Hungarian version of Radio Maryja
Esztergom Basilica and the Danube
Excited to see Slovakia (Esztergom behind us, Štúrovo ahead of us and the Danube below)
Magyar Köztársaság or simply: Magyarország
Tekstyl, Ruchak, Obuwie i Cipok 
The most disgusting loo I’ve ever been to (Pastovce)
Attention - train
Przechod zakazany :P
We really didn’t enjoy our stay in Pastovce
Trains in Slovakia (42km x 3 people = €5.76)
Death to the queers! Death to the EU! Oh, and welcome to Serbia!
Our favourite means of transport
Novi Sad University campus
Old Town in Novi Sad
Blic – your travel mate
«No-one has a right to speak in my name» – Macedonia’s obsession with ancient Greece (Skopje)
Skopje
Southern Serbia
Hitchhiking in Serbia
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Serbian cashpoint (who knew they run on Windows XP?)
Evening in Niš
Niš
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Not much has happened today. Spent most of the day in Kičevo where Iza and Igor dealt with some formalities and bureaucracy related to their wedding. After what seemed like several hours, Igor went back to his village and we sat in a coffee shop were Iza had what she called ‘the best coffee in the world’. Once Igor had re-joined us, we headed for a small bakery where I tried burek for the first time in my life.
Back home, I spent some time with Igor’s father. I think I’m slowly beginning to understand Macedonian because, unlike at the beginning, tonight we almost had a normal conversation.
I would almost forget to add that wedding rings have finally been chosen; I won’t be modest and I’ll say that I played a small part in making the choice. They’re very Balkan: bought in Macedonia, from an Albanian jeweller’s on Marshal Tito street.
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Lake Ohrid is situated in western Macedonia on the border with Albania (Jebi zemlju kojoj je Albania zapad :P) It is the deepest lake in Europe (I didn’t know that until today) and, apparently, one of the oldest in the world. Iza, Igor and I drove there in an ancient car but any inconveniences were dimmed by the natural beauty of this country. On the spot, it turned out that the town (which bears the name of the lake) resembles more a Mediterranean resort than a lakeside town. For the third day in a row we were blessed with lovely weather and temperatures well into twenties. Of course we took the opportunity and went for a swim.
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St. Jovan Kaneo Church
Crkva Sv. Bogorodica Perivlepta
Amphitheatre
Exhausted and dehydrated but very happy.
I was dropped off at an exit from the motorway outside Veles and had to walk a long distance into town (Who knew Macedonia was a mountainous country?) to exchange money and call Iza as I had run out of credit very soon (a one minute call costs 5zł!).
This is where I got off the coach
I haven’t talked to anyone in English yet, instead, I’ve been relying on my broken Serbian and I’m surprised there was no major problem with understanding them or being understood.
I’m now sitting near Plavi Most in the town centre and waiting for Iza and Igor.
Plavi Most
We then went to Ozero Mladost (Lake Youth) which looked nice if a bit dirty on the shore.
Ozero Mladost
Later on, we went to a coffee shop and met my friend Vlado whom I’ve known for years but never met and a friend of Iza’s who turned out to be also a good friend of Vlado.
On the way from Warsaw to Cracow I met a half-Polish half-Greek guy. We didn’t start chatting from the beginning and until the first stop, we didn’t even know each other’s names but, as we were both smokers, it soon changed. We also sat next to each other on the coach so there was plenty of time to talk and kill time.
My first impressions of the Balkans (which I saw the next morning) were mostly positive, even though my observations were based from a motorway. It was finally warm and sunny and the views were amazing.
I stayed in Warsaw at my friends Joanna and Marcin’s. The city was gray and ugly and the communist buildings made it even worse. I took the opportunity and played StarCraft II at their flat for quite some time and then, even though I was tired after a night on the coach, Joanna and I went to town to see the cross in front of the Presidential Palace. We were lucky ‘cause as it turned out the next morning, it was the last day the cross was there.
Despite the depressing weather and thanks to my friends’ hospitality, I spent a nice day in the capital of Poland.
I The Presidential Palace, the cross and the barricades
‘Poland fights’ (normality?)
Wet, gray and communist
23:08
I’ve just got on the coach and the first leg of my journey to Macedonia begins now. I’m going from Bytów to Warsaw via Chojnice, Bydgoszcz and Toruń (where someone is supposed to be waiting for me to give me Iza’s shoes). I really dislike not having a window seat but at least this time I can look through the windshield. My laptop is resting under the seat so I’m not writing this on it – instead, I have this nice black notebook. By the time I’m back home it’ll have contained everything I wrote on this trip. I’m not going to disclose what’s the plan for the next few days as I’m not entirely sure about it myself. All I can say is that it’s foggy (not the plan, the weather).
24:43
Pszczenica and Kleszczyniec are so far my favourite place names.
Some old cow sitting a few rows behind me asked me to switch my overhead light off. Apparently it was ‘bothering her’. I just hope this photophobic (photophobe?) doesn’t mind the light from my mobile phone screen.
01:22
I have pondered about the overhead light incident a bit and I think I know why she asked me to switch it off. Obviously because, like she said, it was bothering her. But there’s more: everyone on the coach has such a light above their head and they are the designed in a way that allows you to have yours on without causing discomfort to your fellow passengers, right? Whether I want to keep mine on or not is entirely up to me, the rest can fuck off. Well, not in Poland. The reason why that woman felt it was ok to request what she did was because in this country we learn from an early age to limit other people’s freedom. The idea of live and let live others is to some quite possibly as repugnant as the sight of a crucifix hung upside down.
Bredzę….
01:23
Another nicely named village: Tryszczyn.
02:03
Bydgoszcz. 25 minute break. How I needed those two cigarettes!
This loud and weird girl telling people on the phone what a nice ‘hog dog’ she had and that she needed to use the loo but she didn’t want to spend 2zł…
03:06
Just a glimpse of Toruń – such a beautiful city! I need to come here soon, it’s been long since my last visit. I’ve missed it.
06:05
Wychódźc – another cool name.
07:01
Arrived in Warsaw.
Almost four years ago, some time in mid September 2006, I set foot in Glasgow for the second time in my life, only then I wasn’t just visiting – I was starting a new life there. The city had impressed me back in January or February earlier that year and I was very excited knowing that that was the place where I was going to take my education at university level.
The beginnings were very difficult and there were times I thought I’d just pack up and go back home, but I persisted. Looking for a job was a nightmare and each passing day took away some hope leaving me with very little of it left indeed but after about a month of looking for work, I managed to find it. Before classes began, I thought I’d have difficulties following lectures or doing coursework because of my English but these worries proved wrong and it tuned out that the months I had spent living and working in England were extremely helpful.
Soon after I started settling in, I made some friends and met T. who lived in the same building as I did and who was to be my companion for almost the rest of my stay in Glasgow.
It is only now, in hindsight that I can see how much has changed: when I arrived, I knew no one there, the city was almost completely strange to me and, of course, I had no idea what the future would bring; I left knowing that I was leaving behind a place and people who will always be in my heart but I was also leaving with a baggage of experience and knowledge, with nice and not so nice memories and with the thought that I will always be able to call the Green Place ‘home’.
(16.09.2006 – 19.08.2010)
