DAY THIRTY-SEVEN: THE FRIENDLIEST TOWN IN EUROPE

Day Thirty-Six (Sliven to Elhovo) Daily Distance: 66.25 kms

Day Thirty-Seven (Elhovo to Kırklareli) Daily Distance: 107.04 kms

Total Distance: 3408.95 kms

Day Thirty-Six had initially been pencilled in as our last rest day but that disappeared with our re-schedule a few days back. It was only a short 66 km day, although it still proved a tricky one once hills and heat were thrown together in a challenging mix. Thankfully we made it to Elhovo in time for lunch and for a restful afternoon once domestic chores like washing were complete.

The highlight of the day was definitely seeing our first sign for 'Istanbul' - weeks ago I never thought that the moment would arrive!

Early today, to our delight, we crossed the Bulgarian-Turkish border and from this moment it was clear to all that Turkey was going to be a winner from an “interaction with the locals” point of view – they were charming, interested in us and our story, and happy to help however possible. The man who sold us visas was even keen to put me in touch with a cycling club in Edirne who he was affiliated with, I think, but unfortunately I couldn’t quite work out what he was trying to say to me.

Our next noteworthy escapade was our introduction to Lalapaşa, Turkey.

By midday we were ready for lunch, so stopped in on this small, seemingly insignificant town. We perched ourselves on a small brick wall and began our lunch. So far, nothing different to the usual routine: cheese and tomato sandwiches plus some yoghurt and bananas. I also spotted a fruit stall across the road so bought some peaches for us to share. Before we got to them, however, a Turkish man strolled across the road from his tea shop and delivered us four small glasses of tea. No words, since neither his vocabulary nor ours would allow them, but some broad smiles from both sides acknowledging this lovely gesture.

We weren’t sure how to thank him (money didn’t seem appropriate), so we sent Alan to my fruit friend to buy grapes for the Tea Man. First he refused to take further payment for the grapes, and then after Alan tried – through the art of mime – to indicate that the grapes were not for us but for Tea Man, he obviously misinterpreted Alan’s repeated waves in the direction of the tea shop so he walked into the shop (which was not his) washed the grapes, poked two little holes in the plastic bags so that they would stay cold but the water would gradually drain, and returned them to us. Alan then tried to hand deliver the grapes to Tea Man but confusion reigned supreme and eventually he gave up. Not wanting grapes as well as bananas and peaches, Alan then took the grapes and plonked them in the middle of four men sitting around a nearby table – once they established that the strange tourist likely had no sinister motive, they seemed well chuffed!

In the meantime, Jim had gone to a shop on the other side of us to buy water, and as he was about to pay for the four bottles, a stranger behind him leaned forward and, in Turkish, he (Jim thinks) insisted that he pay for them instead. We suspect that Water Man had witnessed the preceding tea / grape shenanigans, but will never know, since he hopped into his car and drove off immediately after exiting the corner store.

All in all, free tea, grapes and water thanks to a contagious chain of kindness among strangers. Doesn’t sound like much, but it was truly one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had in my many years of travelling. It was enough to put a smile on my face for the whole day. This is proper travelling.

This series of events gave me an instant flashback to a promotional video for charity organisation ‘Life Vest Inside’ that I somehow stumbled across recently. I do think it’s worth your time to check this one out as corny as it may be.

As proof of the friendliness of this country, consider this: roday, at least one in four drivers waved at us or gave a friendly toot; at least four in five locals on the street waved and smiled or shouted greetings at us; and five in five school children clambered to the road side or school fence to wave, gawk and yell "hello! what's your name?", which is clearly the first thing they're taught in English classes.

School kids from one of the many schools we passed fighting to talk to us.

Tonight we ended in Kırklareli at the only hotel that we could find – it towers above all other buildings, but is still quite old, possibly proving the theory that Kırklareli was one of the first organized settlements on the European continent. We had dinner in the rooftop restaurant as we listened to the beautifully haunting call to prayer, and watched the sun set over this, the last country on our trip, knowing that it is home to the friendliest town in Europe.