Byzantine Empire, day 26, Skopje in Macedonia / FYROM

Non stop raining. Some days ago here there were temperatures above 35 degrees celsius, now it is nice if they reach 15 degrees celsius. I took a fast tour of Skopje this morning and the city is really stunning, I think I have seen more statues in this small tour than in my whole life. The city is colossal, seems like an ancient city, full of squares, fountains and statues.

Скопје, Скопско Кале.

Скопје, a man on a horse!

The huge fountain of Alexander the Great (because of an issue with Greece, the fountain is now called Man on a horse... Kindergarten) is impressive, he is riding an horse on the top of the fountain, while on a lower level the famous pikemen defend him from Lions, the water jumps in all direction and it changes by time to time. There are a lot of fancy buildings with colossal white columns in front. Then the Fortress Kale is in pure sinthony with the rest of the city, colossal! The walls are impressively high and some of them are cyclopean style, with big stone blocks that form them. This city really deserves to be visited and a weekend should be fine. I left the city with the intention to go to Bigorski Monastery. It was raining hard and the temperature was 13 degrees celsius. The fucking Adventure Boots of Forma aren't waterproof, despite they are described as waterproof. I already knew that before leaving home, last year I experienced this problem, but I had no money for changing them, so Selberschuld and the ride must go on. I stopped for eating a Shapsko salad and, since my friends will arrive in Igonumenitsa on Monday and not on Sunday, I thought I could have spent a night in Kosovo, so I took the direction for it. Last year Kosovo screwed up my first plan because they require you to have a passport in order to enter the country, but I hadn't a valid passport, so renewing it just for going in a country that is not recognized by a lot of countries didn't worth the money in my opinion. At the border they asked me for the passport and you know what happened? I forgot it at the hotel in Skopje.

 Boom Headshot.

I went back to Skopje and I stopped in the same hotel, I took the decision I will never ever again try to go in Kosovo, seems like a magical power (call it God, Allah, Karma or Motumbo) doesn't want me to go there (Last Year on the Balkan tour I had no clue there was the need of having a passport for entering it). So tomorrow I will have a deep look at Skopje, meanwhile my Boots will dry and this is a good thing, because it won't stop raining, but wearing in the morning a boot that is already wet lowers the moral!

Скопје, Stone Bridge, some statues, a man on a horse and a cross on the top of a mountain.

Byzantine Empire, day 25, Skopje in Macedonia/FYROM

Yesterday I planned what to do next and I visited the city of Tessaloniki. There is a lot to see and the city is full of archeological sites.
Today I went to the Honda dealer and he told me that the spare part hasn't arrived and he had no idea when it could have arrived. I was really pissed of since Friday he told me that Monday the part would have been there. So I asked him again where I could find broken Africa Twins or a used one because it is really an emergency and after being really rude he gave me the adress of another Honda dealer five kilometers away. The lovely things is that this dealer had the part on stock. Actually two of them. I can't believe that he didn't tell me immediately to check there, I told him that it was an "emergency" and he didn't redirect me, for 40 fucking euros. By the lucky dealer they started asking me question about my trip and I spent there almost a hour there.

I took the road to Macedonia, the weather wasn't good and it was almost raining most of the time. I entered FYROM without any problem and I was really surprised because the road I took were very nice and in fact I had read about completely destroyed roads and missing manholes. 

Border between Greece and FYROM/Macedonia near Стар Дојран.

Macedonia. Call it FYROM in Greece, or Greeks are gonna hate you!

Then near Sopi it started to rain hard, so I decided to not visit the ancient city and to take the motorway to Skopje. Easy day, I hope it will stop raining so that l can visit the city. Macedonia seems very cheap, the petrol is around 1 € per litre, it is so sad that I can turn most of the country with just one tank!`

Скопје, the old city near the Old Bazaar.

Byzantine Empire, day 23, Tessaloniki in Greece

Yesterday I met with a friend and his girlfriend and we went by car to Meteora. On the way down we passed by the Mount Olympus, the biggest mountain of that area and were the greek Gods were supposed to live.

Olympos Oros.

Then straight to Meteora: it is really stunning, all the monasteries are built on the top of ravines, so the view from them it is something very special. The Museum was really interesting (entrance 3 €) and it is about the story of the monastery and the region in general (the funny thing is that they keep saying that the Byzantine Empire was a Greek empire as if Greeks made/started it). 
There are a lot of interesting things, for men there are also some swords and old guns. The church inside is totally full of frescoes and most of them are about Men and Saints being beheaded. A frescoe has 2 men holding a saw, which is used for literally cutting the head of another man in two pieces. There are also a lot of men burning alive, maybe this was an inspiration for Games of Thrones. But the church was breathtaking anyway, despite all this violence. 

Iera Moni Barlaam & Iera Moni Rousanou.

We left Meteora and we headed to Larissa and on the road to Katerini we stopped to see the Castle of Platamon, a huge castle near the sea. Back in Tessaloniki, there is a lot to see in this city too, because it mixes the greek culture with a long arab domination. The city is very loud but nice, bars are open and full till late in the morning almost every day and not only during weekends. Actually I was told that there are fewer people now because some are still on vacation or went to the sea for the weekend. This is something completely new to me, open bars, a lot of them, with loud music open and full till 6 o'clock in the morning is not common in Switzerland. Very nice!

Castle of Platamon.

The GC rugby played the first game of the season and sadly they lost (because I wasn't playing, of course). They made my day with the video of the initiation of the new players and with a good team spirit: I'm really looking forward being back for training. Keep it up guys!
Today I rode down to Chalkidiki because my friend told me that there is an awesome beach, called Spathies. 

Somewhere on the Eparchiaki Odos Poligirou-Agiou Nikolaou.

Actually it was really nice, the water was completely clear because the sand was enough thick in order to not be floating on water. Awesome. I Stayed there the whole afternoon, I also did a SEAL mission on the sea nearby with a snorkling mask, so now my back is red as the flag of mother russia, comrades! When I was back in Tessaloniki it was already very late, so I ate a Gyros ( the Greek version of the kebab, with pork, of course) and went to sleep.
In Greece is plenty of motorbikes and most of them are honda twins, so there are a lot of Africa Twin, Transalp and Varadero (also some Suzuki vstorm). Car drivers have a lot of respect for motorbikes, as the french ones: they move to one side in order to let you overtake them easily. Greece is nice!