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: