Our route was from Thessaloniki - Greece, through Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and our destination was Dubrovnik - Croatia.
Macedonia
The ride to Skopje was long and cold but it was a good idea to get it out of the way in a day. As the weather was only going to get worse. We arrived at the Greek border to find a ton of cars waiting. We spoke to two motorcyclists who were sitting down and had been waiting for two hours. We were told that the border guards are on strike and no one can go through.... Cool!
So I leave the bike with Miles and walk into the main building where everyone looks at me suspiciously. I find the main office and tell the guy I'm on a motorcycle and would like to go through. His reply was no, it's a ten day strike. Ha! I gave a little sob story and said can't I just wheel my bike through? We spoke for a few minutes and then he called over an older chap who told me to follow him. I followed this guy outside, when all the people waiting at the border noticed this guy they swarmed around him shouting, I stood watching....
(there I am looking confused in the corner)
Moments later an agreement was reached, somehow .... and everyone jumped into their cars and the Greek guy just let everyone through without checking passports, they didn't care. I had no idea what had just happened but hey we were through! Then to get through the Macedonian border I had to depart with 50 euros for a green card which was outrageous!
We parked up in the centre of Skopje and I rang Svetlana who came to meet us with her friend Makedonca and another friend Nara who was staying for one night, and then later her boyfriend Dime. After some coffee we all went back to Svetlana's apartment to stay for the night. Svetlana was an extraordinary host, she cooked great food for us all and truly made us feel at home.
It was truly an amazing experience hanging out with Svetlana and Makadonka. Both me and Miles felt lucky to spend time with them. I think that they are difficult to describe as people, I'm laying here in Slovenia, listening to good music, with friends and nothing but time and I still just can't think of the words.
They were free, there was no embarrassment, no inhibitions, they would just get up and dance to the most random of songs for no other reason than they had to. Just sitting there watching them you could see that they were really just.... genuinely happy.
They took us to a few clubs and pubs and on the last night we all drove up the mountain to overlook the city of Skopje by night. Although it was freezing cold, I always find it beautiful overlooking cities peppered with luminous sparkles and glows at night.
Kosovo
Miles and I decided that it would be a good idea to go into Kosovo for a day to visit the capital Pristhtina. I fancied a break from riding so we left the bike and all our bags with Svetlana and took a day sack each and caught the bus.
We walked down an empty boulevard in the capital's centre, Miles remarked that it would be funny if this baron boulevard was actually the epicentre, we later found out that it was... that's pretty much all the excitement we got there.
I guess the photos below are the main attractions if you like
After a few coffees, we went in search of the only hostel in the city and checked in...... Soooooo...... Not much to do in Kosovo then! We went out that night for about 5 minutes then had to go back as it was just so cold. We sat in the downstairs communal kitchen talking the night away, until an Albanian chap joined us. He was a nice dude.... But soon after this weird guy also joined, on the plus side he brought beers with him but he never gave straight answers and there was something really weird about him. I swore that he fancied Miles. Sometimes you get a bad vibe from people and it's always worth following your gut and making a pleasant departure.
Obviously the next morning we decided to leave and head back to the warmth and comfort of Svetlana and her friends, not to mention it started snowing!. So it was back on the bus to Macedonia.
We spent one more night with the Macedonia's. I decided to stay up late with the girls, Makedonca, Ljubica and Svetlana as they all did their uni work and listened to music, it was fun relaxing with them. The next day we packed up and left. It was very cool hanging out with those guys and I'm already looking forward to seeing them again.
Albania
Life on the road
We had a long old ride ahead of us into Albania. From Macedonia the quickest route to the Albanian coast was through one national park and then straight west through the interior of the country. Along the way we planned on sleeping somewhere as it was too long of a ride in a day. The national park route turned out to be basically a freezing cold mountain with a ton of twists and turns. The main road in Albania was literally terrible and littered with potholes. Luckily only one dog gave chase. The drivers were terrible and overtaking became extremely dangerous as they never, ever, ever indicated before turning. Every overtake was a gamble. I remember thinking at one point that we were actually going to die and that was that when a truck overtook on my side of the road. I have had a few of those moments over the course of the trip where for a split second I thought it was all over, in each case I was always more worried about my bike!
Checking the map and using the emergency petrol in Albania
We rode literally from the complete east to the west of the country in a day, over hills, mountains and through deep dark tunnels. There was one tunnel that sticks in my mind as it was pitch black. As I entered, I will be honest, I shit myself as there was not even a fragment of light. I could barely see the light at the end as it was only a small dot. I never for a second imagined that the full beam on my bike could not in anyway even light up a millimetre of road ahead of me. I completely lost balance as it threw me off, I thought my lights had broken, Miles thought I switched them off and I had no idea if I was riding into the wall of the tunnel or down a ditch!
The next day we left for Montenegro
Montenegro
The ride in was beautiful, especially the coastal road. We rode to Budva and stayed in a hostel in the Old City. The season was well and truly over and it was pretty quiet. The owner of the hostel was very.... How do I put it... cuddly.
Budva itself was very pretty
We followed the snaking coast road northwards to Croatia
Bosnia
After following the coastal road to Croatia for a few hours I realized I took a wrong turn and we ended up high in the mountains. Never mind, I looked at the map quickly and noticed a new route in to Croatia so we rode on. Finally we reached the border. The guy in the booth asked me for my green card. I don't have one as I don't need it for Croatia? He repeated his request for the green card... No? I don't need one? After discussing it with the policeman for a few moments Miles tapped me on the shoulder and said:
"dude... I think were in Bosnia!"
Ahhhh that would make sense... Right i'll buy your green card then. So I parked the bike up and walked all the way over to the green card office. It was empty. So I walked back to the border guard and told him. He didn't speak any English and I assume he thought I didn't want to buy it as he made gestures for us to go. Luckily there was a woman passing through in a car who could translate for us for a moment, she told the officer that the office is empty. The guard said that the green card dude must have gone out, and he had no idea how long he would be, maybe 2 hours. But that was clearly a complete guess. We were told to park up the bike outside the border and wait if we wanted. Needless to say the officer was not friendly. It was a long ride back to the coast and we wanted to get to Dubrovnik before nightfall so we waited. We gave it 1 hour.
So a general, obvious rule at border posts is not to take any photos. In fairness I didnt get hardly any of the border in my shot, it was just me and Miles and the bike whilst we were sitting down, the bike covered the border guards view of us. Nevertheless the guy saw and started walking over. Fantastic, the camera goes in my pocket. He made me get it out and delete it, fair enough! But then he went on a power trip and made Miles empty his bag all over the floor while he gave it the most uninterested and stupid search I had ever seen. He then turned and looked at me, squeezed my bag and said "problem?" I replied sternly "no problem" and he left us to it.
I did manage to keep one photo though
An hour passed, it was clear we were going to be there all night. Miles stayed with the bike and gear and I went back to the green card office, I was going to do the only thing I knew that I could in order to get this green card... I was going to annoy them until they gave in! So I knocked on the office door next to the green card office. The man in there ignored me. He was already pissed with me as I had been knocking on his window early and he kept making shooing motions with his hands. This time he just blank ignored me. I kept knocking, he shouted 'No!' so I kept knocking. Minutes past and then he finally opened his door, grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to the side, angrily wrote down a phone number, slapt it into my hand and slammed his door shut. Brilliant, one step closer!
I walked back over to the Police dudes triumphantly holding my paper in my hand. They were just so uninterested in anything I had to say. I asked them to ring the number to find out what time this dude is back. 'No, no phone', well that was a load of bollocks as there was a huge office where I could see desk telephones and they obviously had mobiles. I made the best I could of explaining to them, to please use the office phones or their mobiles, 'NO'.
So I just kept asking, kept going, they walked away from me and I followed. Dubrovnik was so close yet these guys made it seem so far, I kept repeating, Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik, come on bro I have family there. 'No phone!'
There were three of them, at one point they all just stared at me and two of them spat at the floor at the same time and fixed their gaze upon me, I could do nothing but smile (which I have learnt is THE single most important thing to carry when travelling, literally, never underestimate the power of a smile). One of the guards finally let out a long, exasperated sigh and mummbled something in Bosnian, he then got his phone out! Yay!
He phoned the green card guy and spoke for a few moments then hung up and walked off. Ha, so I follow, 'what did he say? what did he say? what did he say?'
'Go office'
I walk back to the green card office, what the hell am I looking for? I walk back
'Man in other office, do'
Brilliant, I knock on the angry dudes door, I get the feeling he's close to pulling his pistol on me, instead he shouts NO!
I go back to the Policeman: 'He said no' so the policeman shruggs, there is absoloutly no facial expression on this man but he was my best bet. So I followed him again and kept asking him to do it: 'You do papers for me please, come on, you can do it!'
Exasperated, he definately addmitted defeat, he tutted and mumbling and grunting he walked the slow walk to the green card office with me, he walked as though this was the worst thing he had to do in his life, like a kid he kicked stones on the way. He sat down and wrote out my paper. He could have done this two hours ago! I paid him 25 euros, grabbed my paper, jogged back to Miles, we loaded up and got the hell out of there!
After 10 minutes of riding down the mountain, away from the border, Miles tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to pull over as he had to adjust his shoulder strap. So I pulled up and he jumped off. We then noticed that my bag had actually been turned slightly and was resting by the exhaust. The exhaust had burned a hole straight through the bottom corner, melted through one of my tshirts and smoldered and blackened my maps, there was smoke coming from it. A couple more seconds, max and that would have all gone up in flames.
Croatia
After no more than an hour of riding through Bosnia we crossed the Croatian border, we had finally made it!
We stopped off for a sit down, overlooking the Old City of Dubrovnik as it would be our last one. The short ride down the mountain and into Dubrovnik would be our last ride so we enjoyed the moment for a while.
So I took Miles on the back of my faithful XT660R from Greece to Croatia. We had previously only spent 2 days together. Nevertheless, we travelled through 7 countries, it took us 6 days and we covered 900 kilometres. We had a great time and I am truly happy that Miles accepted and we did it together. Its an amazing thing travelling, not for the places but for the people you meet. Especially, specifically when they turn out to be as cool, down to earth and as easy going as my brother Miles.
Our trip was not yet over though. I was supposed to hang out with Miles at his brother Fraser's place for a few days. Days turned into a brilliant two weeks in Dubrovnik with some truly cool people.
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