MACEDONIA

Europe » Macedonia
September 10th 2010

Published: September 13th 2010

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NicD

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I had to walk several kms from the Albanian border across into Macedonia and into the 1st town... it was a pretty walk though...

Location: Bitola, Ohrid, Skopje
Length of Stay: 4 Days
Cost per Day: $58

I was kind of expecting the Macedonians to be similiar in persona to the Greeks, however no... they are quite different... I suppose they would not be happy to be thought of as being the same... there is a little bit of conflict between these two nations... it surrounds the name Macedonia... They've been arguing for oh... only around 19 years... and one wonders if they will ever reach an amicable agreement...

It appears to be very complicated and goes much deeper... but here is some surface info...
I'm quoting...

Macedonia seceded from Yugoslavia and became a sovereign state by a popular referendum held in September 1991 when the majority of voters chose independence. Greece immediately demanded from the international community not to recognize the country under its name Macedonia.

Greece alleges that:
1. The Macedonians should not be recognized as Macedonians because the Macedonians have been of Greek nationality since 2000 BC.
2. Those Macedonians whose language belongs to the Slavic family of languages, must not call themselves Macedonians because 4000 years ago, the Macedonians spoke Greek and still speak nothing but Greek.

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3. Macedonia has no right to call itself by this name because Macedonia has always been and still is a region of Greece.

The people of Macedonia affirm that:
1. The ancient Macedonians were a distinct European people, conscious and proud of their nationality, their customs, their language, and their name. The same applies to the modern Macedonians today.
2. The ancient Macedonians regarded the ancient Greeks as neighbors, not as kinsmen. The Greeks treated the Macedonians as foreigners ("barbarians") whose native language was Macedonian, not Greek.
3. Macedonia was never a region of Greece. On the contrary, ancient Greece was subjected to Macedonia. In 1913, modern Greece and her Balkan allies partitioned Macedonia. If today a portion of Macedonia belongs to Greece, it is by virtue of an illegal partition of the whole and occupation of a part of Macedonia.

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Anyway thats it folks... finito... I'm done and outta here...
We've covered alot of ground in 14 mths... a mighty decent effort... are you tired... I'm exhausted...
Some spots I've liked alot and others... well... I haven't...
Lots of positive experiences and loads of not so positive as well...
But you know what... I actually

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think its a good thing to have a negative experience...
It helps to clarify in the mind what you like and prefer... what you might place more value on...
For me, no doubt about it... The thing I value above all else is courtesy and good manners... customer service might be another word...
Being greeted with a smile, being welcomed by the locals, being acknowledged when you walk into a place of business... Simple, simple basic stuff that was far too often missing in many places... in particular many of the so-called civilised, advanced West European countries... surprised me alot...
Most of my least favourite countries/experiences were most definitely due to a lack of this valuable, indefinable commodity (for want of a better word)...

I do have some favourites though, many in fact... but the 5 standouts for me were Singapore, Malaysia, Turkey, England and Wales... + a mention to Bali for simply the absolute best best food of anywhere...

So now what... Well... considering I don't actually have a home to go back to, I have decided that I might as well carry on and go have a little Aussie adventure...
I need to go find myself

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a place to settle, a place to create a new life and a place I can call home...
I shall keep the blogs and photos coming, however from now on I will write on specific cities and towns within Australia...

Just an overnight in Sofia, Bulgaria, a few days back in Istanbul - one of my favourite cities, a fleeting stopover in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and then we shall start part 2 of this journey at the top end of Oz in Darwin...

Are you blogged out... completely understand if you are... I'm feeling a bit that way myself... if you are and have no great desire to receive further updates on locations within Australia... then now might be a good time to unsubscribe... otherwise I shall chat to you all again from Darwin...

Ciao for now...

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