Set off 7.15am along the Edirne - Kapikule highway, facing a gentle uphill and diagonal headwind the whole way. Made rather slower progress than I should (heavy legs?). Crossed the Turkey - Bulgarian border in under 45 minutes.
The first building after the border - a giant casino. Roadside billboards advertising casinos and online gambling every few kilometres.
Bulgarian road more or less the same as in Turkey, but countryside immediately different. Whereas in Turkey it seemed that not a square inch went uncultivated, in Bulgaria there are more trees and more wasteland, with the crops mechanised but looking less well-tended.
Turned off towards Haskovo just after Harmanli. Outskirts of Haskovo littered with derelict plant & buildngs - with two of the largest buildings I`ve ever seen being two abandoned factories. Goodness knows what Haskovo manufactured; my Bradt guidebook doesn`t disclose. Wikipedia mentions discontinued cigarette production - but surely that didn`t need such mega-structures.
Mind you - lots of people including women smoke here, though so far not seen groups of men sitting around idle. Haskovo - shops selling pedestian goods. Several casinos. Otherwise - as far as I've been able to see walking around on tired legs - not particularly remarkable.