Day 21, from Strumica to Smolari

From Strumica to Smolari

In the morning, we first took a taxi from the city of Strumica to the first village called Kuklis. From here, we walked along an asphalt road through 7 villages all day until we reached Smolari. Soon after reaching the outskirts of the first village, 'Svidovica', a car approached us and the driver stopped at our level - rolled down the window and said 'coffee'. As Willi had not yet had a coffee, we accepted the invitation. He indicated that we should get into his vehicle. Willi got in the front seat - I got in the back on the floor as there was no bench seat. We drove about 300 meters to a small shop where a coffee machine was placed in front of the entrance. We got coffee and tea. Some men from the village gathered and curiously asked where we came from and what our destination was. After about half an hour, we said goodbye and continued our journey. We were definitely the talk of the village that day and probably for days after. Approximately 3 hours later, we passed through the village of Mokrino, where I saw a beautiful old house with smoke rising from the garden. Curiously, I looked through the garden gate and saw a very old man roasting peppers on a stove in the back area. I waved and greeted him - he responded and approached the gate. He said 'coffee' - we nodded, he opened the gate and indicated for us to follow him and sit at a table in the garden. He brought beer, soda, chocolates, grapes, and brewed coffee. In the meantime, I turned the peppers on the stove so that they wouldn't burn completely. His very old wife had also come to the garden by now to take care of the peppers on the stove. After about half an hour, we also thanked them and continued another 5 km to our destination in Smolari. In Smolari, we were able to set up our tent next to a restaurant on their meadow. There wasn't much fruit to pick on the way today, as we were walking along an asphalt road. We only found grapes, and Willi found 1 peach. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

(Willi) The chief of the restaurant was an Orthodox priest - married and very business-savvy. We had by far the highest food bill in North Macedonia here. The church has always been good at milking the sheep and providing for their shepherds. 'We are one family' was his response to our answer (Protestants) to his question about our denomination.

He excluded Islam from this family.

With God's blessing 'God bless you', we crawled into our tent. But not for long. because when I turned onto the dream road, a 4-member combo, with drums and trumpets, started a midnight acoustic massacre.