Category: overlanding

Gorgeous times together in Rila national park (July 2022)

In July 2022 one of my best friends from Germany came to Bulgaria to travel and live with me for ten days. After I picked Michele up at the airport in Sofia, we went straight to the Rila national park.

We found a super peaceful and beautiful place in the forests. This spot… Absolutely fantastic. It was a pretty big area, that was very well-known by locals and foreigners, but it was not crowded, next to a small river and a good for Michele to arrive mentally and for us to chill.

We started to live together and had a super good time. After traveling alone for months after Cori visited me in Greece, I enjoyed the company of a well-known and deep friend. And at the same time, it was partly challenging for me. I love Michele and it’s nothing particular about him. He is a lovely, authentic, and open guy, who has inspired me so many times. I think it was just a transition from solitude into having someone around me. I felt like I got insecure and contemplative about things that I was thinking, feeling, saying, and doing. Nothing about this felt bad, but it felt like something is working inside of me.

One day, we hiked to the peak called Malyovitsa in the Rila national park. It was an awesome hike. For Michele it was the first hike that high up and long. During the hike, I felt like being in another wonderland in the Bulgarian mountains. It was magical. And it was so beautiful to see how Michele enjoyed the hike, nature, and the mountains. How he connected and got into all of it.

At one point of our hike, our route got very freestyle on steep, rough, and very loose ground. The last part of our route was very exposed, steep, and next to a cliff. At that point, we decided to abort that route and take another one. And even though that part was challenging for him, he and I did so well and always kept up so much compassion for each other.

Sand pyramids in Melnik, Bulgaria (June 2022)

After I had left Greece, I headed for one of the mountain areas in Bulgaria. I found a nice, calm, and cool spot next to a small chapel in Melnik.

Melnik is famous for the sand pyramids that stick out of the woods around that place. The hiking there was super easy and felt somehow unexcited. But not in a negative way. Just easily flowing. Through a dry river bed, up the hills, down the hills. Shadow, sun. I enjoyed it very much and had a good time there. My mind was pretty calm and I enjoyed that as well.

Especially the combination of green and ‘sand-yellow/ochre’ I liked a lot. It was such a nice contrast.

At my temporary home, I installed the spare parts for Rosinante’s electronics. Thanks again, Tino.

After some days I headed towards the bigger mountains. And these Bulgarian mountains… They are magical. And super beautiful. You’ll see…

An interview, a lot of Bo Staffs and goodbye Greece (June 2022)

After the insect situation was under control I was enjoying the beach life again and got to know very interesting people on a super cool beach near Thessaloniki.

Since my time on Evia, I got strongly into the Bo Staff training and because I always wanted to train the Kung Fu strikes, I thought about how I could get a real Kung Fu Bo Staff. After trying several shops and Kung Fu places, I finally searched for someone from Greece to order Bo Staffs from a Greek online shop to his address. I found Christias from Offroad Greece and he was super nice and helpful. In addition to that, I had Tino, a friend from Germany, sent some spare parts for Rosinante’s electronic systems to Christias. The package delivery system in Greece was somehow interesting or better to say: confusing to me. But when the stuff had arrived, Christias and I met and did an interview for Greece Offroad. It was very interesting and I had a lot of fun. It’s nice to talk with others about the things you like and do, right? It feels so affirmative 😁

The next day I felt like it was time to leave Greece and head to Bulgaria. The temperatures got pretty high and I was looking forward to lower food and especially diesel prices. But the main motivation was that after months of beach and some mountain life in Greece, I felt like exploring a different country, culture, and people would be super nice.

And I should be right, I can tell you that much as a teaser for the upcoming posts. It gets intense… ✨