7 November 2023, Strazja, 74.17km
Guest Room Krasi 58.95lev [R590]

We are spending the night in a small apartment above a farmhouse in the tiny village of Strazja. Although we have a basic kitchen and a washing machine inside our bedroom, the bathroom is shared with two other rooms. Three men from Moldova checked into the bedroom across from us shortly after we arrived.
We arrived at 1730, tired and very much in need of a cup of coffee and the jam-filled pink-icing-with-sprinkles donuts we had purchased from the Lidl in Targovishte, 8km north of Strazja. We unpacked the bikes, put on the kettle and were seated at the table in our room, drinking coffee and eating donuts, when we experienced a Kramer entrance. Do you remember Kramer from the Jerry Seinfeld series? He would fling open Jerry's door without knocking and slide into the apartment. One of our neighbours, without so much as a gentle tap, flung open our door in search of the wifi code. We remained totally cool, but will take care to lock the bathroom door!
The owner's friendly black and white kitten, a producer of loud purrs, is also wont to enter without invitation, keen for cuddles.
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We departed Strazhitsa at 0830, cycled 74km, and arrived in Strazja nine hours later. A long day broken by lunch in pretty Popovo (first mentioned in an Ottoman tax register of 1555) and shopping in Targovishte (where I set off the Lidl alarm by taking my basket out a door beyond which it was not allowed). We also stopped briefly to admire what remains of the walls and towers of Roman city dating from 308AD. "The city was set on fire in the Second Gothic War of 376-382 AD. It was slowly restored until the invasion of Attila the Hun around 447AD. Finally it was destroyed by the Slavs and Avars in the 580s."
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I am too anal to often make mistakes when planning routes and accommodation, but when I do make a mistake, I make a biggie! I had planned to spend the night in Targovishte, but somehow booked accommodation in Strazja instead, 8 mainly uphill kms further than planned. It made for a tiring end to the day, though patient Charl pointed out we would have missed the pretty sunset had we slept where originally hoped.
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Another pleasing day.