Balkans a series of contradictions

HIDDEN: A church in Macedonia built into the hill, on the road from Skopje to Thessalonika.

ALBANIA, like all the other Balkan states seemed to be so diverse, and at times, like the population, a series of contradictions. Some of the people will con you out of your bootlaces and others will give you the little they have if they think it will please you.

The workmanship involved in renovations goes from very amateurish handyman, to complete demolition and renewal. Everywhere we see untidy wiring, badly fitted electrical fittings and badly finished paint. We have seen construction sites where work has stopped and sites still in progress that are as many as 10 years past the expected completion dates. The people don’t seem to be overly stressed by it all — generally the accepted time limit is, as long as it takes.

We enjoyed our stay in the Albanian capital Tirana. The lively atmosphere, markets, street sellers, bustling streets, friendly politeness of the shop assistants more than made up for the impatient, horn-honking bad-mannered drivers that Albania is famous for.

Travel information to Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, was vague but the end result was as good as it gets. Our bus station turns out to be an apartment in downtown Tirana and the bus stop a couple of cones strategically placed on the street just before “bus time” which surprisingly-enough was a very respectable 9.30am.

Although we were told the E.T.A. would depend on the time taken for the border crossing and that on a good day this could take at least two hours, we crossed the border into Macedonia in just 40 minutes. We were amazed at the autonomy the drivers of these international buses seem to have — they run to some sort of a time schedule but the actual time will depend on the number and time spent at the stops.

If one or both drivers smoke this will also have an effect on the number of “ciggy” stops and how long they are. We had no cause for complaint as even with breakdowns, we always arrived safely at our destinations even if a little late at times.

Young family travellingWe were really taken by a young family travelling with us. The couple were returning to Macedonia from Switzerland where the man had gone to find work. Although his second language was German, we were able to communicate enough to find out a little about them. Their two youngsters, a boy and a girl of primary school age got a little bored as the trip progressed, but amazingly remained very well behaved, even when the time on the road dragged on to seven hours.

Late in the trip, the young man and the small boy went to a café and returned with fresh plain bread rolls that they insisted we share with them. We were totally humbled. They obviously had so little yet felt it so important to share what they had. We managed to convince them that as the children had behaved so well, we should be allowed to give them some money as a reward. In a small way we were able to say thank you for their generosity and the smiles of the children.

Entering Skopje was amazing. Everywhere you look there are larger-than-life statues and monuments. The city is just one square after another. The construction under way is almost too much. Macedonia is preparing to enter the E.U. as Greece was when we were last in Europe. Greece, whose problems are well-known, was going through a construction boom then and we hope Macedonia is not heading the same way.

In Skopje we found the largest produce market we have ever seen — it went on forever and the scents of the spices and the fresh produce were absolutely awesome. Although we found it on our last day in Skopje, we forced ourselves to buy more food than we really needed, prepared it in our humble kitchen and dined well.

Travel to the Greek city of Thessalonika was a tad inconvenient but we found that for the price of two bus tickets, we could hire a taxi. Our driver was a good choice — nothing was too much trouble. We were picked up at 10am and deposited at the door of our lodging in Thessalonika at 2pm.

Eating in cafesWe had settled for hotel-type accommodation in Thessalonika as the selection of self-catering was very limited. The hotel supplied a very basic form of breakfast, but all of our other meals were sourced from cafes.

Thessalonika is a friendly city, but the signs of big abandoned or suspended construction sites are very evident. It will not go down in history as a must-see but we enjoyed our stay and it gave us access to the Greek railway for our trip south to Athens and ferry to Crete.