Thursday was a travel day. For some reason there is only one bus, at 4pm, from Tirana to Skopje, the capitals of the two respective contiguous nations. It's a comfortable bus, a nice change from the wrecks I usually ride.
We didn't get to Skopje till midnight. Luckily there was a money changing booth still open, but I still fell prey to a predatory taxi driver. I could never have found the hostel in the darkness so I felt I had no choice but to take a taxi. But I hadn't mastered the exchange rate and he pillaged me for over ten bucks for a short ride. This happens once a summer to me. (And Lonely Planet, which I read, warned not to take the taxi from the bus station, but I ignored their warning due to fatigue.)
Today was my day to get lost in Skopje, which I did. In retrospect these misadventures always have a nostalgic patina but when they are happening they are a pain in the butt. I discovered the Old City, a splendid market area where I hope to buy a gift tomorrow. But the temperature posted in the Old City was 41 degrees (106 F). I think that was artificially high due to the acres of paved streets with nary a shade tree about, but it was still damned hot. So when it took me three hours to get back to the hostel I was in bad shape.
There are few street signs in the Balkans--none in Croatia as far as I know. The ones here are in cyrillic and so almost impossible to decipher. And most of the main boulevards have no signs whatsoever. Thus the map that I dutifully carried when I left the hostel this morning did me no good at all. And without street names I quickly wandered in the wrong direction.
Tomorrow I hope to go the the big lake near here. Then Sunday I'm due to motor over to Sofia, Bulgaria, where I'll spend one full day before flying back to New York. I've enjoyed the trip but about this time I'm always ready to be done with living out of a backpack.
I know absolutely nothing of the Olympics. I hope there is some left by the time I reach the East Coast on Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment