Back in Macedonia, having taken the ropeway to the top of the mountain, I decided to walk down – there’s a paved road, and I was told it only takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour. I suppose that’s 45 minutes if you don’t stop for photos along the way, which I did. A couple of times. It’s a nice walk with several gorgeous views and a lot of hairpin turns before the bottom, very quiet and isolated and, that time of year, with few people to meet along the way, except for the random cyclist coasting at speed. Along the way, which is the story I wanted to tell, I came upon a group of 5 or 6 inebriated young men. Not that there’s much to tell, because I did my best to walk past them without bringing undue attention to myself.
Of course, this was not possible – I don’t speak much Macedonian, but I’m pretty sure the things they yelled after me were not particularly polite. As soon as I’d turned the first bend with them out of sight, I took it upon myself to jog the next few turns, and carried a stack of prickles down my spine the rest of the way (more than half). At least they were going up the mountain.
In any case, I haven’t run through so many escape scenarios in my head for a long, long time. It was hard to go back to just enjoying the scenery and surrounding nature. But because I did enjoy it, you can, too.
Yellow flower.
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It was a sign.
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Nice paved roads.
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I met an unexpected lamppost.
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Catching a glimpse of behind the lamppost – of course I had to look, but I was still feeling a bit freaked out, so didn’t wander too far from the main road (this is where some company would have been nice – I like exploring).
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Orange berries.
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Spindle tree berries.
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The future never came. I think it would have been a hotel, had it been finished. Or not abandoned.
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Talk about clingy.
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It was amazing the way the road would curve through thick forest, and then suddenly one of the walls would drop away to scenes like this.
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Some more of that delicious rock.
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As the penultimate photo, here’s the view of the city from on high.
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And much to my surprise, the first thing I saw upon reaching the bottom of the mountain road was a bioinformatics centre. The world is a strange place sometimes.
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Short trip to Narnia?
That yellow flower looks strange, otherworldly.
The yellow flower is lovely and looks a lot like some species of Helichrysum, perhaps italicum or stoechas (or some Macedonian equivalent, I may be assuming too much). Did it smell like curry?
Thanks for taking us along, rq. Lovely photos. The landscape reminds me of the Chic Choc mountains in Quebec
Not really? I don’t remember, except it wasn’t noticeably sweet-smelling… I do like the strange look of it, though. That was enough for me!
I wish, ha. I’d prefer a closet exit to the real world, where things aren’t so messed up.
rq, I asked because Helichrysum italicum has a strong curry-like scent and that would be a sure way to identify it. If you didn’t notice it’s because it wasn’t that species. My experience is that you don’t even have to get that close to smell it, it’s very noticeable.