Day 17: the Sultans Trail from Belgrade to Sofia

#throwback September 21, 2026

Sleeping in the last century

I arrived at the guesthouse in the pitch dark yesterday. For a moment, I thought I’d found the male version of landlady Sanja, but luckily that wasn’t the case; we could communicate in German and he even managed a smile.

It feels like I’ve ended up in the last century; everything is very old and dated, but it has its charm. I’ll take the fact that the shower only gives a few trickles and the temperature is hard to control, because the bed is truly excellent. The room has no AC, but it’s lovely and cool. The walls are almost a meter thick and my sleeping quarters only have two small windows, intended just to let light in—you can’t see outside, so it feels like a cozy cocoon.

Pure luxury: in bed until eleven-thirty

After three days of hiking an average of 30 km in the blistering heat, and lured by the perfect mattress, I decide to roll over and stay put when I wake up. I’m giving myself a rest day as a gift. I stay in bed until eleven-thirty. I make coffee, text, read a bit, and doze off every now and then. What luxury!

When I go outside, I hit a wall of heat—what a difference from the cool room. It’s a cloudless day and by twelve-thirty it’s already sweltering. I’d better head out very early tomorrow to beat this. Finding a restaurant is quite a task. I walk around for a while but can’t find one. There are plenty of shops and fast-food joints, but today I really want a good meal and a nice place to sit down.

Google Translate and a Michelin experience for a pittance

On the map, I see there’s only one restaurant in Dimitrovgrad, but one is enough. They only have a menu in Serbian and I can’t make head or tail of it. Google Translate makes things a bit clearer, but the translation is abysmal. No matter, I eat excellently: a large salad, a meat platter, and coffee and cake for dessert. Converted to euros, all this costs €11.20. I can certainly afford that!

With a full stomach, I take a short walk and pick up some groceries at the supermarket for tomorrow. I take a short siesta, wash some clothes, and happily potter around in my cool green room. This was quite the gift!