“Travels to a Different Time : 23July1974; Nis, Skopje, Yugoslavia: Am I Jack Nicholson or Peter Fonda? Staying in Earthquake City!

Woke up yet again in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Unfortunately my jeans I washed last night are still damp. These are my last pair of pants. I went down for a great Continental breakfast at 08:30. I ate quickly and hung up my pants to dry further. Not willing to wait I headed out off to Skopje. I found a discarded sign with “Skopje” written on it so I used that and snagged a lift going halfway. Some French kids picked me up and dropped me off at Skopje site of a recent devastating earthquake. I had a choice of taking the bus to Dubrovnik leaving at 22:00 but that would cause some difficulties in finding a room so late at night. So I found the dreaded youth hostel and there were a crowd of poorly dressed Bulgarian youth in the lobby. I met a German guy as I was heading up to my room and we agreed to meet in the lobby in 15 minutes. He had a Yamaha 125 CC motorbike so we had a spin around the town a la Easy Rider. The old town is beautiful and there are some mosques as there is a Muslim population here. We wanted to see some mosques but all were closed. We headed up in the hills for a spectacular view of Skopje. There is so much life in Yugoslavia compared to Romania. We stopped in a cafeteria and as there was food glorious food I ate like a horse. After dinner we sat by the river and had a bottle of wine in a café. We headed back to the youth hostel and had a beer in the lobby. Beer in a youth hostel! Is the world coming to an end?