Yes I know, it has been three and a half weeks and I am posting just now… sorry! 😑
So, I thought I will travel to Bulgaria, Ukraine and Belarus… So of course I end up in Greece, Macedonia and Kosovo! ☺ I found a good deal on flights, I booked just 4 days before the flight and return ticket was about 153€ including a checked in baggage, the airline was Ellinair (good service on flight by the way). And they didn't even loose my baggage! With my track record that is excellent. Flight from Bucharest to Thessaloniki took only about an hour, but that is also a very long time when you have to listen to a screaming brat. Yikes! I took a bus to city center, that cost 2€, and then about 15 mins walk to the hotel. Which is also a very long walk when you have a backpack on and it is 32 degrees! But it felt so great to have backpack on again!
I was at the hotel quite late and it was already a bit dark outside so I just stayed in and ordered room service (yes, really, like a true backpacker). Hotel Olympia was really great with very good service and nice breakfast, just 10-15 mins walk to the center or to the seaside. The only not so good thing was that you couldn’t adjust the temperature. I could have the ac in low or high or have it on or off but 23 degrees was the only possibility. That was too cold and I would’ve been sick in couple of hours f I hadn't turned that off. The next day after breakfast I went walking around, mostly I walked at seaside of course. I saw a lot of motorcycles but not a lot of helmets! Yes, it was hot and I am sure it feels great to ride and feel the air but still… Wear a helmet you idiot! Thessaloniki is a beautiful city with long pavement by the sea, nice cafes and restaurants. It was really hot day, about 37 degrees and I was sweating like a pig all day. I don't even want to know what the temperature was in the sun! Maybe 4 hours walking in that infernal heat wasn’t my brightest idea… I sent two postcards, one for my mum and one for a friend who collects postcards from different countries. I try to remember to send him cards whenever I travel but sometimes I forget (sorry). He is restoring some of my stuff in Finland for free for indefinite time, so this is the least I can do! It was so hot outside that I had to go to hotel for a few hours, I <3 air conditioning! In the evening I went out again to get some food and a glass of wine (duh…). The next day I checked out from the hotel, left my backpack to a locker at the station and went to the sea again. I can’t even describe how much I love the sea! My bus to Skopje left at 17.30 and it cost 20 €, the bus company was Simeonidis tours, and you can book by email!
Photos of Thessaloniki should be here. But they are not. I downloaded my photos and it showed download completed, but in reality only a few photos had downloaded. I lost a lot of great memories and beautiful scenery! 😥
The bus was supposed to arrive to Skopje at 20.30, we arrived at 22.50 because we spent two hours at the border, they were checking some people on the bus. It seemed to be the non-europeans they checked. Gotta love Schengen and my EU passport… next to me sat a Mexican guy, he was one of the persons that got checked, although they didn’t ask him a lot, just a couple of questions and that was it. Some others they questioned a lot more. But I had some nice talks with the guy, he was also a couchsurfer! ☺
I got a negative experience from Skopje before even going there. I made a booking for an apartment, and received confirmation. I emailed the time of my arrival, and asked for directions how to get there from bus station. She replied and asked how many persons (like the directions are different depending on how many persons arrive..?), and when I said one she said there was an error in the system and it should not have shown it is available since it is not available. But she told me she knows another place, and I had to ask many times are the services and the price the same. She finally said yes they are and I confirmed I will take it. Oh no no no no no… next that is not available either and that owner had let her down (who was first she and then he) and I have two choices: stay in another (third) apartment which has the same services and price but it is further away and not walking distance, or I could stay at her house and she has an extra bedroom. Seriously? Would you pay 100€ in Skopje to get one bedroom in somebody’s house??? Luckily she said she has a dog so I couldn’t stay there in any case due to my allergy. What a scam. I told her no and that I will leave a feedback where I will tell the true story. Her last message was calling me rude and she doesn’t want people like me near her, and that she’s had it taking all this shit from me and that she is very stressed now. Apparently it is shit when a guest is asking to get what she has booked. Yep yep… I of course made a new booking to another place. The first booking was for Christie apartments, just so you know to avoid it.
But the other place didn’t go so smoothly either. I was wondering why it was so difficult to find accommodation and everything was already booked. Yeah, exactly then there was Uefa Super Cup Manchester United vs Real Madrid! No wonder. I knew that what I booked was overpriced and it will be a crappy place. And it sure was. The location was pretty good though, I could walk to the center! Checking in was a bit tricky because the guy spoke hardly any English, he had to call a colleague who came to work for that, and she complained to me about it. Really not my problem.
Since I arrived very late, I just went to sleep… next day I walked to the center, got lost a few times (maybe I should write the times I DON’T get lost). Because of the game, there were a lot of people and tents etc, LOUD techno playing at 11 am in the old town. Quite a contrast. I am sure I really didn’t see the “real” Skopje but that was not the place I enjoyed much. I chose the wrong dates to visit! I noticed that they sure like statues and monuments, the place is just full of them! Officially I think the country is called FYROM, the Former Yugoslavian Republic Of Macedonia. Greece also has area called Macedonia (where Thessaloniki is), and Greece opposed so much that there would be a country called Macedonia, that it is FYROM. Well boohoo, get over it Greeks!
Photos of Skopje are not here...
After two nights in Skopje I took a bus to Pristina, it costs only about 5€. It was supposed to take two hours but it took three hours, again they checked some people at the border more closely. I took a tax to the hotel, hotel Adria was a very nice hotel! I had a great view from my window. I rested a little bit and went walking around, it was just about 10 mins walk from the center so also the location was pretty good. Next day I also walked around the city, five hours in the heat and I was exhausted… the infernal heat continued the whole trip, during the day it was 36-42 degrees so you really can't walk around all day like I usually do when I am travelling. I was actually so tired that I had dinner at the hotel and went to bed really early.
This is one of the few photos that has been saved, the monument of a new country.
Friday was travel day! First back to Skopje. I was prepared for a couple of hours of delay, but the bus was just 30 mins late so I had a couple of hours in Skopje, and time to have something to eat. Then a bus to Thessaloniki which was “just” about thirty minutes late. The bus had only about 25% seats taken, and there were no waits at the borders, but still thirty minutes late. I would like to know if those busses have EVER been on time?! The scenery in Macedonia, which I didn’t see on my way there because it was too dark, was absolutely gorgeous! Too bad people there throw their rubbish to the nature so that was not a pretty sights. Just rubbish everywhere! Why are people so stupid?? In Thessaloniki I stayed the one night in Rent Rooms, really lovely place, and they had a hostel cat! It had a real backpacker atmosphere☺.
Photo of the hostel cat, so lucky that this one was saved!
We are all the same!
For some reason I had thought that not everybody in that area speak English. In all those places, in every cafe, restaurant and shop I went to, they spoke at least some English, so did the taxi drivers. I don’t know why I thought English is not that widely spoken! Stupid things in my head obviously. I definitely saw the consequences of the economic crisis in Greece. I wasn’t expecting to see that many homeless people and beggers and street dogs as I did. It is quite sad how that many people don’t have a roof over their heads and enough food to eat, and we are talking about western countries! It is a hard life when you don’t have a place to go, and I realize how privileged I am and have been all my life! My problems are nothing compared to that. In Macedonia and Kosovo I expectd to see a bit more of that, and I also did.
Saturday it was time to go back home… 😣
I started to feel a little bit blue already on Friday evening. It’s always a bummer when you have to stop travelling and go home and back to work and be a “normal” adult again. I HATE THAT!!! But I have six more weeks to go, and then I will be moving to Lisbon, my flight is on the 4th of October and I will start in my new job at the 9th. So I will have some days to explore the city and relax! But I don’t know when my next holiday will be and when can I travel again. I will try to visit some more romanian cities before I leave but they will be just day or weekend trips since I have used all my holidays now. My next post will probably be about visiting those cities, don’t know when will that be…
On Sunday I went hiking to Poiana Brasov, took the cable car up and walked down. The next couple of days I could barely walk 😂. I even had to roll out of bed, that would’ve been one funny home video! But Poiana saa amazing… sigh. I will miss the mountains. I am excited about moving to Lisbon and can’t wait to get to the ocean, but I am starting to feel a bit blue at the same time. I will miss Brasov, the mountains, the old town, and especially the lovely people here. I have felt here better than in years. But new country and new city are waiting! And new people, new travels and so on. But Brasov will always have a very special place in my heart 💓.
Still a few photos of Poiana
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