Into Macedonia

After the insane, chaos of Albania, (regardless of what people keep stating), Macedonia has so far proved to be model of order… well in so far as the street lights exist (and work), there are road markings (which are generally adhered to) and the ratio of men to women, in public places, seems a bit closer to normal.

We had one final night in Tirana, after our random road-trip to the coast and before we embarked on what threatened to be (and ultimately was) a slightly trying attempt to go to Macedonia. Generally, the hostel owners (and random other people) had been really helpful and have given some good advice about buses, things to see etc – in Tirana, we managed to get a taxi ordered for us and to get to the minivan stop…

…however, it became apparent, after sitting in a stinking hot van for 15mins that we wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon and, owing to a lack of linguistic prowess, we couldn’t figure out if we were waiting for a specific time or for the whole van to fill. We were under the impression that the guy standing by the door and, (you guessed it), staring at us, was the drivers little helper, so we vented a lot of annoyed looks in his direction. Finally, with the help of the ‘point-at-a-phrase-in-the-phrase-book’ technique, we managed to figure out that we had to wait ‘til 1:15 before we would leave… almost an hour after we had arrived!! Not a good start but we soldiered on and were quickly distracted both by the erratic driving of the van-driver and the amazing view out of the windows – the road wound up through a mountain pass and then along a ridge so that there were sheer drops (and AMAZING views) out both sides of the van. It was literally like we were driving through the sky.

Apart from scary, staring man (whom both Jade and I had a turn sitting next too and who made a point of not only staring but looking us up and down – ew!) and the view, the only major event of the actual trip was when we stopped to pick people up and we took the opportunity to raid a roadside stall for its water and crisps, resulting in general laughter from the rest of the van. We stopped for lunch about half an hour later… oh well, our bagel crisps only cost 30p!

There are four boarder crossings between Albania and Macedonia, and we had assumed that (considering the general correctness of the advice given to us) that we had caught the mini-van from the best station, to go to the easiest boarder crossing, to get to Macedonia and Ochrid… it became apparent rather quickly that this was not the case and, as has been mentioned before, due to how useless the Lonely Planet has been about the ‘less visited’ Balkan states, we only had a very rough idea of how to get to our desired destination. And when we got out of the van in Pogridec, near the boarder, the fun began…

First, there was (again) a language issue – we couldn’t explain what we wanted (a taxi/mini-van to the boarder) and couldn’t understand the replies we were getting. (And while this was happening, Jade’s pack got partially run over by one of the million Albanian, Mercedes Benzes – typical!) Finally, we got a mini-van, which dropped us off at Albanian boarder control (see FB for photos – it was very pretty). There was nobody there (because they were all on the other side of the lake at the boarder crossing we should have gone to!) so we got through really quickly and, as per the sparse Lonely Planet instructions, walked to the Macedonian entry check.

The next problem we met, again owing to the LP, was that there are only 4 buses per day from the boarder to Ochrid town… and the LP doesn’t give the times. Added to this was the fact that neither Jade nor I had any Macedonian money… in fact between us we had a total of 8 Euros (and, as Sveti Naum consists of a church and a camping ground there wasn’t much hope of fixing the situation)! So with no money and no idea of when a bus would come, we ventured into the camp ground between the lake and the entry check point, in search of some help. Again, using the point-to-the-phrase technique, we managed to get an old man (with a boat) to accept the 8 Euros and take us somewhere where, he ‘implied/said’, we could a) find an ATM and b) get a bus.

The boat ride was lovely, and a nice break from the bus (and Albania in general), but it turned out that the old man’s plan was to drop us by a few batches, with a 10 min walk to the main road… and we still didn’t know if there would be a bus… luckily for us, there was a taxi sitting right where we came out onto the road. (Although, he did end up ripping us off when he got to our hostel… but at least we got there in the end.)

Right, so that was our little adventure to boarder… now for a few Macedonia facts – I feel like you may have missed out on the joy of informative information, while we were in Albania.

So... hopefully, most of you know that Alexander the Great was born in Macedonia and this piece of historical fame has been the cause of a lot of problems for Macedonia, in the recent past (and still today). The modern republic is only one third of the original area called Macedonia, with Greece and Bulgaria each stealing bits in the 1800s - Greece took the bit that dirty old Alex the Great was born in and now they say that modern Macedonia doesn't even have the right to call itself Macedonia!!! (There have already been changes to the flag and name of the country since its split from Yugoslavia... and Greece's continued protests may make it impossible for Macedonia to ever be accepted into the EU.) Anyway, as well as getting picked on by Greece, Macedonia has some amazing historical and archaeological sites... one near Ochrid is rumoured to be the possible resting place of the aforementioned Alex the Great... now that would piss the Greeks off! Apart from that, my only other interesting fact is that Macedonia is the only former Yugoslav state to split from Yugoslavia without a bullet being fired. (Now that is some pretty good negotiating!)

Our hostel in Ochrid was really great - nice and big, with a bit of a lived in feel (lots of maps, lists of bus times and discarded novels). There was a really good group of people staying there and on our first full day there, a group decided to go down the lake (yes 'Sveti Naum - the return!) - however, there was a polish group booked onto the ferry so there was apparently no room for us - they never showed up but the ferry people still wouldn't give us their seats... so we had the brainwave of chartering a boat instead. Unfortunately, our one-armed Captain Birdseye didn't check that both his outboard motors were working BEFORE he left port so we ended up on a 3 hour, 4 horsepower, dinghy ride - not so much fun when you're busting for the loo after an hour!

In Sveti Nuam we had a quick look in the monastery and then spent most of our time there looking at the tat in the little market. Jade and I lost the others and walked to the main road to catch the bus, only to find that we couldn't catch it there - luckily, we were offered a taxi ride for less than the bus would have cost. (We then went to the beautician and got a pedicure, acrylics and our eyebrows done... only 25 pounds each!! Hey - we've been backpacking for nearly five weeks and were going to get it done in London... we see this as a money saving operation!)

Day two saw me turning back into Teacher Rose, (combined with my alter-ego 'Tourguide Barbie'), so that we could go on a walking tour of the Old Town with one of the kiwi guys we had met at the hostel. So we had a look at some of the churches, the ancient theater and the fortress, before having lunch beside the lake. There are 365 churches in Ochrid (one for each day of the year) and it has been called the Jerusalem of the Balkans - we didn't visit all of them but we did go to a couple, including one where the ticket lady turned out to have a PhD on the frescoes in the church and was willing to explain their meanings to us.

It was a beautiful day so I left Jade by the lake (for a bit more sunbathing) and had a wander on my own... before going back to the hostel for a nana nap. It has been stinking hot for most of the time I have been traveling, so it was actually quite a welcome relief to see thunder clouds roll across the mountains from Albania. I think both Jade and I were starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of places we have been and things we have seen over the last two weeks - we pretty much veged for the afternoon and evening... I was even so desperate for football that I ended up watching a third-round Champions League qualifying game.

We actually got to Skopje this afternoon, after a day in Bitola but I will write a little short entry tomorrow about that. We're flying home on Tuesday morning, from Sofia, so I will do one last entry from there on Monday evening... and then I'll see some of you soon, in London!

Rose x