Today I was going to do a day trip in Macedonia to the town of Tetovo which is rich in Turkish heritage. I made my way to the bus station and got a ticket for 120Mk ($2.40). The bus shortly left as they run every half hour.

The journey should only take about an hour and we started to see signs for Tetovo. As we came into town he stopped for some people to get off and I waited for him to goto the terminal

Then he got on the highway and drove off. I wondered if that was Tetovo or some small town. Then looking at the signs on the other side it actually was Tetovo and I had missed it.

I don't remember seeing on the internet before any big towns after Tetovo. I don't know how far he would go on the highway and I didn't see any signs for any other towns.

After about 20kms he pulled into another town so I went to the front to ask him about Tetovo. It was safer to stay on the bus and worst case just go back to Skopje and abandon the trip. A lady who spoke English told me to wait for him to goto the bus terminal then I can take a bus back.

We came into Gostivar which was the next town. He asked me if I spoke Turkish then went and spoke to the next driver telling him to take me back to Tetovo.

This time I sat near the driver at the front. As we came into Tetovo I waited fro him to goto the bus terminal. Again he drove thru a downtown street. I saw signs for the centre and asked if I should get off here. I think he told me to wait so I sat down again

Then he pulled away and started heading out of town. I know the signs said town centre back there so I got off when he let some more passengers off and had to walk about a km back to the main street.

Now I still didn't know where in town I was. When I looked on the internet I planned my route from the bus terminal but we didn't come there. I decided to carry on following signs to the centre. I had to get to the river where the old part of town was.

I saw homes in the distance climbing the mountain so figured the river must be at the base. When I arrived there was no river so I didn't know where I was. I tried to ask someone but he ran away saying "I don't know" before I even asked him anything

I decided to head back to the main street. This was turning out to be a bad day first with the bus run around, now trying to figure out where I am. I still didn't know how to get home if they are dropping people on a street and not using the terminal

I asked a security guard where the Sarena Mosque was (painted mosque) and he pointed me to go straight. Then I asked another guy who didn't know but told me to goto Pasha Mosque which was a very beautiful mosque

So I continued and it actually was the painted mosque which I was trying to get to. The inside was locked but at least now I knew where I was having studied the map last night. Turns out the bus had dropped me on the wrong side of the river so I was completely off track

The mosque was on the south side of the river and across the bridge was the Hammam (Turkish Bath) on the north side. It is now a museum so I figured I can ask someone in there how I am supposed to get home

Inside was a free art gallery with no attendant so I had no-one to ask. I remember from the map if I follow the river west and go south I will come to a big muslim cemetery and Teka (shrine). I went based on what I remembered trying to salvage something from this trip

I found the cemetary after passing some street fruit vendors. From the outside the shrine looked like a derilict building. I saw a door so went in.

Inside the compound were several buildings and people visiting. I walked around and saw old buildings and some graves inside.

Then a guy came out and asked me where I was from and to wait to speak to the Dervish. They asked me if I wanted to eat lunch with them so I politely said no as I didnt want to just eat all their food even though I was hungry

After exploring some more I came back to ask them how to get the bus back to Skopje since they spoke english. The Dervish came and welcomed me but but couldnt speak english so somebody was interpreting for him

They wanted to know where I was from, was this my first time in the Balkans, why am I here. Then he wanted to know if I wanted to make a confession, while everyone was sitting in the room, so I politely declined again. There was a long silence.

I've only heard of Catholics making confessions, not muslims, so I found it odd. Later I realized maybe people come here to make confessions so they were expecting it.

I asked why they had pictures hanging and they said it was Imam Ali who is a Shia saint. Muslims from Turkey and the Balkans are Sunni so I didnt understand why they were following shia practices but I didnt understand their explanation

Then I asked whose tombs are here and why this place was built. They were the original missionaries and their helpers that came from Turkey. The place is now a holy site and people from across the Balkans come to pay respects.

I only found out about htis place by chance looking on wikitravel the night before and saw it near the painted mosque on the map. I asked why Albanians became Muslim and they said it was because they liked the message and the example of the first Muslims that came

Then I asked about the Greek Republic of Macedonia since Greece objected to the Yugoslav province seeking independance and using the same name as it implied a claim to the Greek province as well.

They said not all people consider the two Macedonias to be the same and the original Macedonians are so diluted over 2000 years. So not everybody is interested in joining together although some do. They also said the Quran talks about Alexander being given permission to destroy a people following a bad religion

Then I asked again about getting the bus back as I needed to make my way back. One of the guys was going to walk with me which I didnt think was necessary as I knew how to get to the painted mosque, I just didnt know where to get the bus from there

They said locals have the same problem with not knowing where to get the bus and missing Tetovo. They also said the private car that was going to drive me from Novi Pazar to Pristina probably would have tried to rip me off so maybe it was better I took the taxi to Kosovo

We made it to the painted mosque which was now open for prayers so I got some photos inside. Then I was trying to figure out where to get the bus. The guy who was Turkish and visiting from Germany wanted to keep asking people. I said I can just walk to the where the bus terminal was supposed to be on the map as I didnt want to trouble him more

Heading to the terminal I was worried as both the morning buses didnt come here, nor could I see any buses driving in this area. I might have to go back to some downtown street trying to flag down the bus

The station looked deserted but a saw a counter. I asked for the Skopje and she wrote down it was departing in 5 mins so I said yes and got a ticket for 120Mk ($1.30) same as the ticket to get here.

The bus came and I was finally able to get back to Skopje, which was only 38 kms away, after a day that seemed to keep getting worse.

This website has more professional pics from inside the painted mosque but they are slow to load http://islamic-arts.org/2013/sarena-dza mija-the-colorful-mosque-of-tetovo/