While passing the border of Bulgaria (with annoying custom asking stupid questions), we talked briefly to an old woman cyclist from Austria. She told us she was starting the silk road, and was on her way to Burgas to catch the ferry for Georgia. Really? Isn't there a war going on? Apparently not, the ferry is still running, going on the south part of the Black Sea. It took us 10 minutes of concertation before changing our plans: crossing the Black Sea on a boat seemed much more adventurous than taking another bus to cross the whole Turkey.

We arrived quite late in Sofia, Ivan and Marta hosted us. They already hosted me 4 days last summer on my final stop when I cycled from Grenoble to Sofia. It was funny to see them almost a year after. We talked a bit, they told us with their cynical way of talking how the political situation is fucked up here, especially with the war going on. The country is very divided, the great majority of the population is pro-russian.

Our stay was very short in the capital, we left the next day by train, on our way to Burgas.