Nothing compares to a Sunday morning to afternoon bike ride. 
Today I decided to get out of Sofia and check a bit the small city of Bankya. The town is famous for the mineral springs (saw many people going by car next to the Bankya mineral water plant and taking water) but also for the baths that have been used for their medicinal properties for hundreds of years, according to wikipedia.
This was the first time I went there by bike and I realized that there are many places that I didn’t see before while driving there. Downtown, I found the main park which was clean and newly “rehabilitated”. I had breakfast there and I’ve noticed that the park was mostly inhabited by old people – I have the feeling that the younger ones moved to Sofia (correct me if I am wrong). The purpose of today’s ride was to get to the Sveta Petka Monastery, which is outside Bankya. I managed to get to one of the road signs, a couple of kilometers outside the town, and I gave up when I saw the steep hills that were waiting for me to climb. I was already tired after riding the bike for 30 km and I had to head back to Sofia. The good news is that I found a nice place where you can lie down on the grass and watch the planes descending towards the Sofia airport. I plan to go there again, hopefully make it to the monastery.
Till then, you can check my bike map where you can see the pictures I took today. Ride safely! 
