[cont.]

Update
So, slow progress, but progress...
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I mainly stayed home Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so I could communicate intermittently with Nedbank, and with Charl's daughter and son-in-law who were trying to assist. The latter finally managed to access our bank account when we still could not, paid a couple of urgent bills, and transferred cash from our current to credit account, making it possible for us to draw cash and shop. Such a relief.
In the meantime, Charl's Bitcoin paid out and he drew cash with which to pay for our health insurance so we could progress our Macedonian visa application.
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On Thursday we climbed the 230-plus stairs that are a shortcut up the hill to the Macedonian embassy. There they accepted with a shrug that the police had refused to give us a letter confirming our legality (remember the police had said that in a democracy they do not monitor tourists and that our entry stamp was sufficient proof of legality), but were less lenient about an issue with the health insurance document.
On their long list of required supporting documents, the Macedonians said we not only needed health insurance, but that the policy had to be translated into North Macedonian and signed by a notary. Our policy document was very simple and in three languages: English, Albanian and Serbian. We had hoped this would be good enough, but were sent away to dot the i's... We were also told to be back by 1430 as the embassy was closing early because Friday (today) was a public holiday in Macedonia.
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While in the vicinity, we climbed another short flight of stairs to the Bulgarian embassy to explain that we had been unable to get through to the call centre to make an appointment. They told us we had to use a specific service provider, Vala.
A lightbulb moment... Nedbank had insisted our inability to access our account was a "server issue". We had tried both our host's wifi addresses, each from a different service provider. We had also tried via the wifi at two different restaurants and an internet cafe without success. What I was not sure of was whether any of these were via Vala...
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It took us a very long time to source someone who could translate our document and as this could only be done by noon today, we knew that we would only be able to get back to the Macedonian embassy on Monday next week.
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Charl persuaded me to de-stress about the delays, after all there is no date pressure to leave Kosovo. So we broke for lunch, then purchased a SIM card from Vala and lo and behold were able to access Nedbank! Oddly, we can only do so via Vala data, not Vala wifi, but at least we again have some control over our own lives.
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Today we collected our translation and managed to reach the Bulgarian embassy call centre, interestingly based in Monaco. We have an appointment for Monday, so will visit both embassies then.
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In complete contrast to recent visa complexities, we went online to apply for a Turkish e-visa and had downloaded the *free* visas within 15 minutes! A user-friendly online application form, no photos or documents required, a multi-entry tourist visa for 30 days within a 180 day period. QED. How welcome we feel!
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In between all the above bursts of activity, we also needed to resolve an issue with getting permission from Discovery for Charl's daughter to collect six months' of meds for Charl. These are now on their way to Pristina. Thank you Marise!
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We have been dithering indecisively for ages about what to do for the northern winter. Neither of us think we can cope with cycling in endlessly wet or snowy weather. Options include battening down the hatches in Sofia or Istanbul for three months (December through February), or flying somewhere warmer to continue cycling. India or South Africa come to mind...
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Getting visas is the price we have to pay to do something we love. In that context, worth it...

[cont.]