Rented a car for the remainder of Albania and headed 100km northeast to a new country - North Macedonia. Getting out of the city was interesting as Tiranians seem to have some interesting rules of the road. But once I was on the highway it was all good. Even stop at a big modern rest area for gas. And then the highway ended and we meandered from little town to town and back and forth on the switchbacks over the mountain to Lake Ohrid.
It is the biggest and deepest lake in Europe and half the shoreline is in Albania.
I have tried to avoid border crossing gs with cars as they are known to be tricky. But then I saw all the passenger cars flying by while we inched along with the bus. So here goes. I have all my ducks in a row except my ‘green card’ for insurance. I stop at a little insurance both just before the border and for 15€ I buy insurance for Macedonia. Because apparently I can decline insurance in Albania but I need it in Macedonia. Or maybe it’s that the rental car company can’t get insurance cross border. I don’t know, and it isn’t just this border.
Otherwise it’s like driving across passport control at the airport. On my way.
Lake Ohrid is an old city however you can drive in it. Google has a hard time distinguishing one stone lane from another but I finally reach the lake and there is Villa Lucjia.
It’s typical of the guest house. But it does have a small balcony overlooking the lake.
I’m a little peckish so after a quick walk and an ATM to grab yet another currency, I head to one of the many lakefront restaurants for a snack. (Thankfully the language has reverted back to Slavic, not that I ever got very proficient in that) The local cuisine is well marked on the menus and there is basically a blend of three cheeses and some bacon to make like a fondue. It is very delicious. The red wine is nice too.
It’s funny how many beautiful sunsets I have seen over so many different bodies of water. We have about an hour to go here and there seems to be a walkway on the other side of my room that heads along the shoreline. It’s actually a boardwalk and while the sunset isn’t spectacular it’s nice. (ps: the water is super clear and according to a guy swimming not terribly cold but we have gotten away from the very white limestone so the water doesn’t glow blue.)
On the walk back I check out some of the houses. They are mostly white with dark brown trim. And each story is stepped out from the base as historically they paid tax on the square footage on ground cover. So they got larger as the went up. Even the street lanterns are inverted little houses.
I won’t lie I could have slept through dinner. But I’m glad I didn’t as I enjoying another fab dish of slow cooked beef with shallots. It’s not huge and perfect after the cheese course.
Tomorrow I will take the boat trip around the lake with a stop at the famous monastery. And some meal
Should include the famous lake fish. Still not exactly what it is as both countries call it something different. Maybe carp?
I should also explain that Macedonia is closely aligned with Serbia as an orthodox catholic population. They were the last two members of Yugoslavia.
And you might wonder why, last stop, Thessaloniki Greece is included in a Balkans trip. Well, although not Balkan northern Greece has always been know as Greek Macedonia. And it is one of the reasons I am in North Macedonia as Greece objected to using ‘Macedonia’ when they finally dissolved Yugoslavia in the mid 2000s.
Funnily enough even though there isn’t a lot of love between the two, there is an extensive amount of Crylic signage and while I am pretty good at the ‘well that word kind of looks like’ it’s a lot more difficult with a different alphabet.
Logically it would have made sense to go to Greece from here but the border crossings etc make going back to Albania more practical. I hope.
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