Prilep, Macedonia
From Prilep, I needed to continue toward Bulgaria, so I took the bus to the city of Strumica which is close to the border. Among attractions in the area were old monasteries, mineral springs, and good hiking trails. I set aside 2 days for exploring Strumica’s surrounding and was worried that perhaps it would not be enough. I reserved a room on Booking at a hotel with excellent reviews which in fact was a fully equipped, privately owned apartment.
The ride from Prilep to Strumica was 3 hours. I got off the bus, looked around searching for the bus station and did not see it. That was odd – there were parked buses and no ticket office. The only structure nearby was a gray concrete one-story building in the state of disrepair. I walked around the building to find the entrance, went up the broken steps and peered inside. A naked lightbulb hung over the front door illuminating a hallway at the end of which I could see a pile of old office furniture. To the right of the door, there was a small window; behind the window sat an old man with a kind smile. This was Strumica’s bus station with a ticket office. I did not expect something like this after the sparkling clean, modern Prilep bus station with a cafeteria and free WiFi.
I inquired about buses to Petrich, my next stop. The old man waived his hands – no buses to Bulgaria.
‘How do I get there?’ I asked. ‘Taxi,’ said the old man and smiled again.
‘All right,’ I thought, ‘first things first. I need to find the place where I am spending the night. Once I have a roof over my head, I can take care of the transportation issue.’
I turned on the navigator on my phone and started walking to the booked apartment. Deep inside my guts, I had a feeling that things were not going according to the plan. Years of traveling taught me to trust my instincts. The city was not appealing – unsightly buildings, polluted air, and no greenery. On top of that, I was unable to find the City Center Apartments hotel. I was on the correct street but the house numbers were missing. I went back and forth looking for the hotel sign and did not see it. Frustrated, I asked at the pharmacy to call the phone number in my booking confirmation. The pharmacist was very helpful, she explained everything to the apartment owner in Macedonian. An hour later, he arrived on a motorbike and let me into the apartment.
The owner’s name was Dragan. He spoke German and no English. We mixed Macedonian, Russian, German and English words, and somehow understood each other. Dragan told me to cancel my Booking reservation and to pay him in cash. The apartment was in excellent condition, just as the reviews said. However, I already made up my mind to leave Strumica on the following day. I did not like the city and the attractions in its surroundings, however wonderful they may be, no longer sounded attractive.
I gave Dragan €30 cash for one night and asked him to find a driver who could take me to Petrich. He pocketed the money, made a couple of phone calls that nobody answered.
‘Strumica nice, stay,’ Dragan said hoping to make more tax-free income from me.
‘No, just help me with a car please.’
Dragan promised to find someone early next morning, the latest, and left. I went to get something eat. It was 9 p.m., too late for a restaurant dinner for me. I bought a slice of pizza and sat down with it on a bench on the central square. It was interesting how the much-touted Strumica did not meet my expectations and the unpretentious Prilep turned out to be such a pleasant place. I will remember the fragrant tobacco leaves been dried on its streets for a long time.
I was eating my delicious pizza with a thin crunchy crust and contemplating the next move. It was obvious that I should not rely on Dragan for help. Even if he found a car for me it would be his buddy who charged me a lot money and they would share the profit. No, I needed to act myself.
Having finished the pizza, I walked to a taxi stand and asked the drivers about Petrich. They explained that they were not allowed to take passengers across the border.
‘How about to the border?’ I asked. ‘No problem,’ was their collective answer. Now, I knew what to do. I returned to the apartment, washed off the dust of the road and went to bed.