Serbia and Bulgaria 2017 part 1

Hi everyone,

This is my first attempt in blogging and sharing my travels and experiences with anyone interested. I' ll try to be as coherent as possible to avoid becoming tedious or dull. I hope that some people will find useful information for their future travels in the region.

The tour took a whole week, starting on the 19th of October and concluded on the 26th of October upon returning to the Greek borders again. Prior to that I had to cross about 600 km from Piraeus which was my port of call, all spent on a highway with tolls, and another 600 km at the same on return, entering the Greek border and riding back to Piraeus.

There are 2 reasons to mention this. First, the cost of tolls was nearly 30 euro each way which I find very expensive, second a true test for my bike's seat comfort which is a real issue on such roads. As many have already complaint in various forums, the factory seat of my KTM 690 Enduro R is quite narrow and not adequate for traveling many hours on motorways. However, being already suspicious I brought along a silicon stuffed neck pillow, similar to those used on long distance plane travels, which at times I placed under my butt to add a little extra comfort and the trick worked partially.

However, my tour mate Christos who was traveling on a Kawasaki ZZR 600 utilizing a much wider and comfortable seat, was complaining as much as I did and I am sure many of you recognize this is a middleweight sport tourer famous for its comfort. So I quit the whining right here. In the end, there is more comfort at the living room's couch where everyone has a choice over an adventure tour on bikes.

The tour started from the capital city of Polygyros in Chalkidiki perfecture, hometown of my mate Christos. After a night with dining on homemade pizza and tsipouro (Greek spirit) by the fireplace accompanied with endless discussions and excitement about the forthcoming trip, we woke up at the most Idylic morning with countryside views, birds chirping at the garden and sunshine with temperatures nearing 20C'. At 10:00am we were on our way and enjoyed a relaxed route of little or no traffic at all, except for the ring road outside Thesaloniki which was almost jammed at one point.

We headed from Polygyros to Doirani lake (pic above) and the synonymous border crossing to FYROM. We crossed the country non-stop except for fuelling up, as we wanted to get to the Serbian city of Nis before the sundown and enjoy as much of the riverside culture there, as possible. The roads in FYROM are in very good condition and tolls where applicable costed 1 euro per bike, making me wonder why the Greek highway tolls are so expensive.

After 7 hours on the seat and a succesful use of the silicon pillow under my butt we arrived in Nis - Serbia finding similar weather conditions and a vibrant city center full of youth and relaxed citizens enjoying a coffe or a local beer (👍) at one of the many river bank cafes and bars.

We made friends immediately with the stuff of a bar (good beer surely helped a lot) and after we enjoyed another local delicacy, sausage with potatoes at side, we extracted as many info as possible about the area, the birthplace of Constantine the Great, founder and first monarch of the Byzantine Empire.


Serbian people seemed more than welcoming, especially those who discovered our Greek nationality, since there is a certain brotherhood asocciation between the 2 peoples, deriving from the support of the Greeks to the Serbians during the Nato bombardments back in 1999. At this point I would like to make it clear that I respect equally the people of all nationalities, skin colour, religion, tribe and sex and I do not intent to be more favorable to anyone in particular in my descriptions. I simply describe the feeling I received during my fellowship based on their actions and words.

The first overnight was no less satisfactory than the day before, the new and well furbished one bedroom apartment of 60sq.m. with all modern conforts and right next to the river bank, costed 23 euros. We found the prices of everything almost ridiculous in Serbia. A cellphone sim card  priced at a little less than 5 euro outlasted the Serbian part of the tour, mainly used for data and only a few phone calls. Furthermore you do not need to register with ID upon purschasing the sim card.

The next morning the sunshine and warm temperatures continued, time to explore the city and the magnificent castle, a landmark standing well preserved at the north bank of the river. The monuments in Nis, inform the visitor of it's multiple civilisations that flourished through the ages, mainly the Serbian origins but also the Byzantine and Ottoman empires had a strong presence and decorate the city with architectural masterpieces.

 After a brief visit to the bustling fleet market, right next to the castle entrance (pic at the left), we loaded on fruits to feast upon and head back to the bikes, looking forward to the next part of our travel. Through the Serbian countryside, strictly on small motorways snaking all the way around small villages and fertile hills covered in melancholic Autumn colours, until our next destination, the Danube river.