or where do I find myself on this trip?
It actually worked out. We are on the RoRo ferry to Georgia. Not quite cheap transport (3 nights incl. full meals: 190 EUR / person + 20 EUR / bicycle), but simply an amazing “experience”. Of course, you can’t expect a lift, deckchairs or cocktails, but for us it was exactly what we needed. A cabin with toilet and shower and a simple canteen where the cook even makes sure we get vegetarian food. What could be nicer? A couple of smoking, laughing, truck drivers and lots of bright colors that fascinate me. Sitting on deck now, I write about the last stages in Bulgaria, about our bicycles and about myself. We and our sense of balance have got used to the rocking, so no hanging over the railing.
360 degree view and only water as far as the eye can see. 1168 km from Bulgaria to Georgia, Batumi across the Black Sea.
I knew something would change in me!
My emotions, my attitude, my view of things. And now I notice it again. Something that took an unbelievable amount of time on our last 2-year bicycle journey is now starting to happen after only 2.5 months: I’m getting calmer.
My brain stops running!
I see the small, simple things without looking for them, my guilty conscience is banished to a drawer when it thinks it has to make itself felt just because I don’t do anything.
I stand here on deck and then there, then again at another point. I sit down on this bench or the other and go back to the starting point or somewhereelse. I don’t need to think about what’s coming the next minute. I don’t need to celebrate the “in the here and now”. It is just there.
I feel the rocking of the ship on the waves, see the turquoise sea, feel a slight permanent vibration and hear a low hum from the engine, Klaus on a bench in the sun, the wind brushing his skin, a small transparent plastic cup making its circles on deck swirled by the wind, a truck driver trying to catch it to throw it in the rubbish. The bags of the rubbish bins rustle slightly in the wind and a couple of truck drivers come out on deck and laugh about something. And I sit here and watch. The ship rocks a little more and then and the surface on the water ripples more violently now. Clouds are gathering. The horizon goes up and down. I would love to preserve this right now. How such a moment can be so beautiful.
What does RoRo ferry mean?
RoRo-Ferries typically perform short journeys for a mix of passengers, cars and commercial vehicles. Most of these ships are Ro-Ro (roll on – roll off) ferries, where vehicles can drive straight on and off, making it a speedy and easily accessible way to travel.
