😃 STORY OF THE DAY ON WHICH I HAD TRAVELLED TO SKOPJE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME 😃

Yesterday began with my morning Coffee at my room's balcony in Ohrid.

As always, I had cooked myself a black Coffee, and unlike always, it was really late (about 8). Then I got dressed and walked to the center of Ohrid (while munching on a yummy cheese Burek I bought in a nearby Bakery), where I went to something called "classic company", and bought a bus ticket to Skopje. Cost me 850 Makedonijan denars, which is around 14 euros/dollars. Then, seeing it was 9:55, and the bus was only due to depart at 11:45, I had went and sit at the nearby "Montenegro" Bar-Café

where I had an EXCELLENT Italian Choccolatta

for 90 denars (about one-and-a-half euro/dollar). The Place was really nice, and the Best thing: smoking isn't allowed inside (pretty rare in the Balkan, so appreciate it! 😍). So there I sat until 11:15, then went to a pharmacy nearby, bought my supplements (Vegan Iron, which include B vitamins and vitamin C, and Vegan vitamin D3) and walked back to that "classic company" place, to wait for the said bus to Skopje.

In a sharp contrast to the promised lovely larhe and new bus at "classic company" office's large photos, the actual "bus" in question had turned out to be a nasty old transporter van, which had stunk its entire surroundings (and itself) with its horribly poisonous and suffocating smoke - the kind used for moniyòth sheyrùth ("share route cabs") in Belarus, Albania and israel, inside which you can barely breath, let alone move. I hate those, but decided to travel in it anyway, since I really and truly needed to get to Skopje yesterday.

The travel to my destination took THREE WHOLE HOURS: from 12:00, to 15:00. By the time I was disembarking from it, right in front of the Makedonijan government building

I had been utterly exhausted. So, from thence I at once walked to the nearby and Lovely "365 Vegan Kitchen" Restaurant, which has turned out to be ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. 😍😍😍

Really, even just for this, I was glad that I came to Skopje (minibus and all). Absolutely Lovely people (who speak excellent English), and the food was Great - I took a yummy Falafel wrap (with added fries) and had a Fruit Juice and a Smoothy - all were very good

    (part of the menu - I did not take any pics of the food, as I was far too busy enjoying it.😃).

That entire Lunch, plus the tip, had cost me 800 denars (exactly 13 euros). And, also there, smoking isn't allowed. 😍😍 They are THE FIRST 100% Vegan Restaurant in Makedonija - founded back on 2017; I wish there'd be Great Places like theirs in Ohrid, too.♥️

So, after revovering, I went to my actual destination = "Medicus Help", to finally buy a new mask for my CPAP (since the one I had bought five months ago in Minsk... ho, well). On my way there, I had happened to (at 16:22) walk by the "Turkish Airlines" office, so I went inside and asked the lady about my fears regarding going via Istanbul with my shameful israeli passport. The lady put my mind at ease, so I expect this is what I shall do. Then I went, bought my new (and excellent!😃) CPAP-mask at "Medicus Help", and, seeing THAT had cost me 3,250 denars (almost 53 euros, or 55 dollars), so any other spendings were pretty much out of the question, the next thing I did was to rush to the central bus station, to which I got at about 17:20, bought a bus ticket back to Ohrid (for 830 denars), bought two chocolate snacks, and waited - at a certain stage, about 18:10, I could no longer...

So, I went to wait by the platform itself, abd the PTSD subsided...

This bus was AN ACTUAL BUS. 😍😍 New, big and VERY comfortable. And it had left the station at 18:30, EXACTLY AS SHOULD. 👍🏻

By the time I had finally reached Ohrid's bus station, at about 21:15 or so, all I could possibly do was to tell a taxi driver my destination, CRUSH into the taxi's passenger-seat, and not move until we've arrived back here, to my Home in this town, several minutes later.

LESSONS:

1 - In order to have enough time in Skopje itself, get on the road EARLY

2 - If financially possible: stay, for at least a night or two, actually THERE

3 - Do NOT travel with that "classic company" THINGY, but ONLY to and from the actual bus stations

4 - Learn Ĥow do the Skopje Public Transport work!!

😃