Kyustendil to Skopje, 2/2; 12th October

12th October

In the BnB the previous night there was a small pamphlet with images of the frescoes of a nearby church --it was a slight detour from Skopje but as the day's distance was not too long, we decided it was worth it.

At the outside of the church we were greeted by a posse of dogs -- after a quick stop at the grocery store and making some sandwiches at an outdoor space in the company of the dogs and cats we went to the church.

We walked into the church and it literally took my breath away. Floor to ceiling in the most beautiful, intricate frescoes.

Onwards to Skopje -- on the outskirts of the city MayLyn went to get a new pair of glasses as the old ones broke, possibly due to me sitting on them.

There was a large shopping mall with a book shop — unfortunately no paper map of Bosnia — the Serbia map we bought in Sofia covers North Macedonia and Kosovo which has been useful for route planning.

The bicycle stand outside the shopping centre was well used, and as were we leaving a family of four all cycling from the mall started chatting to us, as did a dad cycling a Giant e-bike with his toddler straddling the top tube of the bike. There were a lot of shared paths (pavement which has been painted to allow bicycles), and also most junctions to had lights indicating when bikes should cross too.

The hostel room was not particularly pleasant though. A bit dirty and a bad smell coming from the toilet. We only realised after a few hours there, probably because the room had been aired out before we arrived.

After finally finding somewhere to eat in the city— most restaurants were busy, with well dressed diners on a Saturday night and I hadn’t shaved in about a week, which meant we were rejected from at least one place based on how I looked (my trousers had oil stains on them, and my jumper is holey), we followed up with a cake from a dessert shop and went back to the hostel.

Skopje and North Macedonian appears quite prosperous. The shopping mall had expensive shops like ‘L’Occitane’, and the city centre had expensive looking coffee places like ‘Shakespeare Cafe’ which was adorned with quotes from the Bard.

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