Photo: Gradska girls
Apr 22, 1979 Easter morning and the sun was shining. Soon I reached the border, and the Yugoslav border guards were very friendly. The first thing I encountered was a communist meeting at a hall with flags and military marching music. But, as I continued on to Bitola, I discovered that most people were in church. After Bitola, the roads were mostly cobblestone.
Eventually, I reached Prilep and stopped at a service station. I ate some hard boiled eggs given me yesterday by the Greeks. I deposited the egg shells and my Greek map in a sack and placed it in the restroom wastebasket. As I was leaving the station manager stopped me, pointed (at a distance) to the wastebasket in the restroom, and looking me in the eye said Americano, Boom Boom! I assured him it was not a bomb.
After 80 miles I reached Gradska. Three girls tending a milk cow helped me find a campground.
Photo: Yugoslav cattle
Photo: Skopje hostal
Apr 23, 1979 A morning haze hung above the river as I got breakfast at a Gradska shop. As I ate and finished packing my bike, 20 local people circled around me and starred solemnly at me and the bike. It was a bit unnerving.
I rode the main auto and truck route toward Belgrade, much of it narrow and mountainous, with tunnels and heavy traffic. After 50 miles of a less than fun ride, I reached Skopje where I saw traffic lights for the first time since Athens. The busy road I took prohibited bicycles and motor bikes, but I felt I had little choice. I checked into the Skopje hostel. There I played a friendly one on one soccer game against a college soccer player who won handily.
Photo: Mosaic in Skopje church of wedding in Canaan
Apr 24, 1979 I first went to the Auto Club to find out about conditions for biking on the roads leading north out of Skopje. They must have been unaccustomed to such inquires as the woman on staff suggested I ride at night when there was less traffic on the road. They also suggested I visit the American Library. There I talked to the director, an American. He strongly discouraged me from riding my bike on the dangerous busy mountain road. He also gave me a map of off limit areas in Yugoslavia and warned me of photographing hospitals, bridges, military movements, etc.
I saw the town museum, the market place, the modern art museum, and an old church. The two dominant religions were Islam and the Orthodox Church. I also found out about the Adriatic Coast earthquake of the prior week, that the Greek bakers had tried to tell me about.
Restaurants were expensive but takeaways were cheap. Burek s of siron (cheese) and meson (meat) were filling pastries. Breakfast was usually yogurt and a burek. Turkish coffee was widely drank.
Map of Greece & Yugoslavia
