The following day we set off after breakfast on what we thought would be the most difficult part of our journey to Greece. We needed to get across the mountains up into the central part of Yugoslavia and Skopje which was the closest major city to the Greek border. We got a lift quite quickly with a German couple, Ben and his girlfriend Utie in a lovely VW campervan. They also had a huge Great Dane, Sara. We stayed with them all day and continued down to Ulcinje which is the southernmost point of the country, bordering Albania which at that time was closed off to westerners. We ended up staying the night with them as they were so friendly. Drinking wine and listening to radio Luxembourg around a fire pit. We had a shock though when we woke up the following morning to find we were on a nudist beach! For two innocent lasses from Yorkshire this was fairly mind boggling!
We left Ben in the afternoon to find out about buses to Skopje and discovered that the next one was at 6pm. Whilst waiting for the bus we hunted for a bank (more difficult than you’d imagine) to get some currency for the journey. It was around £5 for the two of us. We came across some young locals who were keen to practice their English with us and stayed with us all afternoon even waving us off when the bus departed .
The bus journey was hell (though a couple of years later I would discover an even more hellish journey). We kept being badgered to give up our seats, but we took no notice. We’d paid for seats and we were keeping them. It was an 11 hour journey and although it was a luxury coach, sitting all that time was not fun. We arrived stiff and cramped and tired at 5:30am on a very dull, grey day. A fortnight after leaving home.
After finding a bakery open and buying fresh bread (the only time to eat it as later it became as hard as hell), we followed signposts to the road leading to the Greek border. It was a fair distance and we got a few odd looks from people on the way. We did manage to get a lift quite quickly though he wasn’t going all the way to the border and traffic on that road was very light with pretty much only an odd tractor every half hour. We eventually reached the border 6 hours later where we took advantage of the facilities to get washed and comb our hair after the unsettled night, find biscuits and milk before crossing the ‘no-mans land’ to reach the other border post.
With luck we spotted a car with a GB sticker so quickly raced ahead to try and get through the border before them so we could try and get a lift. And with more luck it stopped for us. Three lads from one of the home counties who happily agreed to take us to Thessaloniki and a camp site there. It was actually so nice to have someone to speak English with after two weeks. We pitched our tent close to the boys and spent several days there. It was a lively camp site with fire pits and lots of music (Woodstock mainly – this was 1971 after all) and we spent our days on the beach or going into Thess and walking around. There was an International Fair on whilst we were there so it was very busy. One downside was that I got very badly bitten by mosquitos which made me feel quite ill.
For some reason we made the (bad) decision to head over to Istanbul rather than down to the Greek islands. So after saying our farewells to the Brits who were heading homewards we continued our hitchhiking journey on the road to Kavala.
And this is when the “fun” began.
TRAVEL WORDS 
You two had already had some adventures so I’m very interested to find out what happened in Istanbul!
More the journey than the destination.
Love the photo of young ‘hippie’ you xx
Ah, yes. The kaftan and the loons 😊
I’m loving this intrepid journey of yours. I’m guessing your Thessaloniki was very different from the city we stayed in three years ago. I wonder if it was already Cat Central? A great photo of you! Looking forward to the next chapter ….
Mmm… I don’t recall cats. At least I didn’t make any reference to them in my diary.
Stray cats had comfy beds made for them, with waitress service, all over town. You couldn’t mis them, so they can’t have been a ‘thing’ in your day.
That section didn’t seem all that dangerous thankfully. Great rides. The magic of Istanbul 🤔
A tedious section, but as you say, nothing dramatic.
Istanbul was an adventure in itself, I imagine. Looking forward to reading about it.
Not a lot to say about Istanbul itself. More about the journey.
You brought back memories of being bitten to death by mosquitoes in Greece and Crete, and being so ill from that in Crete we almost flew home early. I spent a week in Istanbul (late 1970s) with my first wife, and really enjoyed it, even though I contacted a very bad case of ‘Sultan’s Revenge’. But we were reasonably well-off at the time, stayed at the rather luxurious Pera Palace Hotel, and took taxis to see all the sights. (Fare negotiated in advance!)
Best wishes, Pete. x
*Contracted. Typo
Mossies loved my fair skin. The worst was in India though. Unfortunately such things like Deet products wasn’t widely available then.
I empathise about the mossies, they love me too (including here in Sri Lanka!) I’m intrigued to hear more about the journey onwards to Istanbul as it seems to me that you’d already had a fair number of adventures at this point!
Every day was an adventure. We had no idea what to expect.
Oh, my! What an adventure! Can’t wait to read the rest of the story.
Glad you’re enjoying it.
It’s good that you found so many friendly people. Like others, I’m thinking there has already been quite enough ‘fun’ – what could possibly come next? Love the photo of the young Jude.
They were very different times.
I’m with Anabel is saying that I love the photos and especially the fun one of you. Hipster jeans such fun 🙂