OK so this one is going to be sort of long, it will encompass many days including my last day of cycling into Skopje; meeting up with Boro’s dad and cousin; the couple of days it took me to ride a bus first to Sofia Bulgaria, then the next day to Bucharest, Romania; aaaand the two days after that I spent in Bucharest up to this point.

Cycling into Skopje

From Gostivar, Google maps walking route put me on a beautiful back road, but then shortly after I was in the middle of a field on a fairly visible trail. That quickly disappeared into no visible trail whatsoever and going directly through a bunch of thicket beside a river for a while. But I got so many scratches and rashes on my legs from walking through who knows what kind of grasses, I had welts all over my legs for the rest of the day that I desperately tried not to scratch! Google maps giveth and taketh away.

Somewhere in the field, I ran across a farmer. I had sort of communicated by gesture and words to him that it was my intent to continue across this field, he sort of smiled and shook his head and made it very clear that there was no path for me through there. He pointed down a different dirt path and said that was the way I need to take to go. He was very nice, actually offered me some of his juice which I accepted. I took his advice and continued the other direction which certainly added a couple of miles to my route but at least it was a route!

Finally got out to a significant enough road to continue, through farm country and had one small hills to cycle over before I dropped down into the attractive medium size city of Skopje, Macedonia. My fifth country, btw…

The map route took me straight to Alexander Square, a large beautiful and very nicely restored Central Square along the Vardar River with several bridges and beautiful buildings all around. Skopje was a beautiful European city and definitely the nicest one I had been in in quite some time.

As I knew this would be the end of my solo cycling prior to meeting the gang, I opted for a delicious celebratory cold beer right beside the Square. As if having a cold beer needs a celebratory reason… Ha!

After the beer cooldown got a hotel room for about $45 a few steps off the main square.

It is Sunday. Soon as I got cleaned up, I rode a couple miles to the central bus station and got my ticket to Sofia For Tuesday morning 7 AM.

On the way there, I talked to a taxi driver that I passed by. I had seen that one of the major activities of the city is to go to a canyon called Lake Matka, it has a dam which created a beautiful body of water in the canyon. There was a group bus tour out there but the taxi driver said he would take me out there, wait for me and bring me back for the same amount so I’ll do that with him and scheduled that for Monday morning 9 AM. In this part of Europe and perhaps all of Europe, literally every single museum was closed on Mondays, so going to the lake was really the best option for me.

On the way, chatted with the taxi driver for quite a while, was interesting to hear his take on Macedonia and how everything was better back in the days when Yugoslavia was intact until the United States messed that up.

Joining the European Union is looked on favorably here in general by Macedonians, and they are hoping they will be inducted into the union fully within the next few years. The process takes a while as the country has to adopt and implement EU standards for a variety of things, including infrastructure, monetary systems, roads, power grids, etc.

We took a boat ride out onto the lake, you’ll see one or two photos of that, and Dewan came with me in the boat. He was a nice enough guy for sure. Came back and looked at the Roman aqueducts 2000 years old before he dropped me off in old town, after which I had a cold beer and then took a nap, before I meet up with Boro’s dad at 6 PM.

So at 6pm, I got to to Destan restaurant and waited around 20 minutes, was going to text Boro but he texted me and said they were waiting for me. Apparently there are two of the same restaurant nearby!! So I trotted over to the other one and it was a great delight to meet Boro‘s dad who I had met briefly once in Portland, and his cousin who speaks fluent English.

I had a wonderful time chatting with them. His cousin Dulè had to leave early, so probably another hour of chatting with Boro‘s dad mano a mano. He spoke a very small amount of English, but between the words and the gestures and the emotions, it was very easy to communicate with him about life, what’s important in life, life‘s experiences, and our common experiences as humans.

It’s easy to say that this was certainly the highlight of my trip thus far. There has been so much solo time and so few conversations with people, (other than me, myself, and I) this definitely brought my solo cycling phase to a very positive and enjoyable close!

Btw, a tasty nice dinner with the kebab and baked beans, excellent bread and beer.

Back to the hotel in bed early, packed everything into two bags instead of four, got to get to the bus station by 6:30 AM.

Bus day to Sofia

Got to the bus, basically had to bribe the bus driver €10 to get my bike on the bus, he kept acting like it wasn’t going to fit or something. No English. It was kind of weird, but then at the last minute he took me over to the other side of the bus where nobody could see and he said money money, so I gave him the equivalent of €10 and fantastically an open compartment appears in my bike fits and no problem. The way of the world, I guess!

Uneventful six hour ride to Sofia, the border crossing always takes a while but no problems really. Arrived in Sofia Bulgaria and found a $50 hotel not far from where I will pick up the bus to Bucharest tomorrow morning. Walking around this afternoon, found another big pedestrian walkway closed to vehicles.

Here again; old buildings, shops and restaurants, lots of people walking around, lots of smokers, lots of people talking on cell phones. The world is becoming more and more homogenized most certainly.

Saw some sites and took a few photos here in Sofia; Mostly during my free walking tour at 6 PM which was well worth the tip that you give the guide at the end. There were probably 20 people in the group, and the last 40 minutes or so it was drizzling rain, so it was pretty damp by the time it was done, but I learned a lot about Bulgarian history, especially during the communist years.

Got back to the hotel and after drying off, dozed off and prepared for another day on the bus to Bucharest.

Bus day to Bucharest

So between Sophia and Bucharest, I found an online bus system that worked really well called FlixBus. The price was reasonable, you do everything in an app, much more organized than the old school bus I was on yesterday.

After five hours, we crossed the Danube River border into Romania. The border crossing itself took about 45 minutes, and once across as we got closer to Bucharest, the traffic became horrendous. I think in total the bus ride took about seven hours. Definitely took most of the day! While on the bus I had made a reservation for a hotel away from the central downtown that was much cheaper than the overpriced European hotels in the central zone. I guess I’ve had the luxury of spending only $25-30 a night most of this trip, so it’s a bit shocking to come back to American/EU prices closer to $100 a night in the central area.

Just a note that even though I don’t have a photo, we drove through miles and miles of sunflower Fields, presumably for oil.

Once at the bus station, it was about a 7 mile bike ride through a lot of noisy heavy traffic to get to my hotel. A nice little place called hotel Christina, as I arrived the owner was outside and we chatted for a while, super nice guy and everyone at the hotel seems very friendly.

Inside it is the 60s kind of place with lots of bright yellow and bright white accents, an unusual hotel but a great and mostly quiet refuge from the busy main streets of Bucharest.

I arrived at the hotel around 5:30 PM, got settled and then found a restaurant nearby. The restaurant Galletto is known for its specialty, roasted rooster! No joke! That’s what they say! So I ordered that and a small mixed salad, and the chicken was actually delicious! Somewhere between the size of a game hen and a small chicken, it was half of a chicken with some roasted potatoes and was very tasty. Really hit the spot!

Tourist days in Bucharest

The next day I took a walk into the main part of the town, went to the Bulgarian history Museum, a great museum for understanding the earliest history of Bulgaria up through the second world war. There are many artifacts, lots of English translation of the sequence of events and even some interesting videos. Unfortunately the second and third floors of the museum are under renovation, so no Bulgarian history past 1944! Glad I went there though, fascinating history in Europe about World War I most certainly and the near constant exchange of alliances and dominance especially in the years from 1910 through 1940. As an American, that there has never been a physical invasion in the United States (other than in Alaska briefly during World War II) puts us in very different historical position than anywhere and everywhere in Europe.

Also wandered through a beautiful old city Park, so many more people walk around it seems than in most American cities. But by about 4 PM, with the temperature near 94°, I was pretty damn exhausted and went back to the hotel and rested for a couple hours in my quiet air-conditioned room. Finally went back out to the same restaurant I had eaten the night before which is very close to the hotel, and then a good sleep.

Today I am scheduled to visit the Ceausescu mansion. Remember Nicholas Ceausescu? He was the communist dictator in Romania for about 25 years until the revolution in 1989. He and his wife, after being overthrown were unceremoniously shot by firing squad.

They are another example, like in Tirana, where the communist party administrators lived much better than everyone else did. During the revolution, the people protested by the thousands, finally entered and looted his massive home which most people had no idea was so large, ornate and fancy. Hence, the tour is of the residence where all that remains was what wasn’t looted.

Nonetheless, still pretty fancy house. He was big into birthdays, received many gifts every year from all the other communist leaders in the world, many of those items remained on display in the house. And again as in Tirana, the entire neighborhood around his residence was the fanciest and to this day, still is the fanciest area of Bucharest. The tour guide interestingly stated that there is no longer The middle class here. After the overthrow, you’re either poor and must use credit to live every day, or you’re rich and need no credit to have a house and car and a good job. During the communist years, everyone was middle-class apparently.

During the revolution, he had ordered a helicopter to help them escape. The helicopter arrived, but after picking him and his wife up, the helicopter landed in a field and the military took Nicholas and his wife into custody. It was a short time later when they were tried for genocide, in a trial that took two hours. Death by firing squad at 3pm on Christmas Day, 1989.

In the group at the tour was a couple from Baltimore, I ended up chatting with them after the tour as we discovered we were going to the same city park afterwards. He is American born but she is Romanian born, moved with her family to the United States in 1995 after they won a lottery family visa to emigrate. She was 14 years old when they moved and remembers her father taking her to the protests in the late 80s before the overthrow of the government.

So there are a few photos of the house but nothing overwhelmingly spectacular to see in the photos, however the history was very interesting.

The couple I spoke to told me about Beraré, a large German style beer hall along the lake in King Mihai Park which is where I was going to walk through after the Ceausescu residence. I stopped there, had a mediocre beer but it was a good break to get off my feet for a little while as I had walked a couple miles to get to the residence.

Sidenote: There are the same style of electric scooters here available for rent sitting around in random places throughout the city. Those people move pretty damn fast down all the pathways, you definitely have to keep your eye open for them. I did see one collision yesterday between one of them and a taxi, it was minor and the scooter guy didn’t even go down, but a lot of yelling ensued.

Day after tomorrow finally people begin to arrive for the next phase of this trip, the ten day guided cycling tour of Transylvania!

The women’s World Cup will begin here tonight in about six hours so I hope to find that on the television in the hotel room. Go USA women!

So I apologize for the lengthy post, if you’re brave enough (or awake) to have read it this far then I applaud you! Wishing you all the best in your endeavors and your families!

On the road to Skopje

Alexander Square, Skopje, Macedonia

Lake Matka with taxi driver Dewan

2000 yr old Roman aqueduct

Boro’s dad Mitch!

Sofia, Bulgaria

Natural hot springs; health tonic for the people!

More Sofia

My bus at a break on the way to Bucharest

Unusual vodka!

Crossing the Danube into Romania

Hotel Christina, my 60’s vintage hotel for the next few days

Around Bucharest

The Ceausescu residence

King Mihai Park

Berara

More park