Winging it in Macedonia

That play that I went to in Delphi was a bust. I can't figure out what it was called even though I still have the flier, and it was all in Greek so I couldn't understand at all what was going on. The show got a lot of laughs, seemed to be acted well, and had good costumes but otherwise it was totally inaccessible to me. I didn't even get to sit near anyone who spoke English and could explain it to me. The next morning, while looking for the bus, I actually ran into the Actor that invited to the play and I didn't have anything but praise for him at the time but I probably should have asked him what the heck the name of the show was. I was in a hurry I guess.

Anyways, I was happy to get out of the town. I'd taken almost all my meals at this tiny gyro shop that all the locals ate at, and spent a lot of time talking with one of the cooks there who is an Albanian immigrant. He was a friendly guy, but since I came so often he started giving me free Ouzo with my meals, but he's pour them larger and larger. I just can't turn down a free drink. At my last meal, he poured five fingers of the stuff, warm, and then put a couple ice cubes in it. I choked it down and never came back, but he was a nice guy. Wish I remembered his name.

It was a pretty miserable series of bus rides that got me out of Delphi and on to Thessaloníki. At one of the places where I had to change buses, I bought the ticket and then saw it pull away as I was paying for lunch. It was another 3 hours until the next bus departed. I got there very late at night, got the cheapest hotel I could, and the next day I got a train ticket to take me to Macedonia that night. Not a very eventful day, but I had some good company on the train.

I met a Macedonian guy named Alexander (Alexander the Great was from Macedonia) and he told me all about his homeland. The ancient Macedonians were ethnically Greek, though the classical Greeks thought that they were barbarians because they didn't live in great cities. Later on the area was important to the Romans because the Via Egnita road, which connected Rome with Byzantium, ran through Macedonia and Thessaloníki. The 7th century saw a wave of Slavic peoples move down from the North and settle in the area. This started 14 centuries of hostilities with Greece that still simmer today. After Roman occupation Macedonia had a brief independent time and was later conquered by the Byzantines and then the Ottomans. In more recent times, the history gets more complicated as the many ethnic groups here fought for control, but basically there have been many shifting national boundaries here for the last hundred years until most of the Balkans became part of communist Yugoslavia after WWII. In 1992 Macedonia declared full independence as Yugoslavia fell apart and various ethnic wars were waged, though not much fighting went on here. The country has seen a lot of political struggle, poverty, and ethnic rivalry since then, but it's been mostly good times.

Alexander also talked about the great wine here (I've read that it's some of the best in the world), and about the struggles with Greece. Besides the age old ethnic rivalry with Greece, the Greeks dislike the use of the name Macedonia. The country of Macedonia comprises a very small portion of classical Macedonia and is ethnically Slavic so there's really nothing in common with Alexander the Great's Macedonia. Making things worse, the country of Macedonia used Alexander's royal crest as their first flag which really pissed off Greece.

At the end of the Train ride I parted ways with Alexander and made my way to my hostel in the heart of Skopja, the capital of Macedonia. The hostel was great... with a big kitchen, living room, seating areas in the garden, and a host of young people to meet. I didn't see anything like this in Greece and apparently chill hostels like this are common in Eastern Europe. I met a couple Hungarian guys and agreed to tour the city with them the next day.

Their names are Peter and Ben. They're university students who live around/in Budapest, have the summer off, and share some interests with me. They're both into games (mostly DotA), and Peter's a programmer. I had a lot to talk with them about. They're also into awful apocalyptic settings for movies and enjoy a good beer. The first day with them we walked all over town though most things were closed on account of it being a Monday. Most museums are closed on Mondays here. I found a mall that sold me a copy of Lonely Planet's Eastern Balkans book. Also, I got to see some magic when Peter lost $20 to a game of Three Card Monty. It sure looked like he picked the right one, but no.

We also visited a very mediocre castle, the lackluster town square, and wandered streets lined with huge cement apartment buildings. Our best find was in the field of lunch. They have a lot of restaurants selling traditional Macedonian food, and it's all really cheap. The large good quality beers here run for $1.50 at a restaurant and a third of that at a shop. Most of the food seems to revolve around pickled veggies, fried potatoes, pork breakfast sausage, melted cheese, and wrapping things in bacon. I had a pork roll, filled with cheese, and wrapped in bacon. They got ground pork steaks, filled with cheese, and topped with more cheese. Between the grease and the beer, I left feeling satisfied... but too much so. A hallmark of a great lunch.

Later in the evening we went out to a bar for some live music and got to hear a pretty good cover band doing mostly american rock, like Kings of Leon, Nirvana, and Arctic Monkeys (yea, not American). They were great. Drank too much and went to bed.

The next day we went to the national art museum, a pretty small affair set inside an old mosque. The walls were freshly painted and they kept the cool brick ceilings with holes for sunlight to stream in. All the art was made my Macedonians and a lot of it was quite good I think.

After many discussions, I bought a concert ticket for next month in Budapest. Ben will be going and I'm going to tag along. The day after that Peter is arriving in town and the three of us will hang out and do who knows what. Oh, at the concert I'm gonna see Danko Jones, Billy Talent, Kasabien, and Muse. Awesome, I'm really excited to see Muse but I listen to the others quite a bit too. Peter and Ben had to leave late in the day to catch a train back home and then they're going to do some hiking in Romania next week.

I spent the rest of the evening talking with other travelers to get an idea of what they did and where they are going. Many of them are going to visit Pristina in Kosovo for a day or two before returning to Skopja. After that many are going to Serbia, some to Albania, and some to Greece. I think what I'd best do is head to Serbia and then see how I can best use my time until I need to meet the guys in Hungary in 5 weeks. I think in that time I can probably do Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia, and maybe even Croatia. It's a small place, the Balkans. Anyways, before I can leave Macedonia I have to visit Lake Ohrid, the cultural heart of Macedonia.

So, the next day I caught a bus to Ohrid. It's a 4 hour ride through the mountains and forest. The land looks a lot like Virginia. Very green with thick forest and hilly. The hostel that I reached seems to be a good one, and the only in town. From what I hear, the locals are upset about the hostel because up till now backpackers used to rent rooms in homes from people that would pitch them from the bus station. You can still do that, it's half th price of the already cheap hostel, but the social life is not as good.

Last night at the hostel I went out with a group of travelers from Holland, Ireland, America, and Macedonia to do a little bar hopping. The first one had a great violin/flute/cello band covering Prodigy, James Bond, and Cold Play. After a few bars I got tired and went home at 3 am. Now today the weather is not so good and I'm mostly staying in. I could tour the town to see its many churches, castles, monasteries, and markets but I'm content relaxing and chatting the day away since it's kinda too cold for swimming. Last week I'd think that impossible. I'll tell you all about this positively beautiful town next time.