned mackerel, yogurt and fruit for breakfast. Rain starting 14:00, so made early camp at very nice campsite protected by oak trees.
Piped spring 500m west-southwest (80m descent) all ng trail from campsite running strong. South of spring, trail became overgrown but passable until it reaches stream. Trail more overgrown on other side of stream, so turned back and camped on flat area above stream. Would hate to be caught in forest fire here due to limited exits: either steep ascent back to yesterday's camp, or overgrown trail in other direction. Every other direction involves ascending steep and overgrown sides of gorge.
Returned to Saturday's campsite, picking up water at piped spring along way.
Used dirt road then highway to get to Lyaskovo, then trail waymarked in yellow/white and shown in yellow on bgmountains.org map to descend to Asenovgrad, passing Svati Dimiter chapel on way. Pullups in park on Ilinden, just south of Vasil Levska and Billa supermarket. 60 BGN (without booking.com) at Hotel Tedi.
Made reservation at hotel for Sunday and Monday. Started with 4*650 bread, 3*220g cheese, 1000g peanuts, 4*90g dark chocolate, plus sardines, yogurt and fruit for breakfast in town. Same route and same campsite as Saturday. Load up with water at nearby spring for tomorrow.
Breathed fly into lungs on ascent from spring and then suffered terrible coughing fit for several hours as body tried to expel fly. Possibly initial coughing to remove fly weakened defenses and allowed another covid infection.
Some heavy rasping in lungs in morning, but no more coughing like last night. Did morning exercises without difficulty, other than breathing congestion in shoulderstand. Picked up water in Lyaskovo. Camped in forest along overgrown road not far from Hizha Ruen.
Lungs almost back to normal in morning. Decided to stay in place rather than move camp. 3.5L water, so no problem there. Rain mid-morning, cloudy sky, some more drizzle in afternoon.
Lungs back to normal, with unobstructed nasal breathing during morning shoulderstand and headstand poses. Picked up 2L from piped spring under abandoned Ruen Hut. Camped at usual spot above Asenovgrad.
120 BGN (without booking.com) for 2 nights at Hotel Tedi.
120 BGN for 2 more nights at Hotel Tedi. Bought train ticket to Sofia, room reservations for Sofia and Reno.
13 BGN train to Sofia. 183 BGN through booking.com for 2 nights at Slavyanska Beseda Hotel in Sofia.
Changed remaining 690 BGN to euros. So euros, dollars and RSD I exchanged in Sofia and Bansko for BGN was more than enough. Bulgaria uses euros starting 2026, so last time I exchange currency.
Bought wet wipes for travel hygiene.
Morning flight from Sofia to San Francisco on Turkish Air, with transfer in Istanbul. Bulgarian border patrol warned me about being very close to violating Schengen rules, because out for exactly 90 days before re-entering from Serbia. Future years should be less close.
Reserved another 5 days at Motel6. Plan to stay there just 3 weeks then start bicycle tour in Southern California week of Thanksgiving, so as to be canped in desert during holiday crowding. Original plan was to stay at Siegel Suites month of November, but that place left bad taste last year, so use only in cases of dire necessity. Skip creating SDFCU bank account and credit card as well. Existing accounts should suffice.
Slept maybe 2 hours in San Francisco airport. Morning flight to Reno on United. Checked into Motel6.
71 nights in Bulgaria (43 nights camping, 28 nights in hotels/huts). 1667 BGN total hotel expenses ($983), or average of about 60 BGN/night ($35/night).
If starting future trips Sept 1, to ensure 90 days out of Schengen, and more 3 day town stops, then future trip will extend to mid-November, with last 2 weeks in Asenovgrad and nearby mountains, which are beautiful that time of year. Maybe buy some tools in Asenovgrad to clear overgrown trails.