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Riding north we headed to the home of Petros’s parents in Larissa for some traditional Greek cooking and gracious hospitality.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7511/2...f54d5fa9_z.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-14 at 21.34.54 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We booked it half way on the toll road and then got off just before Thermopylae to make a stop at the monuments for the battle of Thermophlae and the monument to Leonidas made famous by the movie “300”. “Leonidas I who died in 480 BC was a Greek warrior king of the Greek city-state of Sparta. He led the Spartan forces during the Second Persian War, and is remembered for his death at the Battle of Thermopylae. Leonidas was the third son of Anaxandridas II of Sparta, and thus belonged to the Agiad dynasty, who claimed descent from the hero Heracles. A monument to Leonidas was erected at Thermopylae in 1955. It features a bronze statue of Leonidas. A sign, under the statue, reads simply: "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ" ("Come and take"), which the Spartans said when the Persians asked them to put down their weapons at the start of the Battle of Thermopylae.” https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7377/2...67dcd806_b.jpgLarissa CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7650/2...91a4bfaa_b.jpgLarissa CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7358/2...c9778cc8_b.jpgLarissa CC-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7442/2...4346dc87_b.jpgLarissa CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr It was all good except for the 45 minutes of pouring rain and several very slick spots with diesel on the road near to Larissa. We were warmly welcomes by Petros’s parents and fed very well! https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7339/2...02db9d31_b.jpgDetsika by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Now we must head north. We are on a deadline to get to Venice for June 29 th. We are planning to go to Ohrid Macedonia today.
https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7426/2...5bd31fdd_z.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-14 at 21.43.06 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr “Macedonia, officially the Republic of Macedonia. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia. It became a member of the United Nations in 1993, but, as a result of an ongoing dispute with Greece over the use of the name Macedonia, was admitted under the provisional description the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (abbreviated as FYROM). After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, the name of Macedonia became the object of a dispute as the Republic of Macedonia borders the region of Greek Macedonia. Citing historical and territorial concerns resulting from the ambiguity between the Republic of Macedonia, the adjacent Greek region of Macedonia and the ancient kingdom of Macedon which falls within Greek Macedonia, Greece opposes the use of the name "Macedonia" by the Republic of Macedonia without a geographical qualifier, supporting a compound name (such as "Northern Macedonia”). As millions of ethnic Greeks identify themselves as Macedonians, unrelated to the Slavic people who are associated with the Republic of Macedonia, Greece further objects to the use of the term "Macedonian" for the neighboring country's largest ethnic group. The Republic of Macedonia is accused of appropriating symbols and figures that are historically considered parts of Greece's culture (such as Vergina Sun, a symbol associated with the ancient kingdom of Macedon, and Alexander the Great).” We set out in the sun shine and only had about 15 min of showers today. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7287/2...7e706763_b.jpgOhrid by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Arriving to the Greek border we received out EU exit stamp.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7250/2...0f87ba79_b.jpgOhrid-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7323/2...7b549f92_b.jpgOhrid-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We then drove the short distance to the “Macedonian” border. Here we reported to the Police for the passport check. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7449/2...a5fd55b2_b.jpgOhrid-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7406/2...59a18d82_b.jpgOhrid-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The main issue most people have here is they do not want to pay the outrageous price for the insurance. It is 50 euros plus 5 for processing for 15 days (in a country where you might spend 2 days). We really have no choice as the police will not let you in with your EU Green card insurance. Dan was told by the police that the price is too high, but one of the truckers made a few calls to several agencies in Bitola 16 km away and they all quoted the same price. So no shake down just crazy high insurance prices for foreigners. We are not going to Kosovo since it is also 50 Euros for insurance, you can not drive thru kosovo to Serbia, and you may not get into Serbia from Bulgaria if you have a Kosovo stamp in your passport. Serbia does not recognize kosovo as an independent entity. Why can people not just get along! That said the Macedonia’s themselves were very nice and after this short delay we were on our way. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7604/2...1f57c9b3_b.jpgOhrid-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We are headed to the capital Skopje (scope- ia) and will take the small roads that follow the lakes and rivers and also traverse the Mavrovo National park.
https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7472/2...ac89ca32_b.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-15 at 20.19.36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7129/2...6379ab75_b.jpgSkpoje CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7054/2...5fe7d6ab_b.jpgSkpoje CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
I would recommend a visit to the St. John the Forerunner Bigorski Monastery believer or not. It is a lovely tranquil spot. The church itself is quite spectacular with the icons, gold and silver, and a massive chandelier. The road there is worth it.
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7438/2...0bb5aaec_z.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-15 at 20.20.01 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7640/2...cf1e9cd1_b.jpgSkpoje CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7400/2...74576a30_b.jpgSkpoje CC-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7657/2...5f844cd2_b.jpgMacedonia-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7380/2...e879fcea_b.jpgMacedonia-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7430/2...ef4a3be7_b.jpgMacedonia-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7567/2...4ef55b0e_b.jpgMacedonia-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7543/2...6abd8eeb_b.jpgMacedonia-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
After leaving the park we stayed on the very small roads thru many villages all of which had several mosques with their rocket like minarets.
https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7366/2...49852e2b_b.jpgSkpoje CC-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7711/2...e451b608_b.jpgSkpoje CC-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7450/2...37f55e01_b.jpgMacedonia-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7365/2...3bf0d613_b.jpgMacedonia-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We arrived to the capital, which is actually quite a strange place. The city centre is full of massive and iconic statues, many of which we are not sure how they are connected to Macedonia. The place is either falling apart or half finished. It is a bit like disney on acid. They have created this grandiose city centre when there is not money for this. Many of these “iconic” buildings were not here a few years ago. There is even theme music playing from the lamp posts.
https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7735/2...6de61295_b.jpgMacedonia-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7264/2...2c6c0e95_b.jpgMacedonia-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7605/2...fd2df939_b.jpgMacedonia-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7465/2...0228a386_b.jpgMacedonia-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7077/2...91f32fbc_b.jpgMacedonia-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7312/2...879073ac_b.jpgMacedonia-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7386/2...2a3ab247_b.jpgMacedonia-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The politicians caught in a huge scandal were let off and there was a pain ball rebellion 2 weeks ago where they peppered all the government buildings with paint.
https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7067/2...979d64b9_b.jpgMacedonia-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7283/2...30c0388e_b.jpgMacedonia-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7501/2...5af1c69d_b.jpgMacedonia-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Today we are headed to Sofia the capital of Bulgaria in 245 km and the location of the manufacturer of our awesome Bumot luggage.
https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7393/2...ee2ee69a_b.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-15 at 20.29.39 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Leaving the city centre we saw a lot of police checks and machine guns…time to leave. It is a short trip on the toll road out of town to the secondary highway to Bulgaria. We stopped to visit the Saint Joachim Osogovski Monastery that is about 15 km from the border. The small church there has stunning Byzantine decorations. https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7430/2...bb284f64_b.jpgMacedonia-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7420/2...64ee52ee_b.jpgMacedonia-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7700/2...5397156f_b.jpgMacedonia-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7417/2...d498be3c_b.jpgMacedonia-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7557/2...16dfbc75_b.jpgMacedonia-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The exit from Macedonia took a lot longer than the entry. They wanted our passports, title, and green card insurance (not valid in Macedonia), but interestingly not our Macedonian insurance that had cost us 55 Euros. The official was quite gruff as well and he could not figure out why if we had Canadian passports our bike were from Colombia (ie British Columbia)…..
https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7285/2...38485877_b.jpgSofia CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7400/2...b22976aa_b.jpgSofia CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Then it is a short ride to the Bulgarian border, where you give your passport and green card to the border police. They made copies and sent us thru to customs. They were searching all the vehicles ahead of us. When we pulled up he pointed to the passports in the top of the tank bag and said “Are you from Canada?” Dan answered yes and he slapped Dan on the back and said “ good for you” and waved us thru. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7267/2...b2ab36c0_b.jpgSofia CC-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7305/2...e2a8fe76_b.jpgSofia CC-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7701/2...e2f50318_b.jpgSofia CC-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We then had a direct route to the capital Sofia. Here were are staying at a hostel right next door to the Bumot factory. Arriving at Bumot we were met by the owner Assen, who gave us a tour of the production facilities.
https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7068/2...979239d5_b.jpgBumot Visit-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7037/2...0bf5a51f_b.jpgBumot Visit-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7115/2...4b60d454_b.jpgBumot Visit-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7112/2...b46bf1b8_b.jpgBumot Visit-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7402/2...e9268785_b.jpgBumot Visit-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
He spent some time to try to adjust Daniel’s rack that was damaged in the “fuel truck” incident. He put it on the jig to see just how far off the geometry was and then make adjustments to almost like new. That said the pannier that was badly damaged and repaired still id water tight. Just to be safe Assen had the seal replaced on the lid. A huge THANK YOU to Assen and Bumot for all the help and support.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7105/2...cd32fddc_b.jpgBumot Visit by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7269/2...9bf732b8_b.jpgBumot Visit-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7352/2...15bbcf04_b.jpgBumot Visit-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7326/2...ec01abe1_b.jpgBumot Visit-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7358/2...06e58558_b.jpgBumot Visit-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We will be back to tour the rest of Bulgaria on our way south to Turkey next year and so now we are headed west again. But we had time for a walking tour of the city centre.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7090/2...cf48d7e1_b.jpgSofia-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7632/2...cc7ae496_b.jpgSofia-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7583/2...406ac450_b.jpgSofia-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7747/2...cd53e062_b.jpgSofia by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We decided to book it the 425 km across Serbia to set us up to spend more time touring Montenegro, southern Boznia, and Croatia in the next 10 days before we have to go to Vancouver for Sara’s brothers wedding. Serbia is HOT and there is terrible traffic as you can see by how close the SPOT dots are it was slow going.
https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7606/2...4b8d0754_b.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-18 at 21.50.05 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flick |
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