Internet Quest #5: The Yugoslavian Photo

 Friday 16th November 1990: from the train from Istanbul to Venice: 

Slide labelled: Yugoslavia.

Quest: Where is this?

1. photo evidence - narrowing down.

Previous photo: Tuesday 13th November 1990: cats in a cage, Istanbul zoo.
Following photo: Saturday 18th November 1990: Venice, the Arsenale.

 2. the railway in Yugoslavia, 1990. 

I can then googlemap the route, like in Lion.

22/4/2022 I found this online - eventual successful search term: "rail line thessaloniki yugoslavia 1990" 

Too much railway, too long to find.  Let the quest rest. 

3. Four years later – what was the route from Thessaloniki to Venice in 1990? 

Why didn't I think of this next?  Why did I start looking on Thursday 12 February 2026 again? I was at work, I was alone, I was distracted, I was texting a friend about... reading old letters, accidentally I was just putting them in a box and I started reading them, I got so many when I was away in 1989 and 1990, Poste Restante London, Kurfurstendamm, American Express Rome...

12/2, noon.

• looked at the old links. 
• googled "Let's Go Europe 1990". some for sale online. 
• went to the online University catalogue. Let's go Europe 1990 not in the collection.
• googled Bradshaw's 1990. 
• googled Europe train guide 1990
• searched University library catalogue for Thomas Cook European Timetable... no luck.
• (looked at Insta - many such halts on this quest)
• googled Thomas Cook European Timetable 1990. Some were for sale, checked out how much.
• found this link: International guides – Timetable World 
• navigated to this: Timetable World and found this:  

 
A M A Z I N G !

Then THIS bit:

 

M A G I C A L 

The route from Thessaloniki found, more or less: 12/2/26 3.06pm

4. googlemapping

I'd already been googlemapping but now I had a focus.

Photo evidence: train heading north/northwest mostly, shadow on the west side, so in the morning, November so maybe 10am, 11am...

I didn't find anything on 12/2, I had to um work, then go to the movies Le amiche  an Antonioni.  I'd kept a friend up to date with the Quest, via text, poor thing she was kind.

---

Sunday 15/2

Home from Fairday, 7.45pm I started googlemapping: Skopje, Belgrade, Gevgelija, Monastery of Saint Maria Magdalena, back to Thessaloniki, along the Motorway "Friendship" - a lot of the the landscape was too flat, too wooded, the curve wasn't there, or on the wrong side of the river.

Monastery of Saint Ilija, Thessaloniki, Kozhle, Smesnica Mosque, Khojan's Bridge. Skopje to Pristina, North Macedonia. Te Livadhet. Untold nameless points. Back to Skopje. 

9.30pm I watched Episode 4 of The House of Guinness. Went to bed.

Monday 16/2

Up early. I should have been writing my diary. "Journalling".

7.22am Skopje. 7.25am Markova Cheshme. 7.26am Bela Voda Cave. 7.27am Municipality of Demir Kapija. Bela Voda Cave. Skopje. 7.39am Archaeological Park Stoba. 7.40am NOB Monument. the land was sere, the hills seemed right, the train line - I would lose it on Satellite, switch to Map to find it again, but mostly it followed the valley of a river, all the way up from Greece.

5. Monday 16/2/2026, 7.44am - found it. 

F O U N D  I T.

I started. I stared. Stillness. Achievement. An End.

The curve was right. River out of sight to the right. Brown land. A factory over a hill (3D view). the building – the building I had photographed, my only photo in Yugoslavia (a single photo in 5 days travelling!) – gone, just the foundations left. Still an empty forgotten sort of place.

I googled streetview, route R1102. I saw day-tripping cyclists, closer views of the factory. 

 

I found a nearby village, Zgropolci. I googled it - poisoned with radioactive waste from the fertiliser factory.  

It's in North Macedonia. It's here: 41°39'11.7"N 21°52'37.5"E

I got ready for work. I was riding my bike in today. Late start.

Postscript

I have diary entries from this train trip. I mention Skopje, Niš, Ristovac, Povir, Trieste. I spend time with Julie (Melbourner, lost her in Trieste), Chris (NZ) , Sandra (an American, gave me a coffee) and Leanne (Wyoming). I sleep in a couchette, the whole compartment to myself. I go to Athens! – the train arrived 6 hour late. I read Jane Eyre, Joseph Andrews and Chatterton, all bought from a bookshop in Galata. I admire conscripts in Skopje, handsome Athenian boys, Athenian girls with amazing complexions.  Yugoslavia is a fairytale come to life - an old man sowing a field by hand, hayricks and stooks, horse-drawn ploughs, more wagons than cars, one being pulled by a black cow and a donkey. Gathering mists, twilight falling...