Leaving Thessaloniki was pretty ugly. The first however many kms were flat, dusty and full of randomly driven cars without a lot of order or purpose. Turning off the fairly major road to the west didn’t improve things as quite a few trucks made the turn as well.
In fact, most of the traffic was made up of trucks. They were pretty good though, but on a narrow winding road with no shoulder, you rely on the trucks seeing you, for your well being.
Turning off that particular road made things very nice for a time. Today’s villages were surprisingly empty with no signs of life. Even the dogs were absent. It didn’t last too long though. I was soon back on a busy narrow road and the closer I got.to the border, the faster and more impatient the driving became.
The border came along quickly enough and the process of leaving Greece and entering North Macedonia was simple and quick.
The hotel was easy to find. They wanted me to park This Moment on the street, but relented after I explained that my bike is my baby, and I just couldn’t abandon it to the street urchins of Star Dojran. Not that there were any urchins. This is a holiday place and is largely deserted. It’s mid May. I hope their season gets going soon.
The hotel is quite nice. It has the feeling of a chain with a few things to fix but it’s very reasonable and right on the lake.
I tried to get a Sim card, and found a supermarket that sold them. I could by the card, but unfortunately would have to go to the next town 30kms away to provide my identification details before I could use it. That’s too stupid for words. Why sell them ?
Tomorrow would need to be planned as I’d have no connectivity.
