24 – 27 June 2018
As I hinted at the end of my previous blog post, things didn’t really go as planned as Raquel and I left from Thessaloniki to Skopje in Macedonia. I’ll start at the beginning. We went to the train station in Thessaloniki to buy our tickets for Skopje. Naturally, we expected to take a train from there, but the cashier told us that a bus would take us to the border and from there we would transfer to a train that would take us further to Skopje. Okay, no problem. So we got on the bus and drove to a very remote train station just past the border. The train station looked as if it hadn’t been used for at least a decade. The station building itself was empty and I’m sure that it had seen better days. There was no screen or timetable for any trains, but according to the bus driver who brought us there we only had to wait for a couple of minutes. We arrived there at about 8 p.m. and it was slowly starting to get dark. The bus had left and everyone was waiting on the platform. We waited and waited until an hour had passed. One woman in the group tried to get some information and eventually she told us that the train wasn’t coming. Great! We had no idea what to do, we were left in the middle of nowhere. After twenty minutes of more waiting (even though we didn’t know exactly what for) we got told that they would send a bus to pick us up and take us to Skopje. The thing is that when a Macedonian tells you that they are going to send a bus, you never know when it’ll arrive. And if it’ll arrive at all. . . We looked like a group of refugees who had made camp at an abandoned train station. Meanwhile, a stork family was watching us from their nest on top of a nearby lamppost. They were probably not used to this many people at this remote location at night. Finally, about 10 p.m. a bus showed up and we got to continue our two-hour trip to Skopje. I hadn’t been able to find a host on Couchsurfing for my first night and I was exhausted after the long trip and all the waiting. This is why I joined Raquel and together we went to her hostel. The place was very small and cosy, and close to the bus station where we arrived. Luckily it wasn’t very busy and they were able to give us our own room. That night I slept like a baby.
The next morning we slept in and had some breakfast and coffee at the hostel. Then we started to explore Skopje. We walked along the riverside towards the city center. There we crossed the bridge and walked towards to old part of the city. That part of the city is mostly inhabited by Albanians, but to me it felt like I was walking through Istanbul. As we were walking through the bazaar we saw a lot of Turkish shops. We even sat down at a place with the typical low couches with lots of pillows and had some Turkish tea, while the midday prayer was sung from the mosques around us. After this little break we returned to the other side of the river. The city is inhabited by about half a million people and an infinite amount of statues. That is probably one of the highest rates of statues per capita, if such a rate exists. These statues are part of a project named Skopje 2014. The purpose of this project was to make Skopje a visually more attractive city, since 80% of the city was destroyed during an earthquake in 1963. The city was rebuilt in a more modern style and many of the original Neoclassical buildings were lost. Skopje 2014 aimed to “restore the missing sense of national pride and create a more metropolitan atmosphere.” This is why you now see a lot Neoclassical buildings, with beautiful columns that seem to be there for quite some time. . . Except they aren’t. They are brand new. The budget for Skopje 2014 was initially 80 million euros and planned for 20 new buildings and 40 new statues. But by 2015 the expenses were already way past 500 million euros and there’s still no end in sight. Naturally this caused a lot of commotion in a country where the people have a very low income and a relatively high unemployment rate.
The city is also home to the birthplace of Mother Theresa. Nowadays there is a museum dedicated to her that has some interesting items on display, like the sami she always used to wear and a copy of the Nobel Peace Prize. The museum shows you her story and it is a very intriguing one. In 2016 Mother Theresa was actually declared a saint by pope Francis. On the top floor is a small Catholic chapel dedicated to her. Later in the afternoon I was meeting someone who was willing to host me for the other nights during my stay in Skopje. She was very busy, which is why I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her. After a short break I went back to the hostel to pick up Raquel to get some dinner. We went to a restaurant that the girl of the reception had recommended to us and we had an amazing meal. After dinner I went back to my host’s place.
The next morning I walked back to Raquel’s hostel and while I was waiting for her to get ready, I was having some coffee. Then we joined a tour that basically took us to all the places we had seen the day before. But at least this time we got to know all the background stories that make the city come alive. The guide was absolutely amazing and I enjoyed every minute of the tour. He even brought us to a small restaurant where we got to try local raki for free. I drank two cups on a still empty stomach, but I survived. In the afternoon we went back to the hostel, where we were chatting with a guy from Turkey. I had almost become a local at the hostel, since I would be there a few times every day. We also met a woman from Canada and a boy from the UK, with whom we had dinner at the same place as last night. The food was as good as last time. That night it was also time to say goodbye to Raquel. She would return to her home in the States and go back to daily routine. Who knows, maybe someday our paths will cross again. . . I wouldn’t be surprised.
The following day I took a bus to Ohrid in the south and the Canadian woman from yesterday, named Louise, was joining me. Ohrid is a picturesque town located next to a beautiful lake that shares the same name. Needless to say that it has now become a popular tourist destination. Along the waterfront you find many restaurants that provide stunning views of the lake and you can actually reach these restaurants by a small boat (people will ask you for a ride, like they normally would with taxi’s). During my visit there was unfortunately a lot of overcast and some rain. Despite the weather it was hard not to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Most of the city’s historical highlights are located in the old town that is situated on a hill overlooking Lake Ohrid. A few of these highlights are Tsar Samuel’s Fortress, the archaeological site Plaoshnik and the very iconic church of St. John the Theologian.
Louise and I met a girl from England and since she and I were both looking for a hostel for the night, she joined us. The three of us first walked to a hostel that was located on the same hill as the Old Town to drop off our luggage. Then we continued on foot to see the city’s highlights. Since I had already done a bit of research on what there is to see, I took the role of tour guide and showed them around. Then Louise had to take the bus back to Skopje, since she was only in Ohrid on a day-trip. It is possible to go to Ohrid from Skopje on a day-trip, though I wouldn’t recommend it since it is at least three hours by bus, which leaves you with only a few hours to explore the city. Especially during summertime you wouldn’t want to rush through this beautiful city. The girl and I went back to the hostel, where we watched the World Soccer Championship. Serbia was playing against Brazil and the locals were all fanatically supporting Serbia (but they lost 2-0). The two Brazilians in the room were smart enough not to cheer too loudly.
Early the next day I took the bus to Dürres in Albania, where someone named Cleon had offered to host me. It was quite a challenge to figure out my route, but I eventually decided that I would go from Ohrid to Albania and from there to Kosovo, followed by Montenegro. You have to be really careful when planning your trip in this region, because the transportation between these countries can be either really bad, or very early (05:00 a.m.) for no apparent reason at all (on occasion they’re both: bad and early). And so my trip through the Balkans continued. . .
Dawn Under 