Gordon: A couple of days ago we cycled the 25 kms from Loutraki to the other, bigger town on the island, Skopelos Town. This is the more touristy end of the island, but at this time of year you only know this from the size of the unoccupied waterfront...
Ruth: Most of our days here involve a late afternoon walk up to the hill town of Glossa. Gord and I happily spend an hour or two wandering around the narrow stone streets and steps that wind up the steep cliff face. We are now the only tourists in the Chora and the...
Gordon: The musical film Mamma Mia was filmed largely on Skopelos. There are numerous references to the movie in the tourist literature. One beach is now referred to as the "Mamma Mia beach", and a small church dramatically located on a spire of rock...
Ruth: We are staying in an apartment on the quiet, less touristy end of Skopelos island overlooking the Port of Loutraki. It is just below the old and largely unspoiled town of Glossa. We have already extended our stay from three to five days,...
Ruth: Squeezed into the 1960's urban sprawl of Thessaloniki is a wealth of Byzantine churches and monasteries. No less that 6 of them are Unesco listed, dating from the 4th to the 14th centuries. That some of the mosaics and frescos survived fires, earthquakes...
Ruth: Although our original plan was to head to the Black Sea, our love of Greece and the turquoise waters of the Agean made our line across the continent turn a hard right in Romania. Thessaloniki seemed like a good goal, with all of its Byzantine sights, and with...
Gordon: The 86 km ride from Blagoevgrad to Melnik was fast, pretty and varied. We passed through another canyon (popular for whitewater rafting) and a number of traditional villages before climbing into the hills that surround Melnik. Our tripometer...
ISeptember 26, 2016Ruth: After leaving Sofia we followed the Iskar River into the stunning Rila Mountains. I should mention that before making it to the city limits my beloved Pocket Earth navigation app took us on a road into a very impoverished neighbourhood. We...
Gordon: It took us two days to cycle from Vratsa to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. We came via a beautiful secondary road up the Ishkar gorge. At times it was reminiscent of cycling in B.C.: excellent road surfacing, light traffic, and a...
Looking out of our hotel window in Vratsa before the thunderstorms. Ruth: September 19, 2016Yesterday we cycled down to the Danube to a ferry to cross over to Bulgaria. Our final morning in Romania was hot, dry and rural. It was great to see the Danube again, but...
Gordon: Last night we were ambling about the town of Caracal when we chanced upon an Orthodox Church that was open. The churches are generally locked, but this one was being straightened up following a wedding. The priest came out and gave us a tour...
Gordon: It turns out that we and the housekeeper were not the only residents of the Swiss style chalet a couple of nights ago. We were once again sharing our bed with a few bedbugs. It takes a day or two for the bites to swell and become itchy, so...