Once again in my life I realized how fortunate I am that I can easily travel pretty much anywhere in the world to, only because I was born in Germany. Hearing that makes me appreciate my passport even more than I already do.

It was already dark when I arrived in Skopje. The city can be seen already from miles away. There's a huge cross - Millennium Cross - on top of Vodno Mountain and its lights are turned on every night. It's one of the tallest crosses in the world and it symbolizes 2,000 years of Christianity in North Macedonia.

'You can stay here another night if you want', she said the next morning but I wasn't too keen for more awkward discussions. So I turned down the offer, thanked her for her hospitality and went back to the city center to find a hostel.

Right the first one had a free bed. So I checked into Unity Hostel for one night and started to explore the city. The center was only a couple of minutes walk away from the hostel. There's an incredible rediculous amount of statues in Skopje. They're literally everywhere and locals told that nobody really know how many there actually are. I think it could be an interesting challenge to walk around and count them all. :D

I left Skopje in direction south. I chose Thessaloniki in Greece as my next destination. The days were grueling hot and the roads hilly. One day the heat was knocking me out. Temperatures were above 40 degrees Celsius. I was that much exhausted that I had to take nap in the shade under a tree on the side of the road and used my water bottle as a pillow. I took a dirt road above the river Vardar the other day. The view down into the valley was spectacular and at the end of the road there was a grape field. I took a few and shuffled them into my mouth. They were incredible juicy and delicious. I filled a bag with even more, attached them on the back of my bike and headed further towards the Greek border.

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Location: Pristina
Km on the clock: 2,871
 
I slowly climbed up another hill to the Serbian border post. Today I'd leave Serbia and enter Kosovo. Although I just spent the longest and one of the worst nights on my journey so far, life was good again after a few hours of sleep and a quick breakfast at a small village store. And since I freed some puppies from a trash container in the morning I kind of felt like a hero.

I could see that the border post guy watched me already for a while and he was laughing at me as I arrived totally sweaty at the post. I was the only person wanting to cross the border from Serbia into Kosovo. Dozens of cars were lining up on the other side of the road to enter Serbia.
'How are you?' asked the guy with a slightly sarcastic tone and big smile on his face. 'Well...it's a bit hilly here' I answered. He kept laughing as he checked my passport. 'Where do you sleep?' I answered 'I've a tent' and pointed at my bag on the back of my bicycle. 'And where do you eat?' 'My kitchen is in here' and pointed at my front right pannier. 'Okay', he said and handed me my passport. 'Have a good trip'.

Kosovo named the boulevard after him and built the statue to thank the former U.S. president for his help when they were struggling with the Yugoslavian government in the end 90's. By the way, there's small clothing store next to the statue called Hillary. A picture of Hillary Clinton is also attached on the facade. Seems like some Kosovan's have a good sense of humor. There's also a Madeleine Albright monument and I heard there's even a George W. Bush Street. The connection to the U.S. can be seen and experienced in many places in Pristina as well as the connection to Germany. I was surprised to see many cars with German number plates and that quite many locals speak German. The shelves in the supermarkets are filled with German brand products. One of the supermarkets around the hostels corner even played some bizarre German speaking rap music every time when I went there. It didn't really create an inviting shopping atmosphere but I was happy to get some familiar products.

One interesting fact that I learned about Kosovo is that there was no law against keeping brown bears until end of 2010. Baby brown bears were snatched from their mothers by animal dealers in the forests of Kosovo and Albania and then held in small cages at restaurants as an attraction for customers. As I heard, the living conditions of the bears were horrific in most cases and some restaurant owners and customers gave them alcohol to see drunk bears for their amusement. However, since 2013 there's a bear sanctuary just outside of Pristina to provide those bears a natural habitat but also to create awareness to animal welfare and environmental problems in Kosovo.

Although Pristina is a nice place to visit for a couple of it's not a bicycle friendly city. There are no bicycle lanes and there's also lots of room for improvement regarding road signs. It took me a while until I made it out of town and on the R6 road in direction south to Skopje, Macedonia.

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Wieder einmal vielen dank Helga für deine Zeit und das entspanne Gespräch und herzlichen dank shz für das Teilen meiner Geschichte und der damit verbundenen Spendenaktion für das Deutsche Rote Kreuz.

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I studied my map as I took a break in a village. It was a small and quiet place. Cars passed me only once in a while. While studying my maps, I realized, that I had no clue where I actually was and that this village wasn't on the map. And since there were no locals around, I couldn't ask anyone for directions. So, I decided to use my offline open street maps for the first time outside of the cities.

Approximate scribble of the route

I followed the directions that the app gave me and it was great. I went through scenic hilly landscapes and every now and then I came through smaller villages. The facades of many houses were in a rather poor condition and teenagers and young adult were hanging out in front of the very few stores.

Kids were waving at me and asking: 'Hellooo! Where are you from?' as I entered another village. I waved back and answered: 'Hellooo! Germanyyy' as I passed them. I stopped to check the navigation app when I reached a crossroad. My options were to continue straight ahead or turn left. Straight ahead was a solid paved road and the road to the left was a gravel road but seemed okay to cycle. The app suggested to turn left. This route would be even 10 kilometers shorter than the other one. I was hesitating because going straight seemed better to me. A young couple walked up the road with a bucket full of blackberries. Seeing them told me that must be the nicer way to go. Villagers were burning trash aside of the gravel road and lots of black smoke blow over the fields. I felt like I was in the middle of a fairy tale and had to make a decision. Straight ahead the nice, easy and sunny road and left the dark, unknown and mysterious path. I thought, Hey, why not turn left? It'll save me 10 kilometers. And this is what I did. Huge mistake!

The villagers were looking at me kind of suspiciously as I rolled down the gravel road. I passed the big trash fire and left the village. The road surface changed into sand at times which made it a bit harder to move on but it was still fine. However, first doubts came into my mind whether I had chosen the right road. The road led me through a hilly and forested area and it was incredible quiet around me. After a while it turned into a pebble road which made cycling very challenging. I had to get off the bike and push it. At this point I knew that I had chosen the wrong road but I felt like that I went too far to turn around. Moving on went really slow and I was cursing a lot. So I checked the navigation app again to find out if I'd get off this road soon. Just a few kilometers ahead of me there would be another road. The upcoming road must be better. There's no way that there are worse roads than that, went through my mind. So I kept pushing my bike. At times it wasn't too bad so I was even able cycle for a few hundred meters. I was surprised to come through a small village along this road. Two elderly men were looking at me like they had never seen someone on a bicycle before. And I honestly wouldn't wonder if it really was the first time. Having a bike in this area is probably the dumbest and most useless thing to have.

The closer I got to the other road the more excited I got. I pushed my bike an uphill section. Now it wasn't even a pebble road anymore. It was only rocks. The rocks had a size of bowling balls and now I was even cursing more than before. It felt like forever to pass that section and the sun was also about to go down. I prayed: 'Please! Let the new road be better than this one'. I didn’t want to be on such a road in the middle of nowhere at nights not to mention to camp somewhere around here.

'NOOOOO', was my first reaction when I reached the new road. Its surface was the same as the one that I just left. I was done, frustrated and ready to give up. I asked myself Why am I doing this? and wished to be at home right now. Even if I want to give up, I still have to go at least to the next town. So I kept going. Hiking my bike up a mountain through the dark forest.

It was already midnight when I reached the top of the mountain. I was on 1,100 meters altitude which was the highest peak of my journey so far. And again, I reached a crossroad. This time I had the option to turn left or right. Both roads were in the same horrible condition. I decided to turn left although it would be the longer route towards to border to Kosovo but since I 'saved' 10 kilometers earlier I didn't want to make the same mistake of 'saving' a few kilometers again. Also, the next villages would be closer on this route.

The moon and my bike lamp gave enough light to hike my bicycle down the rocky mountain road. I felt tired and frustrated. After a while I realized a white reflection on the road ahead of me. 'Is it really? ... No way ... It is! ... WOHOOO!' It was the median of a paved road. Such a relief! I jumped on my biked and rolled down the hill through the forests. It made me happy to see the lights of a parking car. A couple enjoyed some let's say private time in their car and they were very surprised to see me bombing down the hill.

There was a tiny church in the small village Gazdare and since it was under construction it didn't have any doors and windows yet. I walked inside and put my sleeping mat and sleeping bag on the floor for the night. I fell asleep immediately.

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'We just installed another gate to my little piece of land here to enter it from the road. Since there's the new cycling path, we're not allowed to drive on there with our cars anymore', told me Milan.

He and his buddies shared their food with me and even offered me something to drink. After having that meal they put homemade Rakja (Serbia's national alcoholic drink) on the table. It was filled up into 0.5 liter Fanta bottles. Of course I accepted to have one together with them because I didn't want to be rude. And of course we didn't have only one. As refreshment drinks on the side we had beer. :D

They cracked lots of jokes and later they told me stories about the wars in Serbia in the 90's and that they feel that since then their country has a very bad image in the world. 'But this is not who we are', they said. 'We're not wild men with knifes between our teeth. We're good people and we would love to show it to the world'. I can tell, these guys were everything else than a herd of wild men. These were just some harmless elderly men chilling, drinking and enjoying their retirement.

The temperatures were above 40 degrees Celsius the day I left Novi Sad. I took the direct road to Belgrade. There was a pretty steep section just outside of Novi Sad and my t-shirt was soaking wet due to the heat and the effort of climbing up the road. Another elderly man waved at me and also yelled: 'Hellooo'. So I stopped again to also say hi. He and his brother offered me some coffee and a bucket of water as a shower. It was a great shower! Exactly what I needed in this moment. And again, those guys were no wild men.

My next destination was Kosovo. The ride there was not only a challenge, I even experienced the worst night of my journey so far. It was a night full of frustrations and doubts about this trip. But I'll tell this story another time. ;)

One last thing about the wild men of Serbia. I cycled across the entire country and I got the chance to meet quite some Serbians. Everyone who I talked to or even spent time with was super friendly and welcoming to me. For me, there are no wild Serbians with knifes between their teeth. I'd visit this country any time again. Without any doubts!

If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign to equip two school class rooms in Darfur, Sudan. Cheers!