Date arrived: 4th September 2023

Date Departed: 13th September 2023

Distance Travelled: 524KM

Average Cost: £43.29 PPPD

4th September 2023

We arrived at the city bus station some 2KM outside the centre, and as we still weren't feeling that great, decided to get a taxi to our apartment. 5 Euros later, we pulled up outside a traditional house right in the centre of the old town, and were met by our host who showed us round the small but charming apartment. It's an annex of their family home, so they are only ever a shout away for advice or info.

We kept it pretty simple today, wandering down through the charming cobbled streets of the old town, and exploring the newer, city that has sprung up outside the ancient city walls. We visited a local restaurant and ate regional delicacies, a pork stew for me and stuffed Peppers for Julie, both of which we enjoyed. Two meals each today - making some progress!

5th September 2023

Today was largely spent exploring Ohrid, including the old town, which is very picturesque, and the boardwalk that runs round the base of the cliffs. All done very gently, and supported with some gentle stew for lunch. Dinner? A cheese sandwich! Hopefully well be feeling better soon. 

6th September 2023

Determined to take advantage of the beautiful lake we were perched over, we booked a boat trip, calling in at a couple of view points on the way.

First was the Bay of Bones Museum, which is a well put together reproduction of a lake village, built on piles , and connected to the mainland with a bridge. This one is a reproduction of what they bbelieve was here in 600BC, and the remains of some 6000 structural piles can be found under the lake still.

Following this we visited St Naum's Monastery, which is the centre-piece of a little tourist enclave at the foot of the lake, by the Albanian border. The monastery complex has a hotel and restaurant, but the little 10th century church is architectually very cool. There are also a couple of restaurants, and a "mini-lake" where some 42 springs bring water from unde the mountains and feed Lake Ohrid. You can go round these springs on a rowing boat, but we opted to do so on foot instead.

Lunch was surprisingly good given the captive audience, and we took the time to have a bit of a paddle in the lake. The boat trip back was a good opportunity to just sit back and take in the views that surround you on this lovely lake, and we wrapped it all up with a delicious plate of pasta for dinner.

7th September 2023

Domestic day today - washing clothes at a local launderette, buying bus tickets,  etc. Julie sorted out some work she wanted to do, and we just had a little self-care, as we were both still feeling under the weather. We also took the time to climb up to Samuel's Fortress, sitting high over the centre of the old town. It's clearly been significantly restored, but the result is very impressive in terms of great walls that you can climb, and get a great view over the town and lake!

8th September 2023

Having heard rumours of good hiking in the hills around Lake Ohrid, we finally got a day where we both felt up to trying it, so armed with a large piece of Borek each, courtesy of our host, we set out into the hills to the west.  The walking was spectacular, and whilst our unimaginative route largely had us walking straight up the side of the hill, the views, peace, and tranquility were well worth the 500M climb.

Back to town for a well earned Ice Cream afterwards, before packing up ready to move on to Skopje tomorrow!

9th September 2023

We arrived in the early afternoon following a pretty reasonable 4 hour bus journey. We couldn't help but notice the significant infrastructure work that seems to be underway, as there is a massive motorway project that seems to cut across the entire length of the country from Ohrid to Skopje - but oddly not one mile of this major road seems to be open yet.

We also noticed that Skopje seems to be built on quite a ggrand scale. From entering the city and driving along wide boulevards,  through to walking the few blocks to our apartment,  everything seems to take a lot longer than it looks on a map. These are big city blocks, and wide, straight boulevards. A legacy, it would seem, of the international rebuilding effort following the 1963 earthquake that devastated the city.

Arriving at our pleasant and spacious apartment on the fourth floor of a 12 storey tower block, we set out to get our bearings, finding ourselves agreeably close to the  city's central Macedonia Square, complete with statues... so many statues. We also crossed the river and did a loose loop of the old town, eyeing up a Mexican restaurant that looked like it would  be a good source of dinner.

It was, and we returned to the apartment well fed, having also booked a walking tour for the next day, to help us get our bearings and learn a bit more about this intriguing City.

10th September 2023

Alarm clock, breakfast, walking tour. That was the plan.  We had scoped an eatery that opened at 8, however getting there at quarter to 9 it wasn't quite ready, so we crossed the bridge and grabbed a coffee and a shared sandwich at what we believe is the local equivalent of a Costa. We then headed to the start point of our walking tour, and there followed a very interesting two hours learning loads about the city and it's history - both ancient and more modern. To say our guide was not enamoured of the government was an understatement, but a lot of his observations did tally with things we'd already noted - half finished projects, and things that had been built fairly recently showing premature signs of wear.

We got chatting to another british couple on the tour, and joined them for a drink and some lunch, where we got some useful tips for some of the experiences we have planned on this adventure! Our afternoon involved a visit to the (unfortunately closed) modern art museum and the lovely big City Park - and basically more exploring-  before heading up to the local craft brewery for dinner - only to find they had run out of beer! One of those days...

11th September 2023

Today was the planned trip to the Matka Canyon - a popular destination for tourists and locals alike. We grabbed some breakfast at a local bakery and coffee shop (real French croissants - heaven!) and made our way to the bus station in plenty of time to buy tickets, both for the day trip to Matka Canyon (a princely £1.70 each for a day pass) and for our next leg to Sofia on Wednesday. All successful, we waited for the local bus to the Canyon, which although 30 minutes late, was a reasonable bus and made for a straightforward journey.

Matka Canyon is lovely. It's clearly popular, as there were plenty of cars and a couple of coaches in the car park where we were dropped off. At first it seems a little busy and crowded, as there's not only the car park, but a world championship Canoe course, and the hydro-elecric dam itself, but once you've walked the 1/2km up to the lake, it become very peaceful and tranquil. The steep walls of the canyon and relatively narrow gorge combine with the lake-water to regulate the temperature perfectly, so although it was over 30 degrees, it felt blissful walking the naturally air-conditioned paths.

We took a boat trip up the lake to get a look around, and were happy we did so as that allowed us to see the lovely canyon in all it's glory, which would have been more difficult from the trails on the sides.  We then walked up the trail a bit to the monastery, and hotel and restaurant complex (seems to be a pattern here) where we had an excellent luch sat overlooking the lake itself.  Linen tablecloths hinted at the relatively expensive food (captive audience) but in fairness it was very well prepared and tasty - if not a bit oversalty, which seems to be a preference here.

After lunch we hot-footed it back to the car park/bus stop, as while we expected the bus to be running behind it's schedule, we didn't want to miss it as they are only every 90 minutes. After waiting about 45 mins, a local cabbie touting for business told us the bus was not coming. Difficult to believe, given the ulterior motive of the message bearer - but it did set us thinking. We worked out that we could walk up to a village about 3KM back towards the city - itself about 17KM away - and would either meet the bus on it's way down, or be on another bus route once we got to this point.

By the village,  there was no sign of the bus (damn, the cabbie was right!) but we did meet a very kind antipodean couple who drove past and asked if we needed a lift anywhere! This was very handy, and we took them up on their kind offer, getting dropped off at the city outskirts where they were headed, and then managing to catch a bus back to the city centre!

All-in-all it was an interesting day out, and reminded us of how pleasantly surprising the kindness of strangers can be.

12th September 2023

A relatively easy day today, after the trials o the North Macedonian bus service! We visited the modern art museum, with its exhibition of Balkan painters celebrating the support given to Skopje by that community after the 1963 earthquake. I went in search of some portable coffee making equipment, succeeding in finding a mini- espresso making device, an we also visited the SkopjeHistory Museum. This latter was quite poignant, as it is housed in the remains of the old railway station, half of which was destroyed by the earthquake. Going out into the outside space and seeing the half-collapsed walls and twisted rebar of the building really is quite thought provoking!

We tried some more traditional Macedonian food this evening, Julie having a Pork Knuckle in a dish made out of bread, and me going for their baked beans, along with a sausage. The beans tasted quite like Heinz, but with added cheese! 

13th September 2023

There's not a lot to say except that we hiked to the bus stop and caught the bus to Sofia! All in all, we had a very pleasant and (largely) relaxed time in North Macedonia.