After crossing the border it seemed that the road was not much better than the Albanian roads. The descent was a blast and the last 25 kilometres along the lake to the city of Ohrid were very long. After more than 90 kilometres and 1300 metres of elevation gain, it was time to celebrate and this time I celebrated with a cup of hot chocolate. I had booked a room to rest and take shelter from the rain for the next few days. The rain was not long in coming and that same night it started to pour.
Organising my panniers, I found the train ticket from Mostar to Sarajevo, which looked more like something from the USSR in the 80s or 90s than from the year 2023.
The next day I was so tired that I woke up at 12 o’clock after 11 hours of sleep. It rained all day and I only went out for lunch and dinner. For dinner I decided I would go to the only good looking pizzeria in town (Prova pizza), because pizza in general isn’t the strong point of the Balkans. The owner of the place, Marco, happened to be from Veneto in Italy and had family of Macedonian origin. He decided to open a pizzeria in Ohrid and another one by the lake, seeing that the pizza business was quite weak in this area. He was very interested in the trip and I’m very grateful to him, we will meet again in the future for sure.
The next day the rain finally stopped and I was able to go for a walk around the city. The views of the lake are beautiful.
Several sections are cliffs and give a special atmosphere to the city.
Orthodox churches soon made their presence felt, as the city is full of them. Some of them are in prime locations, such as St John Kaneo.
Algunas de ellas rodeadas de ruinas de una antigua basílica cristiana, com la San Pantaleón situada en el “Plaoshnik” creada por San Climente y donde se enseñaba en antiguo eslavónico que se escribía tanto en alfabeto cirílico com en alfabeto glagolítico. Fue destruida por los musulmanes y reconstruida en el siglo XVII.
Some of them are surrounded by the ruins of an ancient Christian basilica, such as St. Pantaleon’s in the “Plaoshnik”, which was founded by St. Climent and taught in Old Slavonic, which was written in both Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets. It was destroyed by the Muslims and rebuilt in the 17th century.
And others are very old, such as Santa Sophia, dating back to the 11th century.
On the way to the upper town I kept coming across churches at every corner.
And finally I spotted the castle on the horizon with the North Macedonian flag. The truth is that travelling out of season is very pleasant, because during the summer the city must be full of tourists and it must lose a lot of charm.
There is a bureaucratic dispute between North Macedonia and Greece over the name of North Macedonia. Greece forbids it to be called Macedonia alone, as it considers that the name Macedonia refers to the northern Greek provinces that have this name.
The influence of the former Yugoslavia can still be seen today on the streets of Ohrid, for example with the Yugo car brand, which makes its origin clear.
I would also like to highlight the banknotes of North Macedonia and how beautiful they are in my opinion, starting with the Macedonian 10 dinar banknote. This banknote has an animal on it that would be important later on during my stay in Macedonia.
Followed by the 50 dinar note.
Continuing with the 200 dinar.
And ending with the 500 dinar.
The next day it was time to hit the road again and another tough mountain stage awaited me. I left Ohrid heading north towards Resen and the first pass of the day was Vukovo, almost 1200 metres high, where I saw Cheng’s 50aldia sticker, which inspired me before setting off and gave me some good advice.
At the top, the views were incredible and there was very little traffic, which, together with the good road conditions, allowed me to enjoy the climb quite a lot.
Of course, it was very cold, a maximum of 5 degrees, and at that altitude it was noticeable. You can see it with the lenticular clouds that accompanied me all day long and that seem to have the shape of a UFO.
After the descent it was time to go up again, this time with Prespa Lake as a backdrop.
The second pass was a bit tougher, especially with the sun beating down at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Luckily a Welsh couple (Patrick and Alice) travelling with their van cheered me up and after stopping for a while in the middle of the climb they gave me two oranges. Everyone I meet goes in the opposite direction, coincidence or bad luck?
After the second glacial descent I arrived in Bitola, where I took a walk through the town. I was expecting something more, but the clock tower and the narrow streets of the market were quite curious. I took another cheap room to rest and continue with strength the next day to cross to Greece, where Ari would come to see me for a few days.
The next day began with a bad start, a bad road and a lot of headwind. At the border I saw peacocks again, but this time not on banknotes but in real life. They wanted to say goodbye to me before I crossed to Greece.
My trip to North Macedonia was quite short but I wanted to see more and learn more about the local people and culture. The nature is spectacular and the people are very friendly. I hope I can come back soon and enjoy Ohrid Lake and its beauty again.
