Blog 133

Feeling whimsical and cloud weary, it was time to get the hell out of Bulgaria. This came in the form of the Macedonian capital of Skopje. 3 days of this exciting and historical city was a great way to begin to conclude our 15 and a half months travelling.

After crossing the border and realising we were back in Europe and you don't automatically get stamps in your passport, we came away with one less stamp from our trip than we deserved.

Skopje is the Balkan Dubai, a city awash with semi complete classical styled architecture, a modem day Eastern European renaissance. Think Athens meets Rome... And 60 billion Euros of world bank debt. So with the picture set, we wandered the streets happily both independently and on a guided tour, run by the local, but friendly and knowledgeable crack fiend.

It took us the full 3 days in an 8 bed dorm to realise dorms are definitely taking their toll and the increased concentration of grey hairs on Bryns head over the trip may possibly be due to snorers, and teenagers falling onto his bed drunk in the middle of the night. Bryn needs his sleep.

Who knew getting to Matka gorge could be such a challenge. Pulled over by the police, harassed by the 3 point turn Mafia, and stopped on a highway by kids trying to sell balloons. All bloody well worth it 'cos Matka gorge was beautiful!! We got our Asian haggle on knocked a few quid of the price of the boat trip to take us 5km up the turquoise waters to a magical cave (just another cave... Dark and echoey). An ovepriced coffee and an awkward conversation with 4 native English speakers and a Turk with very little English and we headed back to the hostel. That night the 'awkward Turk' cooked us a Turkish feast and we went for a right old knees up.

We smuggled Macedonian salami back across the border and off we zoomed towards Bansko.

Love Jo x