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Aaaaand I didn’t wake up.

Crap, the day is starting well. I think this is the first train I miss, after 200…

Having no idea when the next bus to Скопје [Skopje] is, I go to the bus station at 9 AM. According to internet, there’s one at 9:48. According to the train station, there’s one at 10:00. According to the nice lady at the booth however, today there’s only one at 13:15. Apparently it’s some kind of holiday today. Of course…

Well, turns out it’s actually the presidential election today in North Macedonia. Exactly how it would impact bus schedules is a bit beyond my grasp but here we are.

Now living with serious trust issues, I prefered to stay the whole time at the station, running at bus drivers like a stray dog, asking if they’re going to Скопје, just in case she was wrong. But she wasn’t, and after waiting there for four hours, and for sole lunch a couple of cookies, I finally climbed aboard the bus (I bought the tickets five minutes before it arrives too, like an idiot).

If only I could have seen all those gorgeous mountains around Гевгелија [Gevgelija] from where I waited. The route is splendid! Rolling hills and mountains, covered in trees, such as driving there feels like sailing on a sea of leaf.

But what now? My idea was to take the train, and arrive soon enough to hop on a bus to Охрид [Ohrid]. Now I’ll arrive in Скопје in the middle of the afternoon, and even if I can catch a bus, that would mean I would have not taken a train in North Macedonia, which would mean a big fail for this trip. North Macedonia has very few train lines still operating. Basically, departing from Скопје, one to the South (the one I failed twice to take), one to the North towards Kosovo, and a short one to the East. Of course, I’m going West. But the line to Кичево [Kičevo] hasn’t been reopened since covid. Welcome to busland!

I thought all day, from waking up to much later in the evening, (it wouldn’t be so much less stress if the ONLY train in Albania was not running only on week-ends) and here were the two feasible options:

– Plan A: Several trains are supposed to pass through a Скопје suburb station and stop there. Then I can simply walk back to the main train/bus station and take a bus to Охрид later today or tomorrow.

– Plan B: Take the 20:05 train to Битола [Bitola], if it exists, arrive there at midnight, and take a bus to Охрид tomorrow.

What I really don’t like with plan B, is that I have no idea if there is indeed a Битола-Охрид bus. Experience has shown that no online information can be trusted in the Balkans about transport schedules and routes.

I arrived finally in Скопје, and immediately went to check the train departures. One in an hour tot the town I just escaped from, that doesn’t stop in Lisiche (the suburd station), and the 20:05 to Битола, that stops in Lisiche. So no matter what plan I pick, it’ll be this train. Ok, four hours to decide.

I went to the bus information booth, and bothered the lady there with many questions. She didn’t know if there was a bus from Битола to Охрид. Ok, let’s think some more.

Meanwhile, I went to the city center. And wow! What a nice surprise! I wasn’t expecting anything in particular from Скопје but, damn, it is truly beautiful. All circled by big mountains, some still snowy far in the background, the bank of the river is dotted with huge buildings in neoclassical style (I think). And god, they love their statues! They are everywhere. And big ones at that. On bridges, in places and squares, in park, on fountains, on buildings… Of people, of lions, lof some kind of monster… I don’t think I have ever see such a concentration of statues before. The cherry on top is the gigantic statue of the Warrior on a Horse in the middle of Macedonia square.

There is also a vast fortress on top of the hill, with a long outter wall in perfect condition. I managed to snap a picture of the Sun behind the Macedonian flag’s sun, kinda. Pretty cool!

I came back early to the station, gave it some more thoughts and finally decided: I will take the train only to Lisiche, come back with the city bus (it’s one hour walk by night in the suburbs), and tomorrow morning, I take either a bus to Охрид or directly to Albania. I’m just way too scared to be stuck again somewhere, and miss the Albanian train, and also Kamel’s arrival, that moved forward to Saturday, in Tiranë [Tirana].

And it’s how I FINALLY got into a train in North Macedonia. For like six minutes… Is it cheating? Well I care not, not in my book.

Walking to the bus stop felt a bit sketchy but I didn’t have to wait for long before being picked up by an old Londonian double-decker bus. That was quite a surprise too to say the least. Turns out you can’t pay on board, so I got a lift back to the center for free. Revenge!

At this point I still didn’t have an hostel. There was one near the train station, but I had no idea how to get in. Finally I managed, with a phone call and the help of Miroslav, a friendly Serbian guest. The owner arrived and she was incredibly smiling and warm, rivaling only the airbnb host in Praha [Prague].

I might just get there in the end.