Our 60-mile ride today (Sunday, September 14) began in Bucharest, Romania. The ride
ended just across the Bulgarian border in the town of Ruse (written as Pyce in
Bulgarian, which uses the Cyrillic alphabet, similar to that used for the
Russian language).
As we cycled through southeastern Romania today, we
encountered a large number of Roma ("Gypsies"), often traveling in horse-drawn carts. There
are an estimated 12 million Roma worldwide, with the largest concentrations in Central
and Eastern Europe. Romania and Bulgaria are at or near the top of all
countries in terms of Roma as a percent of the population, with an estimated
8-10% of the people in these two countries being Roma. There are also significant
numbers in Spain, southern France, and other European countries, and
approximately 1 million in the United States.
Based on linguistic and genetic evidence, the Roma emigrated
to Europe from India about 1000 years ago. In general, they live on the fringes
of society, with high rates of poverty and poor education. In several European
cities, Roma pickpocketers are abundant. There is widespread discrimination
against the Roma, and during WWII a large number (by some estimates, about 1
million) were exterminated by the Nazis.
The main challenge on our ride today was the horrible state
of many of the roads we encountered. We not only found ourselves on a number of
dirt roads, but some of the paved roads were so full of potholes that weaving
around them was worse than riding on dirt.
Our destination town of Ruse turned out to be a very pleasant
ending to the day. It is a city of 150,000 (fifth largest in Bulgaria), with
several walking streets full of restaurants and cafes. There are beautiful
fountains and gardens in and near the town center. Ruse lies on the Danube and
is the largest river port of Bulgaria. It was most the most populous city in
Bulgaria in 1880, and intensive building around that time changed the city's
architectural appearance to a typical Central European one. It is known for its
19th- and 20th-century Neo-Baroque and Neo-Rococo architecture, for which it
has been called “Little Vienna”, and results in its attracting a large number
of tourists.
Scenes from our ride today:
 |
| Leaving Bucharest |
 |
| A horribly rutted road |
 |
| "Republic of Bulgaria" Pictures in Ruse, Bulgaria, today's destination town: |
No comments:
Post a Comment