Last night, I ate at the restaurant attached to the hotel. It was mentioned in all of the reviews and it was Mexican. I’m a sucker for decent Mexican food. It’s up there with Indian. It wasn’t great though.
It’s to be expected really. “When in Rome eat pizza”, is always true, but that should be extended – “when in the Balkans, don’t eat Mexican food”, “when in Europe, don’t eat Asian food” and “when in Asia, don’t eat pizza”.
Riding a bike all day, clouds the culinary part of my brain, so that I think any food would be perfect. This is turning into a food rant… It’s such a big part of every day. After a days ride, I always think I’m starving and usually order an entree and main. In these parts, everything arrives at the same time.
Back to the ride … It was pleasant without being stunning or really interesting. The weather was perfect and there were flowers in the fields and the road while not too busy, was used by trucks and people in a hurry. I had to stay aware the whole time.
I stopped in the quiet village of Gradsko for some lunch, sat down, but they only had drinks. I stayed for coffee and people watched but so was everyone else. Nothing was happening and people looked a little bored. When I asked about where to get food, I was directed to a restaurant up the road.
Let’s just say it’s nothing to look at, but the meal was really nice, and like most meals around here, quite cheap. Some kids were on their way home from school and one of them spotted the GPS on my bike, hesitated, looked around then tried to remove it. I was watching from inside the restaurant, walked outside, said ‘hey’, then saw the most guilty little face I’ve ever seen, turn and run off.
The second half into Veles was more interesting with the road passing between some steep, rocky mountains. Veles looks nice-ish. There’s construction and some road building happening but it’s got some quality about it.
In the late afternoon I walked up the main street for a few kms past the church where something was happening. I just had no idea what.
Dinner was pizza (I know, I know), and it was really nice. The owner had been on the Ruby Princess in Sydney during the famous Covid schmozzle and has been running this restaurant – called Different Restaurant – for two years. Wood fired pizza is nearly always good, and it’s such a friendly place.
