Detour Into Macedonia

We attended a concert with Susan Warner just before we left--a wonderful singer/songwriter. A line at the end of one of her songs was, "Just fold your map and go." So often on this kind of journey, the path is not dictated by the map--only influenced by it. We met a kind young worker named Dragon' in Northern Greece who encouraged us to visit his homeland of Macedonia. As a fellow cyclist, he also told us that the road north into Macedonia, then east to Bulgaria would be easier to ride. The touring cyclists we met near Pella told us that despite warnings from the "officials", Macedonia was safe--and that the southern part of the counry was beautiful. So north we went to Dorjan--around a beautiful lake and into a different world!

The Macedonians appear to be much less affluent than the Greeks. Cost of food and lodging is half--or less. Architecture of the houses is different, and the people are of slighter build, but taller than the majority of Greeks we saw. We climbed a difficult pass and dropped down to the city of Strumica--the 4th largest with a population of @ 40,000. [We had previously misunderstood the population to be 400,000....] A fireman in front of the station directed us to the Hotel Tiveriolol where we got a nice room and breakfast for 35 Euro. We couldn't figure out the sheet system, so we slept in our sleeping bags!

The next day led us out the beautiful valley towards Bulgaria. First past a sea of greenhouses, then past small farms and villages. This area supplies much of Europe with tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage and paprika. The valley is bounded by snow capped mountains on each side, and on the Southern flank, there were villages at the terminous of each canyon. There must have been 10 villages in 30 km. Very similar looks with their white walls and red roofs. Buildings here are usually red hollow brick--unreinforced--and covered with plaster.

Drivers so far have been very courteous! The trucks and buses are especially careful to give us a wide berth! On to Bulgaria!