Road to Istanbul! Finally in Asia!

So i wake earlier with my friend and we go for a coffee... We are right next to a big coal mine so there are many truck driving to Istanbul and i should get a ride easy. But it is damn cold and i cant wait outside so i stay in the petrol station cafe and read a bit. And anyway nobody sees me yet, it is foggy and dark... Buses pass, full of workers, the cafe is full of smoke...
An hour or so later i get out and get a ride with a fisherman, he tells me again about the huge fish. not tasty, especially the skin part, you need to remove it. And even then he prefer smaller ones. He drops me further on, where the trucks pass... A paved street, i can not believe it, something mystical with the remaining fog, i believe i am somewhere in the north of France... And a 4 wheel drive stops to bring me closer to the border at the place where the roads to Greece and France split. he works for Peugeot, speaks good French. He drops me and soon a truck driver pulls up. Long time in no truck, plus it is a Turkish one! He speaks no english, little Bulgarian, impossible to communicate. A couple kilometers later he is stopped by the highway control. They check his speed and driving hours in the past 4 hour... he tries to blackmail and fails, he has to stop and i have to find an other ride... i am now a couple kilometers from the Turkish boarder and the next car while bring me there fast.

I pass the 6 or 7 boarder check by foot, get a 15 euro visa and there i am, welcome to Turkey! Soon as i walk a bit, a truck picks me up and will bring me to Istanbul! No englsih so i communicate with basic gestures and learn to count in Turkish. He is a Kurde and drives on and on through eastern Europa wish i would learn more but i am tired and really in a hurry to get to Istanbul. We make a stop to eat and drink tea in a small highway restaurant. Musaka and tea, delicious and very welcome i had nothing to eat today!
As we get closer to Istanbul, 20 kilometers from the center, huge building are being constructed everywhere. I immediately have the impression of a growing, rapidly expanding city. Who will live here? so far from the city?? probably no rich people... Workers? factory workers? i will try to figure out...
I pass the bridge over the bosphorus under the rain and then get of at the next pay toll. I have to cross the 30 lanes of the paytoll to get to the other side and ge back into the center... It is not so hard one by one i make t to the other side. A car is stopped just after the toll counter, i ask for a ride, he is a little surprised but accepts. He is general manager in a drop by drop water irrigation system. This represent 60 % water saving and is an important business in turkey at the time. He brings me to the center.
As usual i go for a sim card, a new phone since mine is lost in the macedonian trains. But i find non cheap enough and soon realize i cant buy anything anyway, i have lost my credit card... I go to an internet cafe and use skype to call the couple numbers i have in Istanbul. Marion is ok to host me!
I rush to her place before she leaves. She meets her boyfriend so she hands me the keys, apologies for not welcoming me properly and tells e i should do as if i was home. So I take a shower and go to sleep :)

From Sofia to ...

I wake up, pack my stuff and go to the center with my host Zdravko who needs to sort out some administrative stuff. Meanwhile i check out the hot water springs on a central square of Sofia, the oldest market hall and a couple surrounding streets, it is a very short stay in Sofia and i wish i did not have to get to Istanbul and had time to visit a little more, check out how things look at night, have a couple beers and meet some young Sofiots.
But we head back of and i have to make it further. Zdravko drops me at a petrol station and i ask very car that doesn't have Sofia plates if they go to Plovdiv or to the boarder. Finally a young kind Bulgarian smiles and says yes. He has a funny voice, a little belly and looks a little like Winnie the Pue to me, cute, smiling and round (not fat). We talk about economic situation, fishing huge over sized old fishes, electrical plants and jobs.

His old golf takes us to destination but first we need to make a pertrol stop. In these regions, people never tank up a full tank, they always go little by little as they need it Money is always low... we need to make a stop on a building sit, my driver rents cherry picker. I have long though these were machines to pick cherries but after a couple confusions, i am explained they are used on construction sites to reach high places, fix electrical lines etc... So we need to go and see one of his machine that is not working anymore on a building sit. he is stressed, hoping it is nothing bad. The business is already difficult to run like this. Fortunately nothing bad, just small electronic issue. We go home and as night is falling he proposes i can sleep at his guest house for 5 euros and be ready tomorrow early. Good idea, we go for some nice qofte, delicious meet balls served with a salad for a very modest price. Before going to sleep i write, he has to sort out some administrative work, fill out his accountability... ahh Europe's bureaucratic obligations... it was not always like this in Bulgaria. Now he even needs a certificate for his cherry pickers... of course they are old and even passing the examination would be to expensive so he needs to make a fake...

Visiting suroundings and goinf to Sofia.

After good rest today, we check ou the souroundings and visit the place were the most famous medium of bulgaria and maybe europe raised a church after her death. A nice place next to a hot sulfurous spring. I am a little to hangover to bath in them, i regret a little would have done me good.
Goce goes for more shopping, Electronics for home. Later we visite the young bride once more before everyone heads of. Separation after about a week of excellent time together... But we will see again in Istanbul! I head of a bit late, the sun is setting and i have to get to Sofia or Plovdiv tonight... And i am lucky to be picked up by a young dude real happy to speak a little german again. he drops me further were i have to walk to a petrol station to find a spot that is not comletely in the dark. I dont like hitchhiking in the night but tonight i will get the best ride of Bulgaria!

A 4 wheel drive pulls up and stops, i open, large guy all smilling and a strong smell of vine. At first i am a little suspicious... Drink and drive on Bulgarian highways, not a good idea... But the dude has clear eyes and seems like a good man! So i step in, we comunicate in basis of german and serbain, funny times. After about 100 meter he asks me if i like vine... Ahhh of course. He pulls over and step out to fill me a small bottle of water with some house vine. He has about 400 litters in the back and want me to taste i am from france after all :)
I test him and propose some. He refuses, he stopped drinking since he had a bad accident and now does yoga. Plus he is driving... I tast, it is good! local production, completely natural, no chemicals, no selling, just for him and his friends. AS we tlk he wanders where i go and where i sleep. Soon he invites me home and to do the small delivery he has to do before driving home. Of course i accept. So we deliver 300 liters in the middle of nowhere. A house in the nature, his friends young “maitresse” cute and smart. And lots of vine, i get to taste the different vines, more or less ready. Delicious! Simple and not very fine but good!
We drive back of and as e arrive hoem, he wakes his wife for a dinner. a very simpel man but he seems to be the major of this suburb of sofia. He is always smilling and gives a very “ rural” and simple impression. He hosts and gives work to 2 men with no family or relations, we bring them vine and check on the goats. They build a house for hi, slowly but shurly. Good man! We share our evening meel, eggs, tomatoes, ognions, fresh cheese from his goass and vine of course!
i fall a sleep fast in my simple hoe, the house next too his house... in renovation, somaire mais connfortable.

Hitching to Struga

I decide to finally leave Skopje. I is late, i pack my bag, it is even later, i get on the bus it is to late to get started but who cares, i will make it. It is about 1pm when i am on the bus and see this very familiar face... I know i have had beers and stupid talk with this man but it takes me a little while until i remember it was back in Switzerland at sat. He is doing an internship here for two month now and is also having a great time, traveling around a little bit. Thinking back about it now i remember i was not agreeing on everything with him and well, i still don't do :) but it is a pleasure to meet him and talk for a couple minutes on this bus in Skopje!
I get of my bus right at the edge of the city, a real good spot to hitchhike. And soon a car stops, an apprentice cop speaking perfect German picks me up as it start to rain more and more. Guess where he learn German? on tv once again. Subtitled series (Derrick?? hehe) and action movies make a much better job than teachers in France. He s speaking about how shitty corruption is in this country, how bad his pay is and the usual stuff. I got it already but hearing it once more sort of has the opposite effect. Maybe these guy are really not so unlucky, they are just complaining a lot. Anyway, it is late now as i am writing this and i wont say to much about this. It is something i talked about a lot with Goze in the mountains (in the next days). don't get me wrong, i am not saying everyone in the Balkan is lazy, nor am i saying that their life is easy. About what he says about corruption, i have to laugh when he tells me his friends with lower position are all nice and honest but only the big guys are bad. I try to explain to him that there all sorts of levels of corruption at all sorts of hierarchical levels. I am lucky he presents me an Excellent example. As we get to the toll, he puts on his police jacket and puts the police sign on his arm to be seen by the man at the counter. He is not even a cop yet and even cops have to pay the toll. It is just that the cashier has understanding and lets him pass. Is that not a form of corruption?
He drops me a the next pay toll and there i only have to wait a couple pumpkin nuts before getting picked up. This sometimes is my time measure in the Balkans, how many nuts can i crack and at between two rides... Well the next ride is also a cop :) H drives me down south quite a while to a place where i will have the time to finish my nuts... I will even have the time to get soaking wet and upset in Kisevo. Even see the night fall. Fortunately as i resign and decide to take the bus, i meet an other dude waiting for a bus. We both get wet together and even though he does not talk much, it is good to have him next to me. There is no way to know if a bus will come, so we wait. And we get wet. A taxi driver proposes us a ride. it is 200 one the bus and 200 in the taxi if it is full so 400 if there are only two people. There are no third or forth person around so we wait a little longer. After a while the young computer scientist decides to give up and take tomorrows bus. I did not know if there would be a bus later and did relay not want to get stuck here in the rain so i offered to pay 500 leaving him with 300 to pay. He accepted. So there i am in Struga, completely wet and without saving a penny, the ride from Skopje being 500 dennars... Never mind, a hot grog will warm me up and Tonin is soon in the bar. i just left French speaking Aurlie but i am so happy to meet Tonin after just a couple hours on the road and start speaking French again! We go for his home, drop my bag, eat pasta, his the home specialty, pasta with butter. Damn it was nice living with Tonin and Eric, the mess and the food made me think about the good old student times.

We then go out for a couple beer at “the Place” a nice white small bar playing good rock and hard rock. We sip the beers make stupid pictures and i start to know Eric, the Swedish colleague with whom Tonin will be making his propaganda movies (for European Volunteer Service).

hitchin’ Serbian history again.

I leave Aurelie's home in the morning, last nights laziness made me change my schedule from 7 to 9 am... big mistake... I got used to the Albanian/Kosovan easy hitching around and figured it wouldn't take me more than 8 hours to get to Belgrade. Even though there are only about 500kms, i was very wrong, i am writing this on the bus, listening to Ty’s “Do you want more” and quite happy to be in a warm place after spending almost 10 hours on the roads to get only 200 kms further, to Nis.
I resign hitchhiking and to be at the right place at the right moment on Friday i will probably do so on the way back, get a train, cheaper, longer but who cares.... i actually tried this route for th 3rd time today and once again it was no good. Not that the second attempt was unpleasant, that was the time i ended up at the hippie festival. But i really would like to be in place and time for Infected mushrooms in Skopje on Friday.
I am on a bus for the second time today, i had to take one to get out of Skopje after 3 hours of unsuccessful thumb action on the roadsides and the gas stations. On this bus, a bunch of school kids tried to get me a free ride. One told the driver he had forgotten his card and gave it to me... Off course the driver was not so easy to fool and he kept the card. The kid then had to explain i have low money (i didn't ask anything, cool crazy kids!) and after failing to negotiate a free ride, pay to get his card back (with my money of course).
So i got some 20 km further and there i had to wait in the rain an hour for a rid across the boarder. Funny dudes, seem to be in some sort of fraud. Picking up some (fake?) papers from an Albanian dude across the boarder. So I got 70 km from Skopje... almost 400 to go. Again i wait over an hour to get 15 km further, to Vranje. There i wait again, on top of a hill, exposed to wind and not really protected from the rain by the bridge running over my head.
I am now standing there for over hours when finally an old men from Gnjilane stops. And what a ride this will be. Again, i love hitchhiking and immediately forget this morning. I meet local knowledge, a local front man in science, developing paint for ceramics and metals. And also a life full of incredible events. I will hear an other Serbian version of Kosovo history. but first the science talk, i am all interested in his metal paints, they are mineral based and very heat resistant. Something ideal for solar application and something that was researched in the lab i worked at in Lausanne. we exchange contacts and I question him about all sorts of details regarding his different paints. He also gives me the phone number of the boss of a Serbian group building solar collectors and heaters.
Now the history part, it did not begin after some question of mine, rather it was very surprising and sudden as i was answering his question about why French have a little hostility towards Serbians. As i was trying to explain the impact of the news on peoples opinions and mentioned Kosovo... he started and was unstoppable for the rest of the drive to Nis. He first explains that the division of Serbians and Albanians in Kosovo started well before the bombing of 99, under the regime of Tito. He gives the example of the factory which he was working for as a chemical engineer when it decided to expand. It had to hire 6 more employees. The places where put on competition and despite more than 400 (!!!) Serbs applying, 5 Albanians and a gypsy where chosen. When he asked the director which he was close to because of his engineer position why that was, he was first asked to shut up and as he was insisting, he was told that was an order from the regime. Since in Kosovo there are 90% Albanians, the jobs should be distributed in a similar way. Problem was that in his town, Gniilane, there were only one third Albanians... This sort of political decisions, along with the influence of radical Albanian political groups create tensions and made Serbs flee Kosovo.
An other thing he mention a couple times and that quite surprised me, is that many Albanians, he said about 50 % of Kosovo Albanians. well they were Serbs a couple generation before and just considered Albanian because they converted to Islam. This sorta make sense to me, i cant really tell an Albanian from a Serb but i sure do know the first are Muslim and the later Orthodox.
He then told me how since 1910, him and his family had to exile from Gnijlane 3 times. The first time, the region was under turk control. His grand mother had died after giving birth to his father and his grand father had been single for many years when he remarried to a widow. The widow of a turk man with whom she had had a daughter, now 15 years old. The Turks at that time wanted to take their young daughter away. The grand father reacted to this very violently, took back the daughter and kicked some turks ass, The turks then surrounded the Serbian house, the Serbian community reacted and helped the whole family, including the daughter to flee to the next Serbian village. The all lived there until 1912, year where Serbia liberated Kosovo from the turks and where they could go back. The step grand mother and her daughter however stayed since the later had found a husband. The grand father, father and wife moved back into Gnijlane.
They had to flee again, during the second world war when Italian fascists where occupying the place alongside the extremist Albanian faction (i unfortunately forgot the name of). They could come back after the war but again, only to stay a couple years since soon, the situation will progressively become unlivable because of the political pressure i mentioned before, influence of extremist Albanian groups and eventually the bombings by NATO. His parents are now dead, the father is buried in Gnijlane, the mother in the region of Vranje.

Damn this local histories are always so moving and every time what i think i had understood the pictures, i realize didn't completely and that there is probably no big picture. What i notice again and again however, is that Serbs are always willing to make their losers position clear and still generally tolerate foreigners very much (you might think that as a European you are not responsible but if you dig little and that is what Serbians do, you find out the European governments played a big part in all the conflicts since world war one(. But also that it is important to be careful about what you hear from people... for example, I clarified (i think i did) recently what i heard about Srebrenica. Someone told me the number of casualties in the massacre were blown up and that is impossible that thousands were killed since it is an 800 souls village... If this number might be accurate it is however not the count of people present at that time since there were many refugees. This of course does not mean numbers have not been blown up...

I arrive in Belgrade where Jeremie welcomes me at the bus station and takes me to the ? kafana. How nice it is to be so warmly welcomed once again in Belgrade! I start to become a local here :) We eat, drink and talk. Three things i love.

Getting down to Skopje

I decide to check out a bit of tiny Kosovo today. basically there is a sort of circling road going around the main interesting cities. From Skopje west to Peja, then south to Prizren then back east a little to get back on the north to south road leading to Skopje (and Mitrovica in the north). Mmm not very clear all this. Anyhow, instead of going ridiculous 100kms directly to Skopje, i decide to go visit some big monasteries next to Peja and then the nicest town of Kosovo, Prizren. Making it almost 300 kms around the city.
But soon, the rain and unsuccessful hitchhiking makes it happen otherwise, i return to Skopje and decide to make it straight south, wherever the rides will take me. The first one takes me to Garanicica, the Serbian town composed of “refuges” from Pristine, they left under pressure of living conditions amongst Albanians remembering times of occupation and still hating the Serbs they come across. The driver works for an NGO taking care of kids and helping them with homework. He was in Skopje to get paper for his new driving license. He had one for 3 years but since Kosovo police don't always recognize Serbian papers... he had to do it again, all over, from the beginning. An other concrete example of human stupidity. Funny town, as is spend my last euro on Burek and yogurt, i realize that here, people pay with dinners, the Serbian currency. Also everyone speaks Serb and Albanian is not recommended, so said my driver. I visit rapidly the monastery with is under KFOR protection... As i walk pass the Swedish guards, i discover the monastery and what seems to be an older hospital
This stop was short but i realize that as i though, UN is very probably not going to move out of here at the end of 2008 as they plan.

I then get a short ride with Serbs who work for the UN and will bring back to the main road. One of them tells me how he spent 1000 euro on fake papers to apply for a visa to Sweden (or Norway maybe...). And got refused... They are happy sad people. You who reads this in your comfy office chair, please realize once again how lucky you are to be born on the right side and allowed travel the world freely. Why would someone need to be allowed to do so??! jut because he lives in a country on a given list.

The next ride is with an Albanian who lived in Canada for 8 years now and tells me about his business there. First the official one, air conditioning and heating, then the other one. He brings up the subject asking about weed prices in France and Switzerland. He used to sell 50 kilos every 8 weeks in the US for about 5000 dollars... no wonder he is renting a big car and taking 2 month of... He is however very nice and funny. Tells about how Macedonians hate Albanians (very true from my little experience, i was also told Serbian police is nicer than the Macedonian)
As we get into Skopje, the behavior of the copilot who did not say anything until now changes. He yells out the window, makes weird sounds. Actually i realize he is saying hey my man... but in a fast and strange intonation. He also talks to he chicks, the drivers stops looking at the roads to star at asses etc... pretty normal Balkan thing actually. I don't get to leave them without taking with me a liter and a half of a home made raki... And head of the Aurelie’s place with that extra kilo and a half on my back.
Aurelie is a friend of Timis from Pristina. Very nice French girl on a voluntary mission with an NGO. An other Frenchman on the same program is still around but about to leave. We go for coffee and internet. At about 9 pm we are done with our respective stuff and treat ourselves a fresh beer. The discussion kicks of on reporting, my new dream :) she is writing for a small local paper and i ask for advice, it is however her first attempt. As i mention what i would like to write about, more positive things, we get onto the Balkan subject. And since she has written her memoir on this subject, we have quite some material to discuss. We then talk about me. :) I realized, a couple days ago already, that my lonely travel often bring me to some extra need for attention and to be at the center of something. Basically we analyze me :) very interesting, well i guess since time flys and it is suddenly midnight as we go for a bit of pasta (damn i didn't eat anything since my morning Burek...). And off to sleep after more and more incoherent chatting.

Frantic journey Hitchin’ boarders again.

Today started in my ¨Camping” waking up to a hard stone bench. It was Outsides to begin with but non stop winds were driving me crazy this night. The noise, the movement and the hair tickling my face were too much and did not allow me a correct rest. I found shelter from the wind on a stone bench, in a small cabin normally serving as a fresh lunch spot during the hot days. I spent my last Albanian money on last nights dinner, the night, a comestible neck less of dried figs and a coffee, leaving me with 400 leke for the ferry.
I meet a couple of Germans slowly heading home from a nice trip in Greece on a rented scooter, They are kind enough to complete my collection of lowest banknotes with a 100 lek note :) thanks! We have coffee and we then go to find a ride up the ferry port. Located a little higher, on the top of the hydroelectric barrage it offers a view into the beginning of what is going to be a beautiful ride through a narrow canyon.
The first car ride, who already brought me up the ferry pays for my ticket and explains to the locals who are asking why he does this that i will come back with 10 or 20 people next time :) Who is up for a tour in Albania?? b my guest i guide you around. My driver is a lawer who went to Germany for 4-5 years, worked and came back with some money and opened business. A very common life path in this area. In western Albania many speak Italian because they worked there (or are still do but are home for a couple month holidays), in the south they speak Greek and here closer to Kosovo and in Kosovo, they mostly know German. He now takes me to Bajram Curri, there i get delicious very needed midday breakfast break with the money i fortunately still have (thanks to my driver who payed the ferry ride) and pays for a spicy salty “boudin”, the Shujuk, some salad and bread, some fruits, fresh water and sweets.
Back on the road as i just walked 50 meters from the last shop and have my finger up to the first 5 cars, a seat iziya with a big fat albanian flag painted on the hood breaks hard, leaving two big black break marks on the asphalts, pulls back and a smiling dude invites me in. One more mad drive, no seatbelt allowed, he is a cop, knows the rules and drives fast and furiously through the curves to the next village where he invites me for a big cold beer. He is some sort of special agent and does transfers of convicts if i got it right...
Back again, after 5 min, only one cars past and this time a huge nissan patrol loudly breaks some 30 meters after the curve, pulls back and smilingly invites me to jump in. An other German speaking dude who made some money in Germany and open a business, he has a building company, 60 trucks and other heavy machinery under his hand. He will drive me past the boarder, driving good 120 as soon as its possible. The boarder is not passed without a good long red eagle, pit bull or coffee break and offering the boss of the place a cold beer. He is all frantic and talks to all the cops around. I, who cross boarders regularly at home, am amazed by the relationship between locals and customs officers. At the Kosovan boarder, we stay an other quarter of an hour talking to the agent whom i saluted by his name in Albanian :) I don't get a stamp but a separat piece of paper so i dont have trouble getting beck into serbia... As soon as we are over the boarder, he keeps speeding but askes me to put on my seatbelt, different country different police :) After the crasiest boarder passing so far, he tells me how little they earn and that they deserve a little extra (he give i supose when he needs to take something over the boarder).
Dropped in the first bigger town where he has business to do, he wants to get me on a bus :) again they don't understand hitchhiking around here... As i walk my what out of town, a gypsy picks me up with his machine. It is not commercial serial car rather hand crafted, but still i will see 2 or 3 very similar looking engines. blue soldered metal, a smoking engine fixed on the front, no hood, no shell at all actually, small amortizes from a scooter or something similar, a 2 seater bench and in the back a big ass saw which can be connected to the engine by swapping belts. Thats is his job, he drives around to the costumer and cuts wood!
The new spot is good enough to be squatted by 2 wondering young kosovan asking what the fuck i m doing around here sticking my thumb up ... hehe
Yet an other German speaking dude picks me up for a couple kilometers. For the first time today, i actually waited, maybe short 30 min :)... The ride is unfortunately to short for him to tell me his whole life story which sounded dramatic and very interesting. Married to a German woman, he ended up in jail for 18 month, the type of none deserved and heavy impacting jail experience from what i can read in his eyes. He was betrayed and got 18 month of shit for it. God helps he tells me, now i have a good wife and just got a son 3 weeks ago! All the man wants is a simple family life. I am glad he found it and wish him more luck, kids and a happy life, sincerely.
After a bit into my apple, a Porsche cayenne drives up, the driver is the man from Koman i chated with a little while waiting for the ferry and on the ferry. An other heavy breaking, silent this on, must be the ABS :) and i m off to Pristine... He also speaks German, was actually born in Germany, as he says you got all sorts of Albanian stories in Germany! He has a successful business he wont speak much about. As a matter of fact thy don't speak much at all. The driving is little more cautious when overtaking, but this is only considering the power of his car, roaring up to 130 in a matter of a couple meters. The acceleration can really be felt. I know have a little more understanding of th people driving this fat ass car. Not that it is justified but it it fucking comfortable, fast, well acclimatized and sonorized (bose speakers). As i think this and give the driver a little credit, he justifies my original opinion about fat ass luxury 4 wheel drivers, he is a big pig throwing his garbage out the window.
He leaves me at the crossroads to the airport where i hop on a bus. Sitting just behind the driver who again asks me if i speak German... He worked 5 years to buy his bus (in France) and now drives people around Kosovo. Simple life with German investment. He is as most people well surprised by my trip and offers me the ride. His friend sitting next to him and entertaining his drive, asks if she can join me to hitchhike to France to visit her brother :) i a couple month, sure :)

Arriving in Pristine at sunset, after passing the white UN blocks, the city center reddish blocks reflect the evening light. Asking directions on the street i get into a conversation with Fatos who wants to take care of me and show me around, but tomorrow, he has loads to do today. Nice people around here! I Head for an internet cafe and speak to my future hosts. I m feeling excellent once again. Waiting for Kreshnik and his cousin Koka under Bill Clinton's portrait, I realize i am all pumped up a sped up... is it the reading of Neal's rides trough the states or mine trough the Albanian-Kosovo boarder???
Good feeling anyhow. I think I love the road.

Ferry ride

More Castles.

This morning, despite getting up at 8 i wont be at the ¨bus station¨ before 11. One more nice breakfast with Stavri, getting of the city bus at the wrong stop, wondering around the market and looking for the post office will delay me. As i get to the big roundabout where buses are supposedly leaving, i get sent from one corner to the other only finding buses to Durmir, the coast resort. Finally in a nice shaded parking spot, i find my Furgon to Kruje . It is the former capital and there stands the big castle fiercely defended by the Albanian hero Skanderberg against multiple Turkish attacks. This charismatic figure is considered a huge hero in Albania and is sculpted and depicted on many occasions, namely on the 5000 lek bank note ;) The castle is nice, the museum refreshing but i don't learn much since most the stuff here is in Albanian... The setting is nice but i preferred Gjirokaster.
I head back on the road have a couple fruits (i realize i never ate so much fruit than during this trip, a couple peaches, apples or plums are just the ideal lunch in the blazing heat). And get back down to the valley with a private building worker. Then a road construciton boss pikes me up and drives me up closer to Skoder in his air conditioned 4 wheel drive. We pass a huge wood fire that just keeps burning... They have no way to stop it, no planes, little fire vehicles. And once more i get dropped at a bus station, People always seem to thin it raly is the best way and i should top hitchhiking... Furgons what to take me to Skoder, i dont :) walk away a bit, stick out my thumb and just as locals are trying to help me out and ask why i dont get a sign with my destination, a van stops. Old man, silently driving his wreck towards destination, smiles and looks out the windows with his big clear blue eyes. We pass a dramatic frontal crash, probably a couple dead in that one. This remembers me of the main danger in Hitchhiking those countries, it is not the driver itself as most people would think and argue but rather his driving and the bad roads...
I safely get to a village, closer to my goal, Koman, from where my ferry leaves the next morning, up a beautiful canyon, closer to the Kosovan boarder. As walk the road here, i am invited to relax and have a beer with some local men. Ani, a young men who has been to england for a couple years but did not like it much except for work, along with older fellows are chilling around a glass water. They tell me the story of Francois who passed here last year walking his way to Israel and whom they never heard of again, despite phone number...
Back on the road i get a short ride, then a longer one with other garbage trowing Albanians, a shorter again with Italian emigrants and finally a local youngster does a 30 km detour to bring me to Koman. And what a slow detour, the bad and curvy roads take ages to get over into the valley.
Finaly in Koman for sunset, i have a fresh beer and then a good super with my last lek at the only local restaurant whom offers me to sleep over, in his garden for an euro. I accept, mainly because of the shower and the nice trees by the river where i put up my hamac. The bathroom is worth a couple words, it holds a washing machine, a shower hose, a small mirror and a Turkish toilet trough which the water from all this flows away. All this despite its simplicity (or maybe thanks to) is however very clean and there is no sign of moisture or bad smell.
The moon is shining, the river flowing and the wind blowing, i get into my hamac for what wont be the best night of sleep.

Kluja Castels

hitch to the ferry

Beautiful coast.

Yesterdays hitchhiking successfully brought me all the way down south to Saranda. There i meet some friendly Albanians again, besides almost everyone who friendly salutes me, kids are particularly nice, first those two playing football then this whole bunch amongst which two speak fluent English. They ask me, like all kids. naive questions but also where i sleep. I tell then i have a hamac, they point to some trees and warn me about dogs :) The want to touch my muscles (hehe), know my name, my life... they are a curious, funny and happy living bunch. The Marines on their base right next to here are just the same. Except for their boss who shouts i should get out of here. I don´t get what they do here, they are just 3 4 old frigates, half of which are rusting, the other half is already half sunken.

I go for a nice plate of fish in a nearby restaurant in whichs backyard i then set up my hamac. Except for a couple barking dogs, the night is quiet here in the cities outskirts. I wake up go for a coffee in that same restaurant and head off to i don't know where. «j n’sais pas ou je vais ca j’n’l’ai jamais bien su, mais si jamais je le savais je crois bien que je n’irai plus» as la Rue Ketanou sings. As i pass a stopped bus, the gypsy kids sitting there advertise the ride! it is only 100 leke to Butrint, an archaeological site, I should really see it. They are quiet funny and friendly, a bit sticky but cool. So I get on to Butrint.

On the ride I meet an multilingual Albanian from Kosovo, he has worked in Geneva and speaks perfect French. Once arrived, I realize it is 700 Leke entry. 500 for me :) I would have paid 700 if i had known what was waiting for me. Maybe the best archaeological site i have seen in my life and all for me alone in those early morning hours. It has a very complicated history from the 4^th century BC to nowadays. Healing sanctuary, roman Mediterranean trade an culture city, religious center, Venetian military outpost...

From there i hitchhike my way to the beautiful fresh, sweet waters of the Blue eye, but before getting a ride i speak to my gypsy friends again :) At the spring i relax, swim in the cold water (about 10 degrees they say). Later an Albanian photograph shows up and take nice pics :) Then the man from this morning bus ride comes along. He worked in Geneva for Albanian education and integration.

I then rapidly manage to get to th beautiful Gijorkaster for sunset. And meet a serious Albanian entrepreneur who started solar and green energy here. He has a contract for street lights using leds. We talk a bit technical and of course exchange emails.

I find a nice room with a dude who is a bit in a hurry. Tonights shots of the nice sunset panorama of the surrounding mountains along with the snapshots of the massive impressive insides of the castle and the view of the old authentic stone roofs of the old city are unfortunately lost in a wrong manipulation during transfer from my memory cards... This castle, its old town and the surrounding mountains are and will remain my favorite in Albania.

butrint

Blue Eye

What is it about hitchhiking i dig so much??

I am sitting on the third different beach today, and something comes through my mind, i get out my eee friend and decide to put that down. Sort of. i was just realizing how much i enjoyed the first half of this day, and might even enjoy the rest of it more. What is it in people that make me feel so good? Maybe those simple conversation witch are all the same but all different. I always get asked the same questions, you could think that would get boring real fast. But no, the way they are asked, expressions, reactions to my answers are never the same. And the story told on the other side might be very similar but there is always something more about it. Be it the smiles, the silences, a couple’s argument, a joke, a lifetime story... Or sometimes like today after the second beach stop, the ride itself. I got piked up by a towing truck, and something that didn't happen to me since an other fabulous ride in south of Australia happened. I got to sit on the back, on the platform. It was empty since they were towing not a car but a Mobil home, hooked to the back. So i made myself comfortable, secured my bag, out of the greasy spots all over the platform and i pulled out my camera.

One would think the ride was uncomfortable, too hot from the engine i could see right bellow me and from which I could feel the heat, no good air, almost constantly smelling the exhausts fumes, very shaky and under the midday sun. But i loved it! I was digging it completely. The wind refreshing me and bringing me fresh air when i would lean of the side, the panoramic view on the sea and mountains around. Which by the way are the best i have sen so far in Albania with far less rubbish by the roads. I cannot tell if it is more because of the influence of that passage of J.Kerouac’s on the road where he sits with 4 or 5 other hitchhikers on the back of a raging truck or the feeling of freedom, the view and the sensation of progressing. Maybe it is also because after 7 days in Albania i used the buses 3 times and finally get back to hitchhiking

In the end i could say that hitchhiking is more or less the same in every country and every place I have been so far. People will tell you it does not work, it is dangerous, there are many psychos out there. But once you overcome the laziness and the bit of fear people put into you, everywhere it is the same story again. Surprises, nice people, adventures, unplanned stops, coffees, sometimes food or a beer, a lot of landscapes and many lessons to learn.

Long live hitchhiking!

Albanian south coast

Back in Ohrid, on the way to Albania!

Long reading today...

I wake up early, heading for Ohrid, as i walk up the road, always sticking my thumb out, i discover the bushes are full with blackberries, never seen so much of ’em. Delicious, i eat what must have been half a kilo blackberries!

I then get a ride with a restaurant owner driving his car maniacally through the curves dominating the clear waters of the Ohrid lake... :) but he controls it and surprisingly wears a seatbelt. In Ohrid i hit my already favored wireless cafe, start my skype account, load some money and send a general mail. Also get in touch with Tauschia in Gramsh, a place in Albania, close enough to get there today. I text her, telling i will be there tonight. But who cares what i do in front of a computer in a wifi cafe?? it is actually what you will read that matters no?
By the time i am done, the sky is gray and it is already past 4. So off i go, still decided to make it to Gramsh. Takes me almost an hour to get out of the city and be picked up in the most unlikely spot on the side of road. My first driver takes my, out of his way, right up to the boarder. He is Macedonian, lives in Perth where he studied and now works there in demolition. More money than what he studied and most important those 2 month holidays he is getting in the Aussie winter and that he now enjoys with his family here. Sweet dude, “awesome!” Pizza guys, Beaches, Maroubra bay, Uni-Games and more, it brings back some old memories!
At the boarder i chat to the first car in front of me, Austrian plates, they refuse at first but a minute of reflexion later they take me with em. Fortunately, because it is now pouring down and getting fresh. As soon as we cross the border i get to see about 20 of those famous Albanian bunkers. They are all over the place. 700.000 of them were build by the paranoid communist dictator Hodja. Those indestructible concrete mushrooms head are scattered around and some progressively show their stem as the red ground is eroding around them. The boarder zone is a succession of falling apart factories, huge abandoned brick, metal and concrete constructions. Some of them destroyed, some falling apart, some resisting to time, some reused and turned into storage or a garage. We stop at one of those garages in the middle of this sad landscape. The people gathering around the brand new Mercedes and talking about what might be the cause for the engine’s overheating are, happy, energetic, strongly contrasting with the surroundings. On the drive, as i ask about the Albanian economical resources, they laugh and say ¨Weisses pulver”. The landscape is now changing from industrial to natural. We drive through green and red mountainous areas, water spurting out of them and flowing together in a red river.
My drivers drop me in Elbasan, historical city of Albania, sad not to be able to take me to my destination. They would if they had time but really have to make it to Tirane for business. As usual in a new country, I get some cash and a SIM card. The later is not active immediately and for the first time it takes me more than a minute to be connected. I am required to register, provide a copy of my passport, an address etc... This takes much longer than expected and as i get back on the road side to hitch to Gramsh, some 50 kilometers south, it is already 6pm. The cars drive by without giving a damn, some even give me th finger. I find a nicer spot to wait at. There i am soon surrounded by a cop, a couple youngsters speaking Italian, some kids and a taxi driver. They are all wondering what i am doing and it seem like my case is desperate, i will never get to Gramsh they all agree. The kids try to negotiate the taxi, it will get me from 25 euro to 20. At that price i can sleep in a hotel and take the bus tomorrow morning. I refuse categorically to take the taxi but he insists on staying around. He seems convinced i will give up soon and take his cab for that hours long drive. He waits, looks and regularly tells me ¨20 euro...” I hate cab drivers! Him and the kids squatting around and staring at me start to make me feel uncomfortable. I find myself thinking the cop, he is still there also buying leader shoes from a friend, is a damn corrupt piece of shit, the cab driver just wants to milk my money, the kids are not staring at my different face and my backpack but rather at my wallet... Paranoia kicks in and i don't feel well at all, I attempt to speak with passing drivers but they all head no further than a neighboring village.
It is getting dark and i give up on getting out of here, rather i want to find a cheap hotel, not the one the taxi wants to drive me to... Once again, in a very desperate voice probably, i ask a passing car with open window for a ride. the car has French number plate and i therefor make my demand in French. The car pulls over, a tall man steps out of the car and tells me he is sorry but he is afraid i wont get anywhere tonight, to late, the roads are dangerous (because of their bad condition and falling night) and Albanians don't drive that far that late. I ask him if he knows a cheap hotel. Him and his wife propose to drive me someplace, but after a drink. The soon propose to host me in their house. It is in construction and they are arguing about how to make me feel the most comfortable there :) No worries i am used t sleeping in worst conditions, no matter what.
Jean Luc arrived in Albania over 10 years ago after numerous missions around the world and fell in love with the country, their people and all the villages. When he arrived, Albania was a big village even more than it is now and that was what he loved. Around a beer in a nice palace like sport center (i will learn its construction was financed by drug money later, but that i an other story) he tells me anecdotes about the times when he was driving around in a 2CV with friends, Nicola Bouvier like, and about later times when him and his wife Albana where going around the country on Horse backs. They now both run an architect bureau in Elbasan but still escape into Albanian rural areas when they get a chance.
After apero we drive to a nice fish restaurant out of town, they know the chef and guaranty fresh Fish. The dinner is delicious in deed and we talk about further travels, Albanian politics, corruption and mafias. Thinking back about this i cant realize i was desperate on the side of the road less than an hour ago and am now sitting in a nice restaurant, sipping white vine and eating grilled fish. After the light “3 milks” house desert, we head of for sleep.

Only one pictures of today but here are some of tomorrows visit of Elbasan:

The monastire.

The inside of the forteresse, big bar.

Getting to Ohrid.

An early start today is a good choice, the 150 km separating me from Ohrid are as always in the Balkan, long 150 km. But i am happy i got 500 km from Belgrade in such a nice, surprising, happy, experience, fulfilling way! After helping a couple fixing their exploded cooling water tank. Actually it was just the lid that popped. They drop me in town which i have to wake trough, getting money, new currency, dennars, they are worth a bit more than dinars 60 denars to 1 euro) and a Sim card to contact my friends in Ohrid.
I then get a ride with a taxi driving out for a pick up from a nearby village. Then one with a truck driver where i fall asleep despite the shaky ride. It feels like ages since i last hitchhiked... he drops me at a crossing where a young dude is trying his luck. He i not patient and gets on the next bus. I get onto a ride to th next town with a delivery man which whom i speak about living standards and future possibilities. The next ride is the most interesting of today and will get me all the way to Ohrid. Amen is a very active men with two businesses, He wants to create a third one, he want to buy terrain and take out marbor from it. He tells me he needs 3 millions euro and i should help him find them. Anyone has 3 million euros to invest into marber??? it is guaranteed reimbursed in one or two years! :)

In Ohrid i get a bus down to Lubaniste camping where i finally meet Mina Natasha and their friend Ivana. we share a nice, old trailer.

After sitting down for a fresh drink, i run into the water, get myself a little bit clean. I had no shower since blgrade... By the way, the bath and toilets here are very communist style, old, smelly (right next to rotting garbage) and very uncomfortable. But still a blessing to get myself nice and clean and get of that smell that attracts all the fly towards me...
We go out to a nice spring next to Sv. Naum. It is called black water but there is really no reason for that! the water is SO clear and the river is actually a very small one, there are only a couple hundred meter form the spring to the lac. The water comes out the bottom of the lake, making little moving sand heaps. Magical place, unfortunately my camera is still out of battery and since full moon i cant take pictures. We get to drink of that water, nice and cold, 12 degrees all year round. After the small boat trip, rowing around the river, we sit down for a nice meal by the water. mmm Beans, specialty, local way.

Some pictures stollen from Mina and Natasa:

Ride down to Macedonia

Heading off, one of the only pictures of the surroundings since i was low on battery and had no plug available...

This morning, we meet Paul at 9 to head of south. Christa, Sarah and Helena are coming along to Prizren where they will catch buses or trains to go back, up north. There are 4 more on the ride, Dimitra, a girl from Norway, a german couple and me. Thats 8 happy hippies going back to civilization. And quite happy about this. But we ain't there yet, the old VW bus wont jump on, the battery is empty. We push it down the hill without success, we finally are lucky enough a diesel camper van helps us starting it. We can now make our sloooww way through those bumpy macadam roads. i still cant believe they are marked on my Balkan map. The first thing we see getting back on the main road is a lake, besides a tourist complex where we of course stop for a good bath! ahhh it is good to swim in fresh waters!
As we arrive in Prizren, except for Christa and Sarah who need to catch their bus, we all head to a restaurant for some meat! No meat for some days, for some it has been many days, we are all sorta craving for meet. Serbia is the right place to catch up on this! We get huge platers of meet!
We are full with food and have prepared some sandwiches with the leftovers and the ride down south can now begin. It is a very nice one, all sitting, chatting or sleeping somewhere somehow in the back of the van. The boarder crossing is a funny on, the dude is amazed by the weird mix in that car and jokes around with us. The Norwegian girl speaks a pretty good basis of Serbian and does all the chatting.
They all need to get to Greece so they drop me where i need to go west. it is past midnight, i have no envy at all to hitchhike any more so i find a nice quiet spot by the road and get some rest.

Back on the road, alone

I decide to head down to Macedonia where i will meet Natasa and Mina for a bit of paragliding! Natasa is in a paragliding club and they are going for a week security course. Also it is Macedonia's most beautiful setting, next to Ohrid lake. sounds real exciting but i first need to get down there! its some 700kms away and i will have to get on the highway i did not manage to ride down with Judith last month. Also i decided to buy that camera and it takes me quite a while before i get to the petrol station i will start from.

It is 11 when i am there and past 12 when i walk up to a long haired man, hippie looks, i figure with those looks he will pick me up for sure!
And he does despite that there is not much space left in their van already packed with 8 people, 2 kids and 2 dogs... All these people except the driver and the big dog are sitting or laying in the back. They are from Check Republic and are heading for a hippie gathering in Serbia.
They have been driving a long way and we soon stop at a petrol station for water, a bit of rest and a watermelon. I get to occasion to have a real look at all this nice company, or family as they say. All roots, long haired, dreadlocks, natural clothes, smiles and sparkling eyes. We drive on and as we get on the highway, the exhaust falls down and starts making an incredible noise. Sandy, the driver gets under the car, between burning asphalt and the hot car, he fixes it in a rudimentary way and follow a men who stopped to help us to his friends auto servis. They will solder it back together. We get there and they want 100 euros for this basic fixing... After it is done, the men (only 2 alongside 6 girls/women) argue with the mechanics and pay only 50. It would have been a huge ripoff to pay that much.

Fixin the exhaust

We are bake on our way south. I was first supposed to follow only until Paracin but as it goes i start to like Sandy, his wife, Orlike and their other son, Helena and all the others... I decide to check out that gathering as i have a proper ride to get there!!! The ride is however long and we arrive on the macadam road leading to the parking after the night... It is not an easy road and we are going slowly, some 40km in this manner will take us over 2 hours. Everybody is exhausted, the hot day and now all this retelling and shaking... We find our way thanks to the stones and hanging cravat at each intersection. Even the other car we met with a GPS could not find it without them... We arrive at almost midnight at the parking where we are welcomed by an Austrian who helps us parking. We then sit by the fire, some have tea, i go to sleep.

Front of the Van :)

Orlike playin us a tune, smert 3 year old musician boy :)

Petrol stop, dog is happy the night is kickin in and it is not sooo hot anymore.

Once again the magic of hitchhiking has kicked in, i was heading for 700 km of road, i make it mere 200 down south and i am probably no closer to my goal considering the tough roads. But i am discovering something completely new. Tonight we sleep at the parking which is separate from the gathering since the later is without cars or electricity and a good hour walk from the parking.

Kotor, Budva and Bregovic

We head to Kotor first, getting an easy ride with a delivery man. Delivering beer and soft drinks to beers along the bay is his summer job, in winter this job disappears, low season, no tourists, less bars... This is the life in the Kotor bay. Kotor is still as nice as two month ago when i was her but it is noticeably hotter. The walk up to the castle is not easy under this sun. We regularly feel like in an oven, the heat coming from above and hitting back up from the stone ground. The view is beautiful, the old castle impressive. Reminds me of last time, funny to be twice in the same place with two month interval. Major difference, under the sun, the 1300 stairs are not so easy than at 6 am...






After a slice of pizza, we head for Budva where Bregovic is playing tonight. This is the last hitchhiking ride with Judith since we will take the train to Guca and then the bus back to Belgrade. For this ride, her wish is realized, we get a ride with a truck driver.


Fun guy, driving his empty truck like a madman through the mountains roads. He drops us close beach which turns out to be the ugliest, most dirty and frequented beach in the Balkans so far. Also as i noticed two month ago, the city is horrible, hotels everywhere, all concrete... Like we say in French c est plein de beauf. I was warned not to stay in Budva... but hey! Bregovic is playing! So after resting a bit, we look for a room and find nothing but a 40 euro room with no towels, no hot water, no kitchen and no toilet paper... Of to Jaz, the beach where the concert is held. It is not really on the beach but just behind on a big empty area of stone and concrete. The drive there in an overcrowded 1.5 euro bus is worth a couple words, we stand right into the door way and as we slowly progress trough the car jam we get plenty fresh air from the opened doors. Beers are tuborg only, a bit like at the police concert. Disgusting beer, and at 3.5 euro for 0.4L it is also the most expensive in the Balkans... Poor barman is paid 25 euros for the night. And I cant imagine how people coming here with their 300 euro monthly pay can afford to buy beers...The concert however is long and great, the whole crowd sings along and the show goes on for hours.



Back to Budva, we are starving and very surprised as it is impossible to find hot food, no Pleskavica! how is this possible in the Balkans?? this looks more like overwhelmed, fancy European coast... we content ourselves with self made sandwiches from the last opened market.

Perast

Herzeg novi

After visiting the castle and buying tickets for Goran Bregovic in Budva tomorrow night we head for Perast, a nice little village recommended to me by many. The hitching is nice and easy, our 3 rides get us there in no time. We find a nice small place where every construction fits in, they are no modern great concrete buildings or hotels, everything respects the local older architecture of stones and red roofs. We find a nice room with a view on the see since Milinko, a couch surfer who hosted Alain and is a good friend of Mina and Natasa has no more couches available.
I swim to the Island out there in the bay. there are actually two of them, one natural with a catholic monastic and one artificial with an orthodox church. The later is said to be build on hundreds of sunken ships. I swim to th first and as rest there, i find a small black diamond shaped stone I fist think it is plastic but putting it in my mouth i feel it is at least glass. It is the second find in two days after finding a golden ring yesterday in the bus. I love to find things, it is always exciting and compensates with everything i loose :) It also nice to imagine what this unknown object has been trough before ending where you find it.
At night after a good pasta plate in a restaurant, we meet Milinko and his hosts for a couple glasses of vine. They are very warm and welcoming, listening to various types of music, always enjoyable, How nice to hear some of my favorite reggae tune again! Milinko is all fascinated with Perast, it was the Pirate capital in Europe, was or still is?? We have a great time amongst him and his host, speaking about music, food, vine, travels and work. The later subject along with visas come up often with young people in the Balkan but this time it is a bit different, we are talking about ideal jobs, moving around and having enough free time. My dream too. And i most say the idea of it is very seducing and i keep trying to figure out a way. The best i found so far to live a simple and fulfilling life would be to be seasonal worker in some sport or in tourism and travel the rest of the year. Night brings advice doesn't it?

Perast:

Longest 50 km ever

Not much ill happen during the first art of this day. it takes us more than 6 hours to get past the 50 km separating us from the ferry port. We don't have much food and we fast on the way since we come across no food store... Th first ride drops us in a deserted village which drives Judith mad. All this quietness and no soul around is not for her. She sleeps in the shade by the road while i write my journal and hope for a car to get us out of here.
Most unlikely (hehe) a swiss couple drive us out of this, right to the ferry port. They are living in Arau and she is Bosnian and Croatian. They tell very interesting things about ex-Yugoslavia and explain us a little more the existing local tensions between to neighboring villages. They come from old family stories and also from difference in wealth. Some towns had big industry and most people in town owns share of it (remains from the socialist times). So when those are successful again (depends n field of activity), everybody in town is rich. Simple picture of complicated story. They also think everything is getting much better and that most people now wish Yugoslavia never split...
First thing as we get into this town is a nice fat, tasty and rich burek! The ferry ride too hot and too crowded but short.

mmm waiting for something???

We arrive just in time for the bus to Dubrovnik. We figure we lost enough time on Hvar today and that we should get further. We stop 5 kms before Dubrovnik to get a quiet and reasonably priced room. We find an excellent spot with small beach, everything refurnished, big kitchen and... a bathroom! Shower, dinner on the balcony with view on th bay. Wow that feels good!

In front of our house!

The beach

The floating tiered hitchhiker...

We decide to have a quick look into Dubrovnik by night and catch th bus. not enough money to pay but the driver is kind and he probably reminds us since we payed him back on our way back. Dubrovnik is beautiful, besides the main street in the old town, the bars are very warm and crowded, people sit outside on little cushions in the stairs. The town remembers Italy, it is beautiful and i most admit i am quit surprised, i expect the same thing again, like in Kurcula, Hvar, Kotor and so many other old towns around the Adriatic but this is truly something else i appreciated despite the numerous tourists running everywhere...
We catch the last bus home into our comfortable bed. So nice to sleep on something soft again!

The coast

One more time!

Again, same players, same field, same game. Chill, read, swim, eat etc... Today i swim a little longer along the cost and discover more aquatic beauties, sea stars, more fish, whole schools of them. and get close to the oldest lighthouse in the Adriatic sea. I wonder how many boats have crashed on these sharp rocky coasts...

Base camp.

Sharing again..

Walking back through the wild inland.

Chill out big time but i broke my hamac...

We get back to the camp, check out, the price is still so over reasonable. mere 50 euros for both of us, including last nights super. It is 5 pm, the sun is not o hot any more and we are back on the road hitching a ride. We have no choice since we missed the last bus. Judith is all but confident, thinking about what will happen if we don't get a ride. Manana Judith manana :) As the say in the Balkan, Opusteno! Relax! And we get a ride with the first car passing, ten minutes later. Back up in Lastova town, we eat the best ice cream i ever ate, not because it is so nice and tasty but because it is so hot and i am craving for something sweet :)
We get a couple rides until Ubli, the last on with a very talkative dutch tell us about his stay here 5 to 7 years ago... We move to a nice spot in the wild, not as close to the sea as expected because of the steep shore but close enough to get there in a couple minutes and watch the most beautiful sunset ever.

Company for tonight...