On the way back home: North Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary …

After our time in Meteora, we were now on the road back home. First we came through the Macedonian provinces of Greece, then reached North Macedonia, where we stayed at a winery and visited the archeological site of Stobi. Afterwards we crossed Serbia and Hungary, where transit within 12 hours made us travel straight through and spending the night at a rest area. We finally crossed the border to Austria and were “home”!

We took a little detour, to get to this lovely lake, where we spent the night and relaxed a little, before the border crossing through the Balkan began. (Parking @ Zazari lake: 40.619519, 21.548580)

We would have liked to cross the border between Florina (Greece) and Bitola (North Macedonia) to visit this lovely town. The official information was, that the border is closed. We wanted to try it anyway, but on the way we talked to the Police and they inquired for us, telling us that we won’t be able to cross the border. We had to go east and use the border at Gevgelija.

our route
First border without any problem – nobody asked about Corona

At Demir Kapija we stopped for the night at a winery, where sadly the restaurant was closed due to the lockdown, but we could buy some wine and had a peaceful night surrounded by peacocks. The next morning we drove to the gorge of the river Vardar, which is a bottle neck on the route to Greece. It is called Iron Gate (=Demir Kapija) and nowadays famous for rock climbing with many marked routes.

We were surprised when we found that the archeological site of Stobi was open, even during lockdown. Stobi was once a Roman provincial town and is the most important site in North Macedonia, with many impressive mosaics. I read that they are covered up during winter and not visible until May, but the works had already started and we could see some of the mosaics cleared from plastic sheets and sand.

First mosaics already uncovered
Veles – North Macedonia
Diesel please!

We wanted to see something of the country, so we avoided the highway. We drove past lake Mladost, a favourite summer destination for the people of Veles. Afterwards we managed to drive along a minor road which looked very bad in parts but in the end led us back to civilisation.

Border to Serbia
Inspection of the camper – nobody asked about Corona
Parking for the Night – Serbia
Passing Београд – Beograd
Beograd
Border to Hungary (and the EU) – inspection of the camper – nobody asked about Corona
Snow started already in Hungary
Border to Austria
First time we were asked about Corona!
The snowing got serious in Austria – mid of April!!
Welcome home!

Of course there is a reason why we didn’t stay longer in much warmer Greece. Soon we will be celebrating the 80th birthday of Edi’s mum! Our next post will be probably from our route to Spain – more soon!

2 thoughts on “On the way back home: North Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary …”

  1. Birgitt Kaluza

    Hallo liebe Mitreißenden,
    auch wir waren letztes Jahr von September bis 5.November in Griechenland. Dann wurde der Lockdown ausgerufen und da wir keine Ahnung hatten, was es für uns bedeutet und Mitte Dezember sowieso heim müssten, machten wir uns auf den Heimweg. Auch wir fuhren durch Nordmazedonien, allerdings Autobahn, da wir zu unsicher waren,was erlaubt ist und was nicht zu Corona Zeiten. Denke beim nächsten Mal sind wir hoffentlich etwas entspannter, was solche Sachen angeht. Dann ging es durch Serbien, Kroatien, Slowenien und Österreich heim. Wir wurden nicht einmal auf Corona angesprochen. An der serbischen und der kroatischen Grenze wollten die Zöllner ins Womo schauen, da wir jedoch einen größeren Hund haben, reichte ihnen ein kurzer Blick 😉! Wir möchten im Juni, wenn es den klappt, wieder nach Griechenland, mal sehen, was die Zeit bringt 🤷‍♀️‼️
    Euch wünsche ich eine gute Zeit!
    Liebe Grüße aus dem Allgäu von

    Birgitt und Heiner

    1. Hallo Birgit und Heiner,

      die Rückreise war in unserem Fall entspannt möglich. Im Sommer sollte die Lage dann hoffentlich noch einfacher sein. Wir hoffen alle auf die WIrkung der Impfungen und dadurch auf die Reduktion der Infektionen europaweit.

      Schöne Reisen!

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