Crossing the Balkans

Another one of those nice sunny mornings with great views from Al's flat onto town and lake. Tume and I decided to ride through the autumn mountains to Skopje, do some sightseeing there, and then on to Ljubljana (she) and Sofia (me). My host Rositsa would meet me at 5 am in the morning, poor her.
The mountains were awesome, lots of snow at the bus stop half way to the capital. We arrived at Skopje coach station shortly before 4 pm, and then found the next minibus to Sofia would leave ten minutes later. So another change of plan and off at once in a hurry! Last hugs and invitations to California resp Berlin, and off I was!
So all I saw of famous Skopje was the stone bridge and the castle. :(
The ride through the dark landscapes in the evening was weird, empty highways with a few sheep or goats passing. I had no money at all left, but a few euros which of course nobody would accept. So I was invited to a coffee and even payed for when going to the toilet! My first word of bulgarian: "Mersi!"
At Sofia coach station Rositsa was waiting already (I had texted her about coming earlier), we took the taxi to her flat, and then had a wonderful evening, though I was rather tired after seven hours of travelling by bus. Nice hot soup and small salads kept me alive for some time, and then I slept safe and sound underneath the woollen blanket my host's grandmother had woven herself.
Today it's cold again, with quite a few sunny spells, and we're walking around Sofia center and admiring all the wonderful buildings, and the not yet great areas waiting for better times hopefully coming with the EU next year.
My cough is slowly getting better, but I decided to head westwards to sunny and warm Croatia soon. Tomorrow, maybe.