STRUGA ON LAKE OHRID - LAST STOP IN MACEDONIA

The last three posts have been about near-by day trips from Struga (Vevcani, Kalista and Ohrid).  The first several days here were stressful due to a dispute with our vacation rental landlord.  We just found out on our last day that the dispute has been settled in our favour to the tune of a big refund.  It makes being without all advertised amenities for almost two weeks go down a bit better.

We wanted to be on Lake Ohrid and chose Struga over the bigger and very popular Ohrid simply because it's smaller and less touristy by sheer size alone, although it is a very popular place in the summer.  

Struga is large enough to have everything you need including the Old Bazaar with all fresh foods daily.  The ethnic mix here is reflected in all the food choices.

In addition to the lake, Struga has the peaceful Black Drin River flowing through it. It's lined with cafes, restaurants, hotels, pedestrian walkways and the far end from us has housing, so it is totally accessible.  On any given hot day there are as many people swimming in and jumping off the bridges at the river, as there are people lounging by and swimming in the lake.  Both have crystal clear waters.  Both are a great temperature.  Both are particularly enchanting to stroll in the evening with the water reflecting lights and images back.  

Black Drin River

At the place where the lake flows into the river, a pair of swans drift along beside the restaurants, down one side, then paddling up the other side and are often rewarded with scraps from diners.

Restaurants create these cooling fountains for customers sitting by the river

Mid-air jump

Waiting for swimmers to move? ... or getting up courage??

Where the waters of Lake Ohrid flow into the River Drin, then on to the Adriatic Sea

River Drin at Night

Housing along the river

Lake Ohrid:

We notice that the lake is different from lakes in North America in that there are not many boats on the lake, other than paddle boats.  It's surprising since we see many VERY expensive cars trolling and speeding on the streets.  Fast cars seem to be the thing here.

Some numbers about Ohrid Lake from Wikipedia: 30.4 km long; 14.8 km wide; 87.5 km of shoreline shared between North Macedonia (56.02 km) and Albania (31.5 km).  This lake is one of the oldest and deepest lakes in the world.  It may be five million years old, whereas many lake basins fill in with sediment after about 100,000 years.  The maximum depth is 940 feet; average depth is 508 feet.  This UNESCO site has over two hundred endemic species.

For more information about Lake Ohrid, go here: Lake Ohrid (Wikipedia)

This is weird but we never manage to swim while we are here.  What??

The first day we go to the beach, we just get settled on our chairs and there's an explosion, and another and thick black smoke fills the air.  A large storage shed that stores small boats and motors go up in flames.  We scurry away, not wanting to breathe in the toxic fumes.

We do day trips away; there are cool, cloudy days; we are dealing with our accommodation dispute and going to the library for WiFi.  Before you know it, its time to go.  Oh well, we plan beach time on the Albania Riviera coming up soon.

On our second to last night in Struga, we want to take Rozie and Sami for dinner as an appreciation for all their many kindnesses to us, but we want them to recommend the restaurant and it does not disappoint.  They choose an Albanian family eatery that makes everything from scratch.  Sami and I choose goulash while Rozi and Paul choose a cabbage stew.  The family has learned to make a Turkish bread that is so good on its own but even better mopping up juices from our dishes. 

The next morning Sami and Rozi take us out, first for coffee on the lakeside:

Then they take us to a Macedonian bakery for a pastry called Burek.  

It comes in two choices of fillings in phyllo pastry: meat and onion or ricotta cheese.  It's fabulous.  Then Sami gets some extra for us to take home.  So generous.

Tonight is our last night.  After dinner, we are heading down to Sami and Rozi's apartment one more time.  She is going to teach me to make Halvah...which I love.  We had thought we would be on the Albania Riviera at the same time as Sami and Rozi, but unfortunately, it looks like it won't work out.  We'll miss them.

Making Halvah

We were met only with kindness in this country.  People stopped to offer help if we were looking at a map on a street corner, or trying to communicate with someone who didn't have English or was wondering which bus to take.  An apartment block we stayed in never closed the front door and people sleep with only their screen doors in the summer.  People here don't make much money but there seems to be no problems with theft.  We don't see people living in the streets.  Its a good feeling.

We have to be at our bus stop at 04:45 hours tomorrow morning.  The neighbours across the way are having an annual party which is supposed to get quite noisy as the evening progresses, so we'll see how all that turns out.

See you in Albania

PS:  In the end, our Macedonia map looked like this:

OHRID, MACEDONIA

Sami insists on driving us to Ohrid on the day we choose to go.  He orientates us to the town, gives us some tips on what to see, then drops us at Samuel's Fortress while he waits an hour for us to finish.  Then he drops us downtown and we're off to explore on our own.

In the 10th. century Ohrid was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire when this fortress was built upon the ruin of an earlier fortification that dates back to the 4th. century.

This fortress is fascinating.  Much of the ruins have been reconstructed so you can get a real sense of its size and function.  The old village on the top of the hill is completely walled and within the walled village is the fortress which is walled in itself and protected the king of the time.  A wall within a wall.  And of course, the views from the top of the walls are spectacular.

The old village remains vibrant and well-kept, flowers bloom off every balcony and deck.  Only people who live or have businesses here are allowed to drive on these narrow cobbled streets.

In the centre of the old village is an ancient amphitheatre.  It has a stage and lights so it clearly plays an important role in the community today.  There is also an archaeological site, now covered by a building.

There are many lovely churches in Ohrid.  We see most of them from the outside as we are a bit 'churched-out', but this blog post does a good job of describing each: David' Been Here

St. Clement Church on Plaosnik Hill, built 13th. century

Leaving the old village and the fortress we head down to the lake.  Ohrid is a major vacation destination and frankly, the crowds are rather overwhelming.  It must be very beautiful in the off-season.

The waterfront area is especially attractive with green spaces and flowers and landscape architecture.

We have lunch and observe that prices here are about 3x greater than where we are staying in Struga.

We choose to take the combi between Struga and Ohrid.  It runs about every 20 minutes and costs 50 denar  ($1.50 CAD) each.  If you are in a hurry there are guys with private cars looking to make a dollar who cruise the bus stops and will take you for the same price as the bus.

We find what we seek and get tickets for a boat ride that will take us to St. Naum for the next day...20 Euros.  Its a 90 minute ride each way with a couple of stops on the way.

Random Ohrid Photos: Every bit of space where people can get into the water is taken, even in the 'urban' areas:

We board the boat the next day and are seated with a couple from Germany, former teachers, now administrators who drive every day to Switzerland to work.  The pay is much better there as are benefit packages.  They spend their vacations travelling and so there is barely a lull in conversation as we swap travel stories.  hmmm ... Namibia sounds like an excellent trip to add to our list.

The Captain points out that we are coming to the home of Tito who was President of Yugoslavia from 1953 to 1963 when he became head of the Socialist Federation of the Republic of Yugoslavia for life.  Although he ruled as a dictator the people had more freedoms than those under communist rule in other parts of Eastern Europe.

Our next stop is the Bay of Bones and interesting re-construction of how people here used to live.

This display in the museum building shows how the artifacts looked when found underwater

This was a most interesting stop.

At last, we approach the Monastery of Saint Naum (Sveti Naum).  From the water it looks impressive:

This website Discovering Macedonia has an aerial view that shows the entire huge complex. 

We get a table for lunch with our new German friends (Martin & Juta), after which we have about an hour-and-a-half to explore.

Photos of and Around the Monastery

 Peacocks strut the landscaped grounds at will.  

This water feature contributes to the serene feeling of the grounds.

One can take a 20-minute rowboat ride on the springs behind the complex.

Arriving back in Ohrid we stop for a drink and more conversation with Martin and Juta.  

Then back to Struga.

THE MISADVENTURES OF A SOCK LEAD TO NEW FRIENDS & A TRIP TO KALISTA

Paul decides to bring in the laundry that hangs from a rack over our fourth-floor balcony, fumbles and drops one of my socks which falls to a first-floor balcony.  

Later the next day we accompany the lonely sock down to find its mate…and we meet Sami and Rozi, such incredibly lovely people.  This day we talk in their living room for a couple of hours while sipping wine.

Sami and Rozi are Albanians, who as a young couple, knowing no one and no English fled to the United States via a camp in Italy and finally landed in Connecticut.  They worked hard, raised a family and now can return here for six months every year.  Besides their apartment in this building, they have three apartments in Vlore on the Albanian Riviera which they rent out for part of each year.

Sami is briefly interrupted by a neighbour who needs his assistance.  He is Mr. Fix-It of the building.  The one on whom everyone depends.  He returns limping.  He has aggravated a sciatica problem and needs crutches for a couple of days.

We meet one of their sons and his boys who are visiting from Connecticut.  They love it here and the son has also just purchased an apartment in Struga.

Sami & Rozi give us  tips on what to see here in Struga and in Albania.

In a couple of days, we check on Sami to see how he’s doing and he and Rozi say they are taking us out for some sight-seeing and coffee.  They clearly love the history of this area and love showing people around and telling stories.  Rozi grew up in a village not far from here and knows all the little villages well.

We are heading to the Monastery of Kalista.  Just outside of the monastery is a hotel and restaurant built into the rock.  Sami thinks the back wall of each room is like this, built into the rock and the fronts face the lake.

The monastery is a complex that has four churches, including an ancient cave church.  The grounds are lakefront and stunning.  Before the water levels in the lake fell, people used to arrive by boat for their worship services.  The grounds here are lovingly maintained.  Apparently, the monks still use the monastery in the winter.

There is a magnificent 700-year-old maple tree on the grounds.  It looks so strong and resilient and healthy, it just draws you to admire it, be close to it, to touch it.

Inspecting the plaque about the tree

There is a souvenir shop here that sells wine made on the property along with religious icons and other items.

We are let first into the St. Athanasius church which is beautifully painted like all of the Orthodox churches we have been into.  This church was built in the 14^th. century and its frescoes remain fresh looking.  The artwork here is purported to be the greatest collection of medieval fine art in the country.

Before entering the church there are the wood doors to admire and the mosaic above the doors.

 The new church on the grounds – the Nativity of Holy Mother of God was rebuilt in 1977, keeping the foundation from the 18^th. century.  Sunday services are held here regularly.

There is a legend here of the Icon of the Holy Mother of God that during WW II was thrown several times into the river and each time returned on its own.  This icon is painted with a black face and clothing and holds a black Jesus.

Then Sami pays a small fee and we are let in to explore the ancient cave church … a place where monks hid in times of conflict.  It’s amazing.  This church is completely authentic.  No restoration work has been done here.  The whole east side of the church is a stone wall, so the church was built according to the dictates of the dimensions of the cave.

Up a set of stairs, then duck to get into the church and up more stairs.

First, we see rooms that monks would live in.  They could hide here in times of conflict.

The original frescoes too are untouched:

Even after leaving the church in the cave, our 'heads' are still there, so we linger here on these lovely grounds a while.  Then to coffee. 

We go to a place owned by Sami’s second cousin.  On one side of the road of this village is a small, new hotel that they built about five years ago.  Across the road is the campground they built at the same time.  Probably the prettiest campground we have ever seen, right on Ohrid Lake.

Trees and flowers have been planted.  

There's a coffee shop with a nice selection of beverages and snacks.  

Campers can eat at the hotel across the street.  They can bicycle into Struga on the free new bikes provided to get supplies or kayak also provided at no charge.  Behind the hotel, there are washing machines for their use (no charge).  Each site has electricity and there is one dumping station for all to use when needed.  The washrooms and showers are sparkling clean.  We still miss RV-ing and this is a place we could settle into for a while.  Of course, we meet the family.  Lingering over coffee here, with these lovely people is so relaxing.

When Sami drops us off, he insists on driving us to Ohrid tomorrow, to orientate us to the town, show us the fortress, a church and where to get tickets for the boat ride to St. Naum.  

As we walk back to the apartment building, Roszi is calling out to someone on a balcony of a nearby building – her cousin.

What a great morning it’s been.  We change into our swimsuits and head the two blocks to the lake, but alas vacation season is now in full swing and there is not a chair to be had.  We linger here over a beer and there over ice cream so we get a bit of sun, then it’s off to the library for some Wi-Fi time.

And all ends well for the socks, happy to be reunited.

Thanks, Sami and Rozi for a great day