Day 1: The Sultans Trail from Belgrade to Sofia
#throwback September 5, 2025
Exciting: a new route, new countries
Finally. I’ve been looking forward to this so much; my journey has begun. A new route, new countries. On the agenda: a section of the Sultans Trail, from Belgrade to Sofia. About 550 kilometers ahead of me. A beautiful new adventure in unknown places.
I find it exciting. Perhaps mostly because of the languages—Serbian and Bulgarian, written in the Cyrillic script—I can’t make heads or tails of it. It’ll probably all be fine, of course. These days you solve everything with a bit of googling and Google Translate. And yet… those first few days in a new country always make me nervous. I have to get used to things. To the language, the money, the people, the customs. And afterwards? Afterwards, it’s always better than expected.
By train and bus
Because I want to fly as little as possible, I’m traveling by train and bus. Actually, that’s a gift in itself. Slowly disconnecting and slowing down. Especially after an emotionally intense period where I was barely keeping my head above water. This trip feels not just like something fun, but like something necessary.
It is starting with a heavy headache and a protesting body, though. A touch of burnout, perhaps. Hopefully it fades quickly, step by step. The media training from Wandelnet, on the day of departure and something I was really looking forward to, I unfortunately have to cancel; it’s just too much right now. My body is hitting the brakes and this time I’m listening—quite a victory.
The night train to Vienna is an experience in itself. Out of (misplaced?) frugality, I booked a seat. Real sleep is hard to come by, but between the swaying I manage to catch some catnaps. At seven in the morning, a fellow passenger brings me a cup of coffee. One of those small gestures that suddenly feels huge. I’m less tired than expected.
Slowly it sinks in: the holiday feeling. My shoulders feel lighter. My head quieter.
The adventure has begun. Serbia, here I come!
But first: an afternoon and an evening in Budapest, Hungary.
The Sultans Trail is a long-distance hiking trail from Vienna (Austria), via Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece to Istanbul in Turkey. It roughly follows the journey made by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. The total length is approx. 2,400 km and the trail runs through eight countries and eight nature reserves. The path is developed and promoted by volunteers from the Dutch Sultan’s Trail Foundation, A European Cultural Route.
