The Gate Of Trajan

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This post is about a 15km walk from Gorno Varshilo to the Gate Of Trajan. I feast at a highway restaurant, then I marvel at a Roman fortress.

It was cold when I woke up in the ruins. And I was hungry. I didn’t have a lot to eat on me, and I was out of hot water, so I packed my stuff and walked down to where the road hit the highway. There were some restaurants on the other side. I took an underpass, hoping that they would be open.

fooooood

61 Köfte Denis was working. The owner Denis and his friend liked to get swole and make Turkish food. They were very enthusiastic about the Caboose and the grandiose silliness of walking.

I got a meal of grilled vegetables, bread, and beans, and lemonade. It was perfect. I sat there in the warmth with my food, watching the traffic, feeling like a civilized person. And then, before I left, Denis filled up my thermoses with hot water.

Having hot water was the shit.

the gate

It took a few hours of walking through the hills until I reached the Gate Of Trajan. The Gate was a natural pass through the mountains between Philippololis (Plovdiv) and Serdica (Sofia). Roman Emperor Trajan, seeing the strategic importance of the pass, had commissioned the construction of a fortress on a vantage position. The fortress was called Stipon, and it would protect the pass for more than a thousand years, until the Ottomans razed it. The pass itself became known as the Gate Of Trajan.

I arrived in the late afternoon when the fortress was still open for visitors. There was a tourist information, two guides, and a dog. The dog lived there, and he went with me wherever I went.

camp

I looked at the fortress in the warm afternoon light. A lot of it lay in ruins (and some had been repaired), but it was still awe-inspiring. It felt just like that time when I had seen my first remnants of Rome near Amasra in Turkey. Romans had built this! Romans had lived here, defending the pass with only a bit more than 100 men. It was hard to believe.

I set up my tent in a picnic area next to the fortress, and I washed my feet with the remaining warm water. When I got into the tent I left the door flap open and looked at the stars. The dog was still there. He was black and white and happy about my company (any company), and every now and then he ran off into the forest to bark at it.

pictures

Grilled vegetables, bread, beans, and lemonade at 61 Köfte Denis:

Denis and his friend in front of his restaurant:

I crossed the highway multiple times today:

The road to walk from Gorno Varshilo to the Gate Of Trajan:

Arches of the Stipon Fortress:

Inside the Stipon Fortress at the Gate Of Trajan:

Repaired walls of the Stipon Fortress:

The Stipon Fortress at nightfall:

The Stipon Fortress at night:

Footbath: