Sunday 3 June. Day 17: Bitola to Prilep

July 3, 2016

After a museli bar in the room, we were on the way at 6.45am and off on the much flatter roads to Prilep in the foggy morning. It was close to 9am before the sun came out to really burn it off.

We passed lots of more intensive agriculture - big fields of wheat for example – alternating between using the slower old cobbled roads and the too narrow highway which ran parallel to each other.

After stopping at a really new servo in the middle of nowhere for a drink, we turned for the last time to the old road for the last 5km of semi-industrial sprawl into Prilep. Lucky it was Sunday. I imagine this road would have been full of trucks normally. Today it was people on bikes and young people having their driving lessons!

Just the other side of Prilep we checked into a B&B around lunchtime, run by a lovely young highly educated but mostly out of work couple. He is a musicologist. Hell, he’d be out of work in Australia too! In addition to running the B&B he plays/improvises on piano for an acting school. They were gradually adding rooms onto the back and top of their house to allow for guests. A good cup of coffee offered on arrival and a very comfortable room.

These little white flowers smell strongly and make my nose and eyes run. They also look like a weed.

But now the main event for the day, our side trip to Kruševo. We took a taxi the 30kms, thereby avoiding the final 700m elevation gain in the last 10kms on a narrow road with buses. Good call.

Not only is Kruševo the highest town in Macedonia at 1350m, but it is the location of the Makedonium monument dedicated to the Ilinden Uprising of 1903 and the very short-lived Kruševo Republic that existed from 3rd to the 13th August, before the Ottomans totally crushed it. I NEEDED to see this building. There are many more photos on my camera, and few below to get you interested!

These crazy walls were different designs at every window.

There were many locals and a family of Macedonian extraction Australians trying to engage their young children in the historical significance

We walked down the hill past the memorial to Toše Proeski. You know of him of course? We didn’t until I started researching Macedonian music in preparation for this trip.

The short version of this story is that he was an extremely popular singer in the Balkans – the Elvis of the Balkans, had represented Macedonia in Eurovision but was ROBBED of victory, had sold insane numbers of albums, and died in a car crash at the age of 26 in 2007 after a 14 year career.

A nation mourned – actually all of the ex-Yugoslav countries mourned. There were government mandated ‘days of mourning’, a state funeral, tribute concerts, mass gatherings with candles and tears all over Macedonia. Think Elvis, mixed with Princess Diana, mixed with John Lennon, mixed with Jim Morrison… Mixture of hero when alive and cut down when young and in a tragic way.

And now there is this commemorative museum. And a national music school named after him… In Skopje we saw a big billboard where a football team were all wearing shirts with his name and photo on their fronts. I have subsequently seen a man in Melbourne wearing a hoodie with Тоше Проески written on it. He's everywhere once you start looking... including on Spotify if you are interested, and in scary talkshow footage from TV shows on You Tube.

Monument to Todor "Toše" Proeski - Elvis Presley of the Balkans!

I have actually become quite keen on his music. It’s very catchy and has lots of the influences of traditional music of different Balkan countries mixed with ‘western’ dance and pop music instrumentation and sensibilities to make it exotic yet relatable. He has a great voice – particularly noticeable in some of the more traditional ballad style repertoire.

Can I convert you?

Kruševo is a winter sport destination, full of chairlifts and ski resort style accommodation.

After walking down the hill to the middle of town we caught a mini-bus back to Prilep and wandered about there for a bit. Not hugely exiting. We spent the evening with snacks from the supermarket back at the B&B.

Downtown Prilep on the walk back to the B&B.

Prilep - like many towns, also surrounded by big hills.

Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 390 km (242 miles)

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