Moving on to Macedonia and Arrival in Ohrid

Thursday May 31

We had a relaxed morning and didn’t leave the hotel in Berat until around 10:15 when we climbed into our private mini-bus and set off for the border. The first part of the drive was familiar, the lush market gardens, and planted fields plentiful. As we drove along we noticed the abundance of half-built buildings, gas stations, ruined apartment blocks and businesses; empty office buildings with signs up for rent or sale. We passed miles of sun-baked empty fields; men lounged by the side of the roads, in cafes, in groups, seemingly with no work; we passed a more prosperous area with thriving olive trees, and small businesses. Stalls in town were packed with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, cherries, and feta cheese. White communist apartment buildings stood out on the other side of the valley. We noticed that many of the workers in the fields were older, men and women farming with simple equipment using ponies to pull hay carts. Donkeys stood tethered in the shade patiently waiting their next task.

The country side around us deteriorated into post communist era doom. Everything  looked dark, and grey. There were abandoned factories, and buildings, no colour, devastation.

I wonder about the people living in this environment. Their perspective must be very different than that of the people from Tirana, for example, where the remnants of communism are being thrust aside rapidly, providing more prosperity and opportunity for the people. The government is trying hard to improve conditions in their country; none the less, one can only imagine the time it will take to bring the country up to the required standard for it to become a member of the EU. It’s interesting, that there are many countries waiting to join the EU, and it would seem that in this time of uncertainty, a united Europe would provide safety and cohesiveness. And then there is Britain, determined to go it on its own.We were soon out of this sobering scenery and back into mountains and heading for the border. One last stop to see the bunkers “in the wild” and we reached the border.

 Interestingly, the driver of the bus approached customs with all our passports; he came back to Peter saying that authorities were asking for “money;” Peter said “No, our company does not pay bribes!” We sat a few moments longer, and we were on our way chugging up and down the hills in Macedonia!! About 45 minutes later we arrived in Ohrid on the edge of Lake Ohrid. Peter told us that we were following parts of the route of the Via Egnatia – the ancient  Roman road that connected Constantinople to Rome.

We checked into the hotel – Nova Riviera – very nice – modern, clean., and friendly, efficient staff. All of our accommodation on this trip has been good and most of it quaint and interesting.

Peter took us on our brief orientation tour of the old town; up the narrow windy streets, through a churchyard and down another little alley to the water, and a long wooden board walk. On the way we stopped into a little printing shop where we were shown how to make paper from soaking fibres of wood, and then pressing them to squeeze out excess water and leaving it to dry. They also had a Gutenberg Press and again showed us the process of printing that would have been used back in the 1300/1400s. We came to a pretty little church perched up on a cliff – The Church of St. John at Kaneo. The church was open but since I had no money, I didn’t go inside. Stunning location though. We took a short break and had a soda water in the little restaurant at the bottom of the cliff, sitting almost in the water. The evening air turned chilly, the lake became quite angry, and waves washed over the lower level of the restaurant. We walked back to the hotel taking a different route through the myriad of lanes.

View of Lake Ohrid from our Hotel Window

The Gutenberg Press

The Church of St. John at Kaneo

A couple of hours later, we headed out for dinner. It was quite chilly, and we both took our sweaters. We studied all the restaurant menus, and ended up walking back to where we had had our drink. The food was delicious, the atmosphere peppered with splashing waves rolling over the lower part of the restaurant and threatening patrons. One couple moved because they were nervous of the pollution from the lake splashing into their food!  

We were kept company by a number of roaming cats – about 4 maybe. All looked well fed! They didn’t bother you; just kept wandering in and out of the tables with hopeful looks filling their eyes! One chap took his napkin and angrily whacked a cat with it to “shoo” it away. I think that action spoke volumes about his personality!! After that, one of the cats came back and stretched up full length, paws on the table all set to steal his food, and as if to say “Huh, two can play that game!!” I didn't see them do that to anyone else!