Balkans Whirlwind

I really enjoy the Balkans, (AKA the countries formerly known as Yugoslavia and the neighboring countries that also kind of sucked in the middle 20th century). I can.t really put my finger on what the attraction is but I just like walking around their cities. They are a bit rough around the edges for sure but I find a little dinge far more interesting than the modern streamlined metropolises.

My first stop was Sofia, Bulgaria. It is an all day bus ride from Athens. Not the least bit scenic and the only slightly interesting thing on the way was that bus route goes somewhat close to the site of the battle of thermopylae. Where big budget Hollywood movies teach us that 300 Spartans held off thousands of Persians. There isn’t much to see as far as I could tell, especially at highway speed. I saw a blur of a statue in a rest stop as the bus just flew by. I bet if there was an overpriced restaurant there, we would have.

The busses have Wifi these days so I was able to spend the hours looking for a cheap place to stay for a few days. I found what ended up being a nice little apartment called “Generaator Sofia”. Its just an 800 meter walk from the bus stop. It was night by the time I started the walk. My experience is that Eastern European countries don’t splurge on street lights and Bulgaria was not trying to change that. Light poles were sparse and the shops had been long closed so no light coming through their windows to help. There was no one on the street either. It was a bit unsettling. Even in the dark, the trek to the apartment was pretty easy since it is located 1km away and involved only one road.  The only hard part was that there isn’t much of a sign visible for the dark sidewalk. I found it and the owner hadn’t gone home yet. That tends to be a thing in the Balkans. If you get in after dark, you are pretty much going to get checked in remotely over the phone. Which I don’t usually get service for. Too many countries in too short of time would end up with a pocket full of useless SIM cards.. The owner gave me a hint on much needed places to eat nearby. I worked my way through the maze of hallways to the room, dropped my luggage and headed back out. I was dark kilometer from the city center. First thing I saw was a McDonalds. And god bless the McDonalds. It is a good thing that I am not too proud to eat McDonalds as there wasn’t anything else open that I could see. Charged up with

a burger and fries, I set off to explore. I only found one quiet pub open. Sometimes not having to choose after a long travel day is a welcome relief. I went in and had a quiet beer. I was restless after sitting all day so paid and headed out again. But is was a fruitless search for some lively entertainment. I headed back to the room and had a good sleep.

The next morning I headed back out again, As is usual, if I had walked another 100 meters past the McDonalds I would have come across the lively pedestrian street with bars. restaurants and shops. I was disappointed that I took my first option the night before. It was still quiet but that’s because it was coffee time and not party time. I went down a

side street and found the Black Label Coffee House and Bakery. That’s as close to a website as I could find. Probably too busy doing important stuff to be messing around with a website. it was a nice place to hang out at while I waited for the rest of the world to wake up and get busy.

Fully caffeinated, I spent the day power walking around the city center and was totally impressed. I only had a couple of days there but I really like what I saw. In the light of day, it was bigger than I expected. I only saw what I could walk to but it is on the list to go back to. I would definitely stay longer but for now, there are a lot of Balkans to cover.

I am a speedy tourist. I am happy to walk around, take a look and head on my way. With Sofia checked off, I was on to the next stop, the relatively new country of North Macedonia. I don’t know what is North about it since there isn’t a South Macedonia. Just something to think about on my 4 hour bus ride to Skopje.

The Bus dropped me off hungry and thirsty in North Macedonia’s capital city of Skopje. I know little to nothing about Skopje so I set off on a speedwalk with my luggage through the town looking for sustenance.

I should backtrack here, I have been using a travel ATM card that allows me to take out local currency without any fees at any connected ATM. It saves me a ton of money because I go take out small amounts frequently since I only like to carry enough cash with me to satisfy would be muggers should they inquire. Since I was back in the Euro zone, it wasn’t monopoly money anymore and wasn’t excited to have it inquired away. I got a text to let me know that I was spending too much money on my fun filled jaunt around the Taj Mahal. Since my fun filled jaunt was now going on 3200 miles away from the Taj Mahal, I begged to differ. Didn’t really matter though. Somehow my card got skimmed and it had to be turned off.

I wasn’t too worried in my immediate situation. North Macedonia was looking like it was going to be pretty cheap. At least cheap enough to be covered by the Euros I had in my wallet.  Until, I tried to buy a sandwich. They aren’t in the Euro and use Macedonian Dinars so I was going to be staying sandwich free until I remedied that. I headed off to a bank to switch a few Euros. I don’t know what language they speak in North Macedonia but luckily “No” seems to translate pretty well regardless of the borders. After a few more attempts, I finally found a nice but firm (in an Eastern block sort of way) teller told me in English that I would have to have an account at a bank to change money. I don’t know why someone with a local account would need to change money but it was the rules I had to live by. I was directed to a money changer with exorbitant exchange costs. A gas station sandwich ended up costing me $20.

I walked around a bit more but with my luggage and the lack of anything interesting, I decided to cut my stay short and catch the next available bus to my real target destination, Kosovo. You can tell by my lack of interest by the fact that I have no photos.

But since this post is getting long and it says Whirlwind right there in the title, I’ll save it for another post.

 

 

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