Steve – Page 6 – Untraveled World

Back Roads Macedonia

On June 17, 2014

On the day I crossed into Macedonia I met four other touring cyclists on the road. An Italian–whose name I forget–who was headed to Greece for the summer; a couple from Estonia, Priit and Ãœlvi, who are a couple months into an ambitious tour around the world, blogging at circumcyclers.eu; and Andreas, a German cyclist traveling light and following the route of the ancient Via Egnatia. Andreas was headed to Bitola to pick up the route where he had left off on a previous trip so we rode together and then he showed me around Bitola, pointing out items of historic note that I would never have realized such as the mosque built by the Ottoman architect Sinan. The mosque was sadly run down, but renovations financed by the Turkish were due to begin within the week. The Ottoman influence was clear in many of the older buildings in Bitola, evidence of the town’s long history as an important center.

I took the old road from Bitola to Prilep, a short, pleasant ride through farmlands. In Prilep I stayed with another avid cyclist, Kire, who introduced me to a bit of Macedonian culture. I also had a chance to meet Rante, who rode a loop around the former Yugoslavia last year and runs the to4ak.com site about bike touring in the region. Between Kire and Rante I got some very useful routing advice for the Balkans and some encouragement to tackle the mountains in Montenegro.

Kire biked with me for the morning on my ride out of Prilep. The road became a rocky dirt track up into the hills. We stopped for water at an old monastery then at the top of the pass Kire turned back for home and I rode on north. Despite the rough road the route was a delight, the only other people I saw for several hours being a few men with horse-drawn carts collecting firewood.

I rode on that day through Veles where I got a few pictures of a cultural and musical event I know nothing about, then camped next to a lake near some friendly people from Skopje.

Skopje itself seemed an odd place. A large city of concrete apartment blocks and grand monuments and statues. Unfortunately the center of the city feels a little over-done and glossy. As if a Las Vegas architect had been contracted to renovate it.

On the far side of Skopje I took a short detour to see Matka Canyon, then headed northwest and finally ended up pushing my bike up another rocky track in the hills above Radusha. I camped for the night on the hilltop then headed into Kosovo the next morning.

Evia and Thesaly

By Steve

On June 10, 2014

In Greece

I rode north out of Athens through Kifisia to Nea Palatia then caught the ferry to the island of Evia (or Euboea depending on your preference). I hoped to avoid the coastal mainland traffic by biking up the island and Evia did not disappoint. Although the mountain range in the center of the island made me glad to have gotten into shape in Ethiopia. A rainstorm soaked some of my gear in my poorly packed bags, but also gave me some dramatic views of the Aegean.

After three days of biking up the island, I crossed back to mainland Greece by another ferry to Glyfa. I rode over a coastal range and then onto the plains of Thesaly. The wheat and cotton fields of central Greece don’t figure strongly in the international public image of the country, but they are lovely and the many farm roads and villages make it excellent bike touring terrain.

I spent three nights as a guest of Alex, a Warmshowers member in Farsala. Alex took me biking up to the walls of the ancient Farsala associated with Achilles and the Myrmidons. He’s developing a single track trail down the mountain back into the city, but I was not ready to try it on my touring bike so we just took the old road.

I then headed on toward Meteora, but passing through Palamas I was stopped by a gentleman who spoke no English. He was very eager for me to come with him while he tracked down someone he wanted me to meet. Eventually I found that there is another Warmshowers host, Chris, in Palamas and he was expecting cyclists to arrive that day. I had been mistaken for one of the other cyclists by Chris’s neighbor. Since I was stopped, Chris’s brother Manos offered to let me stay in a spare room of his and I accepted. I wanted to meet these other cyclists and hate to turn down such generous hospitality.

The other cyclists were Dave and Uschi from Canada and Germany respectively who had been riding for eleven months in North and Central America and now Europe. They blog at woiperdinger-on-tour.blogspot.com. Among other things, Dave carries a full sized sitar behind him on his trailer, which he played for us in Palamas that evening. The next day we rode our unloaded bikes together to Meteora and back. I wasn’t sure of my route so just went along for the day ride, then decided I wanted to spend a little more time in Meteora. So the following day I headed on again on my own back to Meteora where I spent the night. I got in a tour of the monastery of Great Meteora and nunnery of Roussanou, but the highlight of the visit was just the chance to bike and hike around through the enormous rock structures upon which these monasteries were built 500 or more years ago.

From there my route continued north through Kozani and then past huge coal mining pits and electric power plants to Ptolemaida, my last stop in Greece. From there the border with the Republic of Macedonia was an easy 60km or so.

Athens

By Steve

On May 28, 2014

In Greece

I’ve had several different ideas about where this bike tour was going to take place and where it would take me after Ethiopia. Where it took me next was Athens, a place I’m quite fond of after living here for a while during university — ages ago now.

I spent a week in the city, seeing the big-name sites: the Parthenon, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Ancient Agora, climbing Lycabettus hill; and wandering the streets taking in the no-name sites, most strikingly the abundance of street art and graffiti near the Athens School of Fine Art — and throughout the city.

I found it fascinating to look at the expressive images carved into marble grave stones 2000 years ago and then juxtapose them with the images spray painted on the sides of buildings near by. I think they complement each other and provide a link to the past that I wouldn’t see as strongly without both ends of the spectrum.

I’m now heading north from Athens. I expect to get to Macedonia in a week or so.

Author: Steve Page 6 of 17

Back Roads Macedonia

Evia and Thesaly

Athens