The next day I took the bus to Blagoevgrad. I wanted to visit a friend in Strumica, Macedonia, but because I couldn’t get a hold of him, I figured I’d play it safe and postpone the trip there, but at least move closer to Strumica instead.
The busride was amazing. Listening to Shpongle and my own psychedelic ambient/chillout set, I gazed out of the windows at the most fantastic scenes of nature. I sat in meditative position and I felt so at ease and ecstatic at the same time, that I was sad when the busride was over after two hours. I wanted more, but it was not to be.
I walked around Blagoevgrad for a while, because the hotels in the Lonely Planet guide were a bit expensive and I figured I’d find something cheaper. After a while I submitted to the fact that it was either going to be calling a hotel from the Lonely Planet guide, or walking around with my backpack in sunny and hot Blagoevgrad and eventually melting to death. I chose the former.
So I paid the 20 euros, but I had a great room and an awesome laundry service for what turned out to be E2.50. After a shower, I went out of the hotel and walked around a bit again. I decided to take a road up a hill somewhere and then I saw a muddy/sandy mountain road. I told myself to take it. I had been so happy listening to music and watching the nature from the bus, now it was time to go into it!
I started walking up. Started taking small paths, the smallest I could find… I went uphill, far away from the busy town. At some point I came across a deserted playground. There was a construction for kids to climb on which was submerged in plants. Then there was also the slide without stairs. Very spooky. My trip continued upwards.
I walked up and up, started sweating heavily, figured I didn’t want to waste another clean shirt again, so I took it off. Then at some point the slope was quite steep and I found it helped if I ran up at those parts, because of the momentum. Soon I was running happily around the hill while shirtless. Back to nature! Then I realized I knew nothing about nature, hills, or mountains, and I should be a bit more careful. This is when I stopped to consider if I wanted to go up further or not. As I was standing still I suddenly noticed a lizard on the ground next to me. I took some pictures from quite close, but then got too greedy with my space and it ran off.
I headed back down. At some point I decided to put my shirt on again, since I was getting closer to the foot of the hill and I was no longer sweaty. I put my shirt on and suddenly a bunch of goats come by, followed by a dog and half a minute later another dog and a goat herder. Awesome.
I went back into town. Went to the fancy place with the pretty people I saw earlier and had a great freshly squeezed melon juice. Then I got a message from Mite, my friend in Macedonia. Tomorrow at 5 o’ clock, I’d be taking the bus out of Blagoevgrad to Macedonia.
I took it easy that night and went to bed early; one hour after midnight.
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Pictures soon, I promise. Within the next 2 or 3 days!
