So we’d made it into the FYR (Former Yugoslav Republic) FYR (for your reading) pleasure; and we were in Macedonia. By the way, did you know that Macedonia is also the name of a region in northern Greece, and the Greeks are pretty grumpy that FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) call themselves Macedonia. Fortunately we passed the border test of “who’s the real Macedonia?” and we were allowed in. We can’t tell you the answer, you’ll have to figure it out for yourself (depending on which border you enter by haha!).
So you’ll remember Steve and Amand had found a camp spot on the “beach” of Lake Prespa in the dark. In the morning they wake to find the beach is actually a mangrove swamp and they’d got to the last sandy bit before it turned into swamp and lake. It was definitely sandy, so much so that Amand had a little incident on the way back out. Over a piece of sand they’d crossed three times already Amand found it’d got a bit soft and dug himself a little hole.
A bit of digging and man power got Nadia on the go again only to find Lyubov’ had decided not to start. Steve was charging his multitude of devices on her battery and she’d finally called time on all this extra work. Fortunately they’d got over the softest sand and there was a little slope right there. They pushed Lyubov’ to the top and roll started her first go. Two incidents in quick succession, but no lasting damage done. Whew!
The only issue now was it’d put them behind in riding the 68kms to Ohrid to meet Sam. No worries, as the ride took their mind off this completely. It was a stunning mountain pass with views down to Lake Prespa and Lake Ohrid on either side. Looking down to Lake Ohrid was like looking off the edge of a cliff, how did the road go down there? It did and it was great, winding back and forth along the steep mountainside.
Once down on the lake they wound along and found a little place called the Bay of Bones – a bit morbid sounding really! Stopping and talking to the guy in the ticket booth revealed it was an exceptional archaeological complex with a replica of a pile-dwelling village recently found 50m underwater by some divers. The village dated back to 1200-700BC. A Roman military fortification had also been erected on the Gradiste Peninsula overlooking the village. The walls of the fortification that once had protected the Roman Empire from its enemies were still standing representing another period in the bay’s history. The name itself was due to the multitude of animal bones found in the area, a little less morbid that it could have been! As we were to later find out, Ohrid has an interesting and significant history, although it was a place none of us had ever heard of.
Once in Ohrid, after a few laps of the one-way system, Steve and Amand finally found Sam who was sitting outside a café with rosy cheeks and a bunch of locals. He’d already been plied with some mastika, a local spirit, and it hadn’t even gone 12pm yet. A quick run down of the mornings activities revealed Sam had gone down the same highway that wasn’t on the maps in Greece, come through Albania and over the same mountain pass. He’d also had a detour at the top to head up a gravel road which took him above the clouds and to some absolutely stunning views.
The guys Sam was now hanging out with welcomed us all, and told us we were just about to head out onto the lake on their boat. Sounds good to us! So we got introduced to Goran (lives in Sydney), Kire (almost won the local mayoral elections) and Peter (who was the best motorbike mechanic around). They fed us more mastika and then onto the boat and the lake we go. Looks like this is as far as we’ll ride today .
They give us a guided tour around the sites of Ohrid, which is stunningly beautiful from the lake. We see the Old Town, an ancient church or four, the fortress, the president’s and prime minister’s summer houses, and the mafia hotel and condos. They know an awful lot about the local history, Ohrid is known as the second Jerusalem, and Lake Ohrid is the the largest body of freshwater in all of Europe (30km long, 288m deep). The lake water if fully renewed every 7 years and the water is astonishingly pure, clean and clear. They tell us there is a lot of interest from some of the superpowers of Europe in this lake and that in time Macedonia will be very rich because of the water of Lake Ohrid. Ohrid itself is a UNESCO site and one of the oldest settlements in all of Europe, it is considered to have one of the most important collection of icons in the world. It also has significant religious architecture and history. An amazingly interesting place, and how lucky are we to have our own local tour guides and to be seeing it by boat, while being plied with local booze. By now we’ve moved on to another local speciality, rakia (not quite so palatable, but when it Rome…).
We came around a point and there’s a water slide jutting out into the lake. Amand exclaims how cool that is, and then by chance the other bloke (can’t remember his name) on the boat says he owns the water slide and would be happy to crank it up. We couldn’t quite believe our luck!! So we bring the boat up on shore and strip down ready to slide, but there’s problem… there’s a big air lock in the pipe. A bit of ingenuity and it’s fixed and we get on with having a great laugh.
As we finish up on the water slide, Peter has taken off, he turns up again with beer and chippies. It is an astoundingly beautiful moment as we bond further with the picturesque lake in the background, as still and calm as you’d ever see water. Quite spectacular!!
We then head back towards town on the boat, drag racing one of the local tour boats on the way. We stop at a local restaurant on the water for more beers and another local delicacy – fried plashica (similar to sardines) from the lake. And then watched the sunset from the boat as we headed back to town. All in all they wouldn’t take a cent from us. Wow!
Goran also had an uncle with a nearby hotel so we were hooked up with a room at locals rates for the night too.
What a random and special day, we are feeling so very fortunate!