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| © Marta Podniece 'Morning in Belgrade' |
The morning starts early. While other bohemians like me are sleeping I'm already leaving this inspiring place located somewhere near the city center of Belgrade, wishing them to have a great time and encouraging to meeting again in the future. Yeah, you know - this White City is something truly mine! I've reached Slavia and just missed the bus. However, the next bus No.31 should come soon and it does. The bus goes in the right direction (out of the city) but that wouldn't be me if I didn't go at least two stops too far. So I did. But it's not a big deal... a morning walk in fresh air should not be taken for granted. I walk to the bridge with blue railings, then walk down the stairs and here in the middle of two roads the 'hitchin' a ride' starts.
To my amazement I did not have to wait too long, since the first car that saw me stopped and here my journey continues in a little truck driven by a nice old man in direction to Niš with an average speed of 70 km/h. At the start we engage in a lively discussion in a mix of Serbian-Macedonian sentences about how pretty Belgrade is, where we are from and what we are doing in life at this very moment. However, as the journey to Niš is taking quite a long time, after discussion found its' endpoint the journey continues in a silent mode with occasional exchange of cigarettes and short interruptions on themes of unemployment in the country, recycling and cities in Serbia 'you should definitely see before you die'.
We finally reach Niš. I stay on the highway and here is where the Great Adventure No.1 is about to start. Beside the police car that stopped nearby and suggested me to travel by bus, I also manage to hitch a truck with Turkish number plate, but then I realized already in the truck that the Turkish guy has no knowledge of English or any Slavic languages. That probably explains that it didn't matter what is my end destination or maybe Skopje and Sofia sounded pretty similar for a Turkish ear? Yeah, you guessed right, the Turkish truck was heading in direction of Sofia. Further we drove I got the feeling that I won't be in Macedonia today, so I asked the driver to stop and let me out. So here I am in the middle of nowhere and thinking of going back to Niš. However, it was not all that hopeless. The hope appeared in an image of a small truck whose driver agreed to take me back to the civilization or at least to the right highway. We engage in a conversation in a similar manner that I practiced with the guy who took me to Niš, that is Serbian-Macedonian sentences are exchanged and both parties understand each other perfectly. The driver turns out to be a nice guy with two small kids at home dreaming of leaving his country (is that a current trend?), most probably because of the high unemployment. We also speak about pollution issues in Serbia and Macedonia and come to a conclusion that it all depends on culture of people. This pleasant journey ends soon but on the bright side I'm dropped off near the sign indicating Skopje as one of the destinations that can be reached by following this highway. To make it more troubling for me the same sign indicates Belgrade as a destination, which creates a confusion in my head.
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| © Marta Podniece 'Fellow Hitch-hiker' |
Nevertheless, it's not so hopeless as I see a guy on the other side of the road making swan-flying dance moves on the road. Yes, another hitch-hiker, whose name is Ilija and who turns out to be my savior - 10 minutes of waiting turn out as total fun, exchanging experiences of hitch-hiking and exchanging accounts in social media. Beside fun, he saves me from standing in the middle of nowhere by explaining in Serbian to a local lady who stopped where she should drop me off. I thank him and I'm on the move again. Soon I reach the right road, the sun is already hiding behind the clouds and it's getting a bit darker. I keep telling myself that I will reach Skopje today, although there is no sign or a car in form of a sign that would confirm my expectations, since most cars turn on the side way or just pass.
Suddenly a truck with Serbian number plates turns up on a horizon and stops as I manage to change my paper signs from Skopje to Vranje that turns out to be a better idea. I get on the truck and meet two Serbian guys - one older guy in probably his 40-ties or 50-ties and the other in his 30-ties (that's only a probability, since here in Balkans to me everyone looks older than they are). We engage in a discussion in already neatly practiced (by me) Serbian-Macedonian language compromise speaking about unemployment (again!), weather... and I also get a proposal from the older guy to marry his son. To skip these type of love affairs I say that I have a Serbian boyfriend (since now I have an artificial one for such occasions, I think I said that his name is Ilija, so my fellow hitch-hiker saved me again) whom I was visiting in Belgrade.
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| © Marta Podniece 'The Two Guys from Vranje' |
Vranje is reached and the trip continues and I'm hopeful of reaching my destination today. An older guy picks me up and brings me to a little town close to the Serbian-Macedonian country border. It's just 30 km left and I'll be in Macedonia finally. However, here the Great Adventure No.2 begins! A local car stops and I ask if the car goes in the direction to the country border, the driver says to jump in. As we start driving I ask the guy where is he going himself and the answer totally freaks me out, as he says that he's bringing me to the border. The next thing the guy asks me is to have a coffee with him, which I refuse since I'm in a hurry to get back home. Then he tries again which starts to freak me out, then he adds how pretty I am (though I tried my best to look like a shit that day and I did it on purpose), which freaks me out even more. The fact of having an artificial Serbian boyfriend doesn't help much either... after refusing to have coffee with the driver, he offers me 20 Euros, then 50 Euros for having a coffee with him. My level of adrenaline steadily rises, I try to be calm and wishing that the border comes sooner. At the end, I agreed to drink a coffee with the driver in one of the cafes on Serbian-Macedonian border and luckily that is where this adrenaline-filled story ends.
Have you ever felt like a vehicle? I did. On the border of Serbia there was a tiny row of cars standing and waiting for the passport check-ups. I'll count them down: The first car was already having the passports of passengers checked, second car waiting in stand-by, then me and then behind me the fourth car waiting in stand-by. It's a bit strange though at the same time an amazing feeling crossing the border on foot. My turn comes and the guy from border police greets me with a smile and wishes 'Good luck' and there I am... out of one country and not yet in the other one. After a short walk on the tarmac of no-country land I reach the sign stating 'Dobrodojdovte vo Makedonija' [Welcome in Macedonia!]! Another guy from border police is smiling at me, asking if he's guessing right that my country of origin is in European Union, I nod approvingly stating that it's there already for five years and that I have a liberty to not have red passport for traveling inside Europe. So there I go... I go home and I am feeling so free. On the way away from passport checking point I play with the dog I already know from previous trips to Serbia and I've given him a name 'Border Puppy'.
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| © Marta Podniece 'Spring in Skopje' |
The hitch-hiking from this point goes much easier. I get picked up pretty fast by a car still in the border area and is taking me to Kumanovo, which is pretty close to Skopje. The sky has already started to grow in dusk but I'm almost in Skopje and that is a fulfilling thought. The last car that I manage to hitch has Bulgarian number plates, however the driver speaks pure Macedonian to me, which is nice, since my today's efforts to speak Macedonian have amazed me already and it finally started to come naturally, I enjoy the conversation to the fullest. The car drops me off in Skopje's district Kisela Voda. It's nearly 5 PM and is already completely dark outside, however I'm happily moving my feet in the direction of EVS House in a great hope that I'll find food and shelter and other EVS fellows there. I'm not wrong. I meet Christopher and while he's asking me about my trip and calling me crazy, I sit on the stairs and enjoy a moment of peacefulness and the joy of reaching my final destination. By the way - it's already Spring outside!
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