From Bulgaria to Belgium

After living in Bulgaria's capital Sofia its been time to return back home to Belgium
But not before visiting other balkan countries ofcourse
I am trying to hitchhike as much as possible all the way from Bulgaria to Belgium through the balkans Leia mais

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16 de setembro de 2022
From Bulgaria to Belgium Dave's Adventures
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Dia 1
sexta-feira, 16 de setembro de 2022 09:00
☁️ 17 °C
Altitude: 564 m
Bulgária Sv. Petka Samardzhiyska 42.69783, 23.321542°41’52” N 23°19’17” E
Started my journey in Sofia
16 de setembro de 2022, Bulgária ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
After living in Bulgaria for 1,5 years i decided to leave Bulgaria and to go back to Belgium, but before I go back to Belgium and go search for another job I wanted to travel first

I started heading out on my first hitchhiking trip, I did some short hitchhikes before but those were mainly trips of 3 to 10 kilometers when i was hiking somewhere and drivers stopped to ask if i need a ride (this happens quite regularly in eastern europe)

So I took a bus to the outskirts of Sofia, I found a cardboard in a trash container and i did wrote 'South' on it because and I started my hitchhiking trip at the highway out of Sofia direction to GreeceLeia mais
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Dia 1
sexta-feira, 16 de setembro de 2022 15:00
☀️ 32 °C
Altitude: 14 m
Grécia Ancient Agorà (Roman Forum), Thessaloniki 40.637218, 22.94526840°38’14” N 22°56’43” E
Hitchhiking into Greece
16 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
I was standing on the highway near the village of Vladaya
I was hoping to get a first ride until Blagoevgrad and after that I could try to catch another ride direction of Greece

Cars passed by and so did time...
I've heard hitchhiking in Bulgaria is really easy and you mostly get a ride in 15-20 minutes, so I kept waiting...

15 minutes became 30 minutes and as soon as I knew it I was standing there for an hour already

I was almost losing hope and was already considering heading back to the city and taking a train somewhere and just going by train, but well... Lets give it another 30 minutes!

After 1 hour and 25 minutes of standing next to the road with my sign, smiling to every driver that passed and trying to look as friendly as possible so anyone would give me a ride a car finally stopped...

I was so happy to see that this car finally stopped for me
It was a mom with her kid, she was going direction of Dupnitsa to drop her kid to her grandmother and afterwards she was taking a plane to Athens 😁

She used to hitchhike before and took some hitchhikers with her as well, she dropped me off at Dupnitsa which was already a bit closer to Greece, but I still had a long time to go....

After being dropped off on the highway in Dupnitsa it got scorching hot, there was no shade and the sun was burning, I was hoping I wouldn't have to wait for another hour here
But well, there was lots of traffic on this road and a lots of trucks passed as well, since I was hoping to get to Greece today I was mainly aiming to hitch a truck here because they usually cover long distances

It only took me 5 minutes for the next car to stop! I could not believe it, this was insanely fast

The driver's name was Jorden and he was heading for Halkidiki
Jorden did not speak much english and my bulgarian isn't that good neither, he asked me where I want to go
I told him i was going to 'Gercia' (Greece in bulgarian)

Since Thessaloniki is very close to Halkidiki he offered me a ride directly to Thessaloniki

Even though we used a lot of hand signals and google translate to communicate aith each other, we both really enjoyed the ride and we had a great time

Jorden, if you're reading this, cheers to you 🍻 And I hope you made it safely to Halkidiki and back to SofiaLeia mais
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Dia 3
domingo, 18 de setembro de 2022
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 10 m
Grécia Skála Litochórou 40.152306, 22.54702340°9’8” N 22°32’49” E
Litochoro
18 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
Train from Thessaloniki to Litochoro, preparing for Mt Olympus and chilling a bit at the beach
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Dia 4
segunda-feira, 19 de setembro de 2022 17:00
☀️ 17 °C
Altitude: 2.024 m
Grécia Mount Olympus 40.080341, 22.37285740°4’49” N 22°22’22” E
Olympus refuge A
19 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
Did the hike from Litochoro to Refuge A, it was an 18 km hike with 2100 meters of altitude

I did put my tent at the refuge
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Dia 5
terça-feira, 20 de setembro de 2022 13:00
☀️ 15 °C
Altitude: 2.647 m
Grécia Mount Olympus 40.084667, 22.35516740°5’5” N 22°21’19” E
Summitting Skala
20 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
We woke up early in the morning to watch the amazing sunrise from the refuge at the mountain

After sunrise we went on for the hike to summit Skala
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Dia 5
terça-feira, 20 de setembro de 2022 19:00
⛅ 21 °C
Altitude: 10 m
Grécia Skála Litochórou 40.152306, 22.54702340°9’8” N 22°32’49” E
Back to hostel
20 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
After summit Skala I did the hike back to Prionia

On the hike I've met 2 german girls and a polish guy and once we reached Prionia we shared a taxi to Litochoro

From Litochoro I had to walk back all the way to my hostel, which was about a 7 km walk

I tried to hitchhike the few cars passing by and after a few cars passed 2 guys from Germany picked me up and dropped me off right in front of the hostelLeia mais
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Dia 6
quarta-feira, 21 de setembro de 2022
⛅ 20 °C
Altitude: 234 m
Grécia Kalambaka 39.707018, 21.62794339°42’25” N 21°37’41” E
Kalambaka/Meteora
21 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
I was planning to chill at the beach, but it was quite rainy and windy and not too warm. So I decided to stay at the hostel for the day because there wasn't much else to do

Resting a bit because I was really tired from the Mt Olympus hike and my whole body was really sore but I started to get bored a bit but didn't really knew where to go next

A guy in my hostel told me about Meteora, i have never heard of it but I checked this place on Google Images and it looked very beautiful

Well, fuck it, I am taking a train to Kalambaka tonight to visit this placeLeia mais
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Dia 7
quinta-feira, 22 de setembro de 2022
☀️ 20 °C
Altitude: 409 m
Grécia Kastraki 39.723755, 21.62997739°43’26” N 21°37’48” E
Small hikes around Meteora
22 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
I did some small hikes around Meteora

Since my legs were still very sore from Olympus I didnt do anything too crazy

I did visit Valraam monastry, it was quite beautiful and I did enjoy the surroundings and landscapes of Kalambaka

It reminded me of Cappadocia in TurkeyLeia mais
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Dia 7
quinta-feira, 22 de setembro de 2022
☀️ 20 °C
Altitude: 469 m
Grécia Kalambaka 39.711453, 21.63573239°42’41” N 21°38’9” E
Meteora sunset at Danger Rock
22 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
In my hostel they told me about Danger Rock (thats how the people in my hostel called the rock)

It is an rock which is overhanging over the city of Kalambaka

We decided to climb it and watch sunset from that cliff, which was really an amazing thing to do!Leia mais
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Dia 8
sexta-feira, 23 de setembro de 2022 21:00
⛅ 17 °C
Altitude: 76 m
Grécia Omonoia 37.983941, 23.72830537°59’2” N 23°43’42” E
Athens
23 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
I did not really knew what to do

I was thinking about going wild camping in the Meteora surroundings or about going to Athens

I spent the day at Danger Rock where I also ran back into an australian guy i've met in Litochoro and did some hikes with

We were enjoying the views on danger rock and enjoying the last moments of Meteora before we said goodbye to each other

After that I've made the decision to take on a train to go to Athens that same nightLeia mais
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Dia 9
sábado, 24 de setembro de 2022
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 139 m
Grécia Old Temple of Athena 37.971699, 23.7263537°58’18” N 23°43’35” E
Athens sightseeing
24 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
Athens... I've always wanted to visit this city
So much history and culture there, its the birthplace of our modern society and I just cannot believe I finally got here....

I wanted to visit the Acropolis, since I am travelling on a strict budget to extend my travels as long as possible I wasn't really looking forward to pay 30+ euros to visit all these ancient sites but i wanted to visit them anyway

I got to the acropolis and wanted to take a pass for all the ancient sites, but the woman told me its free admission day today...

I couldn't believe this, I did some research on Google and apparantly it was european heritage weekend which meant that a lot of european musea were free that weekend...

So I could visit all ancient sites in Athens for free, which is really the best thing that could happen in Athens to a budget traveller 😁

It was the right decision to follow my gut feeling and take the train to Athens already the night beforeLeia mais
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Dia 11
segunda-feira, 26 de setembro de 2022 21:00
⛅ 22 °C
Altitude: Nível do mar
Grécia Esoterikós Liménas 37.948131, 23.63689737°56’53” N 23°38’13” E
Ferry to Crete
26 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
After a few days in Athens, the weather was really good so I decided to spent a few days at the beach, maybe on an island

I was checking some islands to go to and Crete seemed like a good option, the overnight ferry was quite cheap at only 36 euros, so I decided to took the ferry to Heraklion that nightLeia mais
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Dia 12
terça-feira, 27 de setembro de 2022 07:00
⛅ 19 °C
Altitude: 10 m
Grécia Crete 35.343119, 25.14247335°20’35” N 25°8’33” E
Heraklion
27 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
I did arrive at Heraklion early in the morning

I tried to sleep on the deck of the ferry in my sleeping bag but the floor was really hard so I couldn't sleep well

There was lots of wind on the deck as well but I did enjoy it, i love the boat ride and the view of the stars at nightLeia mais
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Dia 12
terça-feira, 27 de setembro de 2022 10:00
☀️ 23 °C
Altitude: 9 m
Grécia Ormískos Mátala 34.994171, 24.74981734°59’39” N 24°44’59” E
Matala
27 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
When I arrived in Heraklion I didn't really knew what to do because I had no idea what there was to do in Heraklion

What I did learn when I arrived is that Crete is actually full of history and culture, apparantly the Minotaur also originates from Crete, you can also visit the labyrinth of the Minotaur in Knossos, I didn't knew that

I've learned about this place called Matala which is supposed to be kind of a hippie place in the southern part of Crete

Well, lets check it out and I did hop on a bus from Heraklion to Matala

I did sleep this night on the beach in my sleeping bag under the nightskyLeia mais
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Dia 15
sexta-feira, 30 de setembro de 2022
☀️ 29 °C
Altitude: 11 m
Grécia Market of Chaniá 35.515197, 24.01932935°30’55” N 24°1’10” E
Chania
30 de setembro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
After a few days in Matala I decided to go somewhere else

I've heard that Chania is a beautiful city so I decided to check it out and I took a bus to Heraklion and after that a bus to Chania
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Dia 17
domingo, 2 de outubro de 2022
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 8 m
Grécia Telonio Beach 35.497787, 23.65391935°29’52” N 23°39’14” E
Hitchhiking to Kissamos
2 de outubro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
After a few days of Chania I wanted to explore the southwest part of Crete more since I've heard there are some wild beaches and good wild camping spots

I decided to hitchhike this part since its been a while since i've done any hitchhiking and hitchhiking shouldn't be that hard in Crete

I started to walk to the highway from Chania in direction of Kissamos, my plan was to try to get a ride to Elafonisi beach in the south west

It is quite a touristic beach so I was mainly hoping for a tourist to pick me up straight to Elafonisi

I got a first ride from 2 young guys heading on a fishing trip in Kolymvari

Kolymvari was halfway to Kissamos so I decided to take the ride, when I arrived in Kolymvari I was standing next to the highway again to get my second ride of the day

After about 15 minutes a friendly old man stopped for me and he offered me a ride to Kissamos

I decided to stop in Kissamos for the day and head to Elafonisi the next day

There wasn't much to see in Kissamos so I just spent the day at the beachLeia mais
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Dia 18
segunda-feira, 3 de outubro de 2022 13:00
☀️ 27 °C
Altitude: Nível do mar
Grécia Elafonisi beach 35.270398, 23.53992435°16’13” N 23°32’24” E
Elafonisi beach
3 de outubro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
I took the bus from Kissamos to Elafonisi

Elafonisi is a really beautiful beach but... It is really too crowded with tourists

I didn't really enjoy this beach that much because of it, which is a shame because its really beautiful and it has the most clear and blue waters i've ever seenLeia mais
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Dia 18
segunda-feira, 3 de outubro de 2022 16:00
☀️ 26 °C
Altitude: Nível do mar
Grécia Kedrodasos Beach 35.268746, 23.55793435°16’7” N 23°33’29” E
Kedrodasos
3 de outubro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
After a few hours on Elafonisi I decided to move on to Kedrodasos

Its about a 30 minutes hike through some rocky paths from Elafonisi and from what I've heard its one of the best places for wild camping in Crete

And they were really right about it!
This place is stunning! A lot of isolated and abandoned beaches, good spots to pitch a tent and there were other people camping as well

I did decide not to pitch my tent tonight but just sleep on a beach under the clear nightsky in my sleeping bag

I had never seen a nightsky as clear as this, I could see all the stars

This was definitely one of the most uncomfortable nights I've had in my life because the beach consisted out of stones which was pretty hard to sleep on but it was definitely one of the most memorable nights I've ever had

Sometimes you just need to step out of your comfort zone, you won't remember your most comfortable experiences in life but your most uncomfortable experiences will certainly be the most memorable and the best stories to tell afterwardsLeia mais
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Dia 20
quarta-feira, 5 de outubro de 2022
☀️ 24 °C
Altitude: 26 m
Grécia Kedrodasos Beach 35.270989, 23.55787135°16’16” N 23°33’28” E
Camping on Kedrodasos
5 de outubro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
After one night sleeping under the stars on the beach I decided to pitch up my tent because it would be more convenient

That way I had a place to leave my backpack and I didnt have to carry it with me all the time

I did camp here for 2 more nights and it was an amazing experience

I did shutdown my phone to disconnect from all social media for a while and just enjoyed being in nature, listening to the sounds of the ocean and enjoying the sun which is still quite warm in Crete at this time of the year

This experience really gave me a lot of new energy and did allow me to connect with nature more as ever before in my lifeLeia mais
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Dia 21
quinta-feira, 6 de outubro de 2022 08:00
☀️ 20 °C
Altitude: Nível do mar
Grécia Chersónisos Sélino Kastélli 35.226079, 23.68565435°13’34” N 23°41’8” E
Hike to Paleochora
6 de outubro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
It was a very windy night, I did woke up at 6h30 but once the wind calmed down a bit at 8h I decided to take advantage of it to pack up my stuff and tent

After i packed everything I decided to go on a hike to PaleochoraLeia mais
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Dia 21
quinta-feira, 6 de outubro de 2022 16:00
⛅ 20 °C
Altitude: 8 m
Grécia Liménas Chaníon 35.514319, 24.01660235°30’52” N 24°0’60” E
Back to Chania
6 de outubro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
On this hike I did meet an italian girl and french guy, they were also travelling alone and the french guy was travelling the world by hitchhiking

The hike took us about 5 hours but we also took a stop at Krios beach to swim a bit

The views during the hike were absolutely amazing

Once we arrived in Paleochora I decided to take a bus back to Chania after which I would take a ferry back to AthensLeia mais
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Dia 22
sexta-feira, 7 de outubro de 2022 10:41
☀️ 21 °C
Altitude: 99 m
Grécia Areopagus 37.971818, 23.72356937°58’19” N 23°43’25” E
Ferry back to Athens
7 de outubro de 2022, Grécia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Since monday I was either sleeping on a beach or in my tent so I am really tired

I decided to stay in Athens for a few days to rest a little bit in a hostel to get new energy to continue my adventures after that

I still want to check out the change of the guards event in Athens on sunday, after these last days of Athens my plan is to make my way to AlbaniaLeia mais
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Dia 26
terça-feira, 11 de outubro de 2022 19:03
⛅ 17 °C
Altitude: 275 m
Albânia Gjirokastër 40.07666, 20.14026240°4’36” N 20°8’25” E
Getting to Albania
11 de outubro de 2022, Albânia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
I decided to leave Greece finally and go to Albania

In my hostel I've met Josh, another traveller from Australia and he wanted to go for an adventure and hitchhike all the way to Albania

So we started walking to a good hitchhiking spot where a lot of albanian cars should pass by

Unfortunatly on our way to the hitchhiking spot we saw something heartbreaking...
We saw a dead cat that got hit by a car and on the other side of the street there were 2 kittens meowing and looking at the dead cat, this cat was probably the mother of these kittens and it was devestating to see this

While we continued our way to the hitchhiking spot it started pouring rain, it didn't take long before we got soaked but we were still very determined to hitch a ride to get to Albania...

A lot of cars passed by, mostly greek but also a few albanian and german cars but no one stopped for us, after about 2 hours we decided to give up, the rain was only getting worse and we didn't feel like anyone was going to pick us up so we decided to take the bus to Kakavije, which is a town at the border

We took the bus to the border and got off, passport control went very smoothly, it did only take about 5 minutes to get through

But what should we do at the border? We had no idea if there was a bus going to either Sarandë or Gjirokaster

As soon as we crossed the border a taxi driver approached us, he wanted to take us to Gjirokaster for 20 euros per person, well since that was above my budget we told him we would rather take the bus or hitchhike, as soon as we said that he lowered his price to 7.5 euros per person

We tried to haggle it down to 6 euros per person but he did not agree on that so we started walking again and tried to hitchhike

Not a lot of cars were passing by so I started to think maybe we should take that taxi, after all 7,5 euros a person wasn't that bad of a deal for a ride of 30 kilometers

A few minutes later the taxi driver came driving behind us and told us that 6 euros a person was okay

Finally, after a long day of trying to get to Albania we arrived in Gjirokaster 😁Leia mais
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Dia 27
quarta-feira, 12 de outubro de 2022 14:32
⛅ 21 °C
Altitude: 365 m
Albânia Gjirokastër 40.073232, 20.14000840°4’24” N 20°8’24” E
Gjirokaster Castle
12 de outubro de 2022, Albânia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
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Dia 28
quinta-feira, 13 de outubro de 2022 15:50
☁️ 19 °C
Altitude: 275 m
Albânia Gjirokastër 40.076615, 20.14028340°4’36” N 20°8’25” E
Ali Pasha Bridge and the cold war tunnel
13 de outubro de 2022, Albânia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Today I went to visit the Ali Pasha Bridge which is an aquaduct to transport water from the mountains to the city of Gjirokastra

I've also paid a visit to the cold war tunnel, this bunker lies 80 meters under the Gjirokastra Castle and has been built in secret by the communist regime for the government to seek shelter during a nuclear attack

This tunnel is almost 1 kilometer in length with about 60 rooms

It is very impressive to see this with your own eyes, it has a really dark and sinister vibe and it feels very authenticLeia mais
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