The first detour has occurred! My rough plan of a straight-line from Crete to London is starting to get some luscious curves. The seed was first planted on arriving in Gjirokaster, Albania where an Australian couple mentioned looping through North Macedonia and Kosovo and then continuing in the Albanian north. Well that sounds delightful, I'll have some of that please. Thus I slid into Macedonia (ixnay on the north-e, I hear the rebranding is a bit contentious with the locals), with time on my side and a desire to bring my budget back under control.
Lake Ohrid
There's a certain disorientation I feel while travelling. At home you take for granted knowing where everything is, down to which aisle your favourite snack is in your local supermarket. Backpacking you can be moving between towns and cities every couple of days and then having to reorientate and find your bearings. That feeling is only compounded when moving from one country to another.
Day 1
Arriving in Ohrid from a comfortable bus ride from Tirana (as long as I ignored how reckless the bus driver was driving). I started walking into town searching for a supermarket to quench my fizzy drink addiction and also to check the prices of things, which will give me an idea of how the cost of things will fit in my budget. In Albania I'd lost track of the days and had got used to an open all ours kind of culture. Arriving in Macedonia I quickly discovered it was Sunday and most things were shut. Pushing on and turning up to Old Town Hostel nice and sweaty I saw that half the people on the bus ride had come along to the same place.
Marco checked me in and cornered me into playing a few games of darts and to my own shock I won a game, having not played in probably a decade. Marco is one of those rare people that has an infectious personality, seemingly eternally happy and optimistic.
I pulled myself away from the darts matches to appease my grumbling stomach in search of food. Rather than trawling through all the restaurants I just went with the one suggested by the hostel for some local cheap eats, grabbing some Tavče gravče (baked beans) and grilled chicken, standard basic behaviour for me at this point in the balkans.
I did a quick lap of the main square along Ohrids lake trying to pick up the vibe of the place. First impressions, a postcard worthy picturesque town on the lake with mountains calling to be climbed.
Vibe check complete, I headed back to the hostel for an attempt at socialising. I guess I'd class myself as an introvert, or at least it takes me a while to warm up in conversations. Going to the hostel common areas to find people to hangout with for me can feel like an interview process, often cycling through the same old questions and recycling all the old stories. I can hear how bored I am talking about the same old shit for the upteenth time. Luckily this hostel had some well organised common areas with a group of people already chatting and was unusually easy to slide into conversation where sometimes it can feel hard and clicky.
The group conversation eventually turned to food, going along despite already eating and then having a second dinner at the same restaurant. Thinking I'd only have a beer, but I couldn't quite bring myself to watch other people eat without something in front of me. I quickly caved and went for round two on the beans, silently hoping the beans beans rhyme wouldn't come to fruition later in the evening for my roommates.
Day 2
A hike day. At dinner the previous evening were two dutch girls who had rented a car and invited us along for the hike they were thinking of doing. This luckily saved us walking an additional 6km from the town to get to the start of the hike.
We drove up to a small village called Velestovo and started the hike from there. There's not much there except somewhere to fill your water bottle from a spring, I can't remember seeing a shop or even a restaurant. To begin with there was a slightly steep ascent then relaxed a little, walking through forests providing some cover from the sun bearing down. When we reached up to the hill and rocky peaks the real challenge started where we were swarmed by an uncomfortable amount of flies which hitchhiked on our bags, heads and shoulders. The crawling feeling was the worst and standing still for more than 10 seconds had the flies dive bombing towards the moisture of your eyes and shooting past your ears, making it sound like you were trackside at the Silverstone. I also had the unfortunate situation of a fly lodging itself far up my nose and having to forcefully eject it.
Despite this the views of the lake were impressive but somewhat thwarted by the insect situation. Had i known it was going to be like that i would have bought my midge net i bought for the west highland way, and covered up all exposed skin. As soon as we reached back to the tree line the flies dissipated and were back to a comfortable walk without having to flail our arms.
Arriving back at town we grabbed some taco fuel and spent some time trying to get motivated to expand my travel notes into a blog post. I made some progress but in busy common rooms there's plenty of ways to distract yourself from doing something that feels like work.
I intended to extend my stay in Ohrid, as there were plenty of things to explore and options for other hiking trails, boat tours or cycling around some of the lake. Unfortunately the hostel was busy and I’d left it too late to stay in the same room. Having to pack up all my stuff to move rooms, I took that as a sign to continue onto Skopje and hang out with some of the people I’d met.
Now short of time to fully explore Ohrid I headed out to try and tick off the big hitters; the old town, fort and amphitheatre. Unfortunately I totally missed that Ohrid was famous for the pearls they make from fish scales and a special olmusion. Supposedly only two families in the town are aware of the methodology to make the pearls, which I would have liked to check out but was in Skopje when I found out it was “a thing”.
The group met up at the local market for dinner, choosing a grill restaurant. I double ordered dinner thinking if it's this cheap then the portions are going to be small. Luckily the second dish never materialised as the portions were huge. The mixed grill two guys ordered could have fed five and indeed they needed help to finish it. The meat sweats were truly felt by all.
Skopje
Day 3
I woke up early, but decided against accepting the offer to go for a swim in the lake, the snakes and crawlies in there that put me straight off. Instead I thought going for a run around the areas I hadn't seen was the best idea. I ran around the fort side of the town going down to the rocky coast and seeing the churches, not that I could appreciate much of it as I huffed and puffed up and down all the hills. As I looped around the outcropping and getting back to the main town square, I decided to keep running until the end of the promenade racking up a bit over 10km. An amount of effort the body wasn't ready for after the hike the day before. On the runI spotted some outdoor gyms which aren't a given in the Balkans and took the opportunity to do some upper body exercises. Despite the challenge of getting up early to exercise it was a pleasant way to spend the morning.
As is tradition in the Balkans we made our way to a street corner and hoped for a bus to turn up to take us to Skopje. As with any place you go people who have been there will give their opinion on the place, but I was looking forward to Skopje just because of the polarising effect it seemed to have on people. Driving into the outskirts of the town is quite unremarkable and a normal concrete block buildings. But as we moved closer to the centre the quirkiness of the place started to manifest, first spotting the iconic London red buses having their second lease of life brought a smile to my face. Closing in on the centre huge statues started dominating roundabouts and then smallers ones popping up regularly along the sidewalks, the facades on prominent buildings started to clash with a mix of modern glass, greek pillars, roman and then communist era brutalist. By this point you start to understand how Skopje has been named City of Kitsch and city of statues, a jumbled mess of styles brought together and seems to have a marmite effect on people.
Shanti hostel had been recommended as the place to stay in Skopje but unfortunately it had been fully booked. Instead settled on Hostel Mickitos which had a prime location close to the ottoman bazaar. I don't want to do it dirt, it was perfectly acceptable but after Ohrid which had a great hostel it was a bit of a come down, small common areas, grotty showers and a dorm room that smelt like a gyms locker room.
My immediate instinct was to spend as little time as possible in the hostel and explore the city centre until a free walking tour in the late afternoon. The walking tour was a bit of a long one at three hours, but our guide Zoran made it worthwhile. Explaining the long mismanaged project of Skopje 2014 which resulted in the kitsch effect. My understanding is there's mixed feelings around the project with locals obviously dismayed at the wasteful use of public money, but despite this it's created a space that locals use and has become a tourist attraction even if it's not for the reason intended.
Zoran finished the walking tour in the Ottoman Bazaar which was somewhere you could easily spend a long afternoon and evening exploring. Most streets split into sections selling jewellery, gold, wedding dresses etc. I'd give a full account of its history but truthfully I remember very little from the walking tours. Whenever I try to explain something I think I've learned from one I start full of confidence I know what I'm talking about and then quickly start losing the thread.
The group from the walking tour dispersed into the sandstone coloured bazaar and my travel buddy Bryony and I plonked ourselves down in the craft brewery and tried their double IPLs. Taking a sip of the cold beer contemplating how they can make beer double anything. As the liquid passed over my tastebuds ah fuck they doubled the hops. Hoppy beers are not my favourite but on a warm evening any cold drink is a blessing.
Feeling a need for a change from the grilled meat of the Balkans we searched out a sushi place for poke bowls. Seeing that a bowl full of vegetables would be too healthy I ordered some sushi as well, turning out to be some of the best I've had, period. Probably because they deep fried it.
Day 4 - Matka Canyon
Having some travel buddies I took a step back from ambling around finding out what to do, and let others take the lead. A hike to the Matka Canyon was on the cards. Starting early we got the number 25 bus up to the cable car that would take us up to the Millennium Cross, having a slight moral dilemma on the bus where it had a trust system of scanning a specific payment card for journeys none of which we had, failing to pay with our normal bank cards and no one to take hard cash. Ultimately my moral compass failed and I'd rather nab a journey than walk up a main road to get to the start of the hike.
The cable car cost 100 lek to the top and had some nice views out across the city, and was quick enough before getting too hot in the perspects box. There's a walking trail option if you prefer, but with the hike from the top to Matka Valley about 12km long it seemed like it would be a bit of a slog.
The hike was verdant and full of nature, most of which I wouldn't usually have noticed on my own but Bryony has an interest and gave a masterclass in butterflies, inserts, birds, plants and then interestingly taxidermy.
A beautiful quiet hike, along the way we didn't see any other people, most people probably opting out of hiking in the peak summer sun. The first two thirds of the trail is quite exposed with little shade, but providing a view across the city to our right. Then we descended down into the canyon having a little respite from the sun battering rays.
I enjoy the company of people on a hike but it's also nice to be in your own thoughts and find peace in the rhythm of your steps. At some point I pulled ahead of my travel buddies and let them talk amongst themselves and let Bryony practise her French with Adrien.
Making our way through the dense forest we made it to Matka and made our way along the canyon dodging taxi drivers' requests for transport and calls for us to buy things for the stalls set out along the trail. Quite a contrast to the quiet trail we’d been travelling down for the previous 4 hours.
A short 15 minutes down the canyon you get to the dam where there's access to boat trips to a nearby cave, kayaks and a pricey restaurant. We opted for a beer at the bar overlooking the lake and then hopped in the kayaks for an hour for 300 lek. It's been a while since I've been kayaking but I swear the type they were hiring out had a handicap, it was like gliding through day old jelly, and required a frantic hard sprint back to the dock to get back before going over our hour and getting charged double. Getting from the kayak to the dock was an ungraceful affair, only made worse by being directed by the ten year old that now seemed to have taken over from their parent.
My thoughts lingered on all the kids I saw working in the Matka area, it was a week day and I would have expected them to be in school. It's not an uncommon thing to see children having to work out in the world but in Europe? It was unexpected.
Getting back to Schoder required fending off the taxi drivers who were assuring us that the buses had finished for the day or there was a strike, only for it to turn up and have their words die on their tongues. Another experience to further cement my distrust of taxi and tuktuk drivers.
Day 5
My last day in Schoder and I decided to splurge out on a private room going from 8 euros a night to 25. From the start I intended to do a mix of dorms and private rooms but my budget savvy subconscious hasn't allowed me to do it very often, and bad dorm experiences seems to be the trigger for action.
For 25 euros a night the room was frill-less but private. I took advantage of that by gathering an array of snacks and placing them within arm's reach on the bed as I caught up on TV shows. A glorious day. In dorm life privacy is in short supply so being able to lie in a bed all day, binge on snacks seemily wasting a day away and not being judged for not seeing the incredible sights outside the window is a luxury worth paying for.
After spending some time exploring the city and understanding regeneration projects undertaken by the government, I came away liking the city.
