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| New Archeological Museum Skopje |
I left Greece this morning to head to Skopje the capital of Macedonia. It’s 150 miles from Thessaloniki and takes about 2.5 hours driving up north through Greece, and into the Balkan country of Macedonia.
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| Philip II of Macedon |
Macedonia was a bit of a wild card that I added in late in the day in the travel plans, and even setting off today I had no idea what to expect. Half way along the journey I crossed the border and had the pleasure of the Macedonia customs convinced I was smuggling drugs, or some other contraband. They checked my car and luggage everywhere they possibly could, and asked the same questions over and over, and reluctantly eventually accepted that I was just some British tourist on a mad journey.
The trip towards Skopje was pretty boring and the Macedonia countryside did not seem much to write home about. Then I got to Skopje, and was blown away. Skopje is wonderful, truly wonderful. Walking around the capital was a joy with an amazing atmosphere and sights everywhere.
The only sad news was I had to leave. If I’d have known how great it would be I would have stayed longer, it’s one heck of a place that you can’t help but like.
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| Skopje Cathedral |
As the sun went down I had to leave and head back to Sofia. A short trip out of town connects you to the E871 and towards Sofia. The bad news is I drove 50 miles and saw zero signs to Sofia. Then the doubts surface .. have I gone the right way, what if I have gone wrong. I started convinced I was good, but that waned as the miles ticked by. Then I got stopped by the Police.. this is a bizarre experience not like which you would see in England or USA. Driving in the pitch black down a quiet road a policeman steps out of nowhere with a torch light and asks you to pull over. It’s so dark that seeing the road is hard enough to see, and road signs impossible. Was I speeding ? .. literally, no idea. He checked all my documents, and after a number of minutes I was good to go. In the meantime I got him to confirm I was on the right road to Sofia. Every cloud has a silver lining.
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| Vardar River Stone Bridge |
So I drove off down the winding road, that went up and down and round. It was a chore of a drive with not much in making headway in the dark in the middle of nowhere. Then I got stopped by the Police again! This was getting impossible. All was fine, again.
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| Prometheus, Skopje |
Crossed over the border one more time and back into Bulgaria. Headed back to the Hotel Expo and found my Bulgaria home for one more night. It’s easy finding it now !
When you travel a number of countries in a short space of time as I have this is what you end up with. Each country I have gone to has had their own currency, and I now am left with Bulgarian Lev, Romanian Leu, Serbian Dinars, Macedonian Denars and Greek Euros. I’m not sure there is much money here though. Maybe enough to get me another pint !
