Blogs from Ohrid, Ohrid, Macedonia, Europe
September 12th 2010
After three days of teaching, I escaped the confines of Prishtina and headed to Orhid, Macedonia with three other teachers, our curriculum coordinator and my principal. Orhid is a beautiful location on a lake, Lake Orhid of course, and half-way across the lake you enter into Albania. We arrived around noon on Thursday and set about discovering some wonderful food - fried zucchini and breaded cheese. I think I could have lived on the cheese alone. The interesting part was paying - the Macedonian money is not worth very much, so items on the menu can be 200 denar, and gelato for five is 180 denar. The money looked really cool though, even if it wasn’t worth very much. After lunch we wandered among the shops, as Orhid is quite a tourist town. Aside from the ... read more
July 27th 2010
Poszukujac komfortu, w Gjirokaster spalismy w bed& breakfast prowadzonym przez urocza pare, ktora zaprosila nas na wieczorna herbatke i pogaduszki. Okazalo sie, ze dom, w ktorym mieszkamy ma 200 lat i byl ich prezentem slubnym - nie 200, ale jakies 30 lat temu, a angielskiego nauczyli sie podczas takich wlasnie pogaduszek z turystami. A napar ktory nam zaserwowali, to albanska gorska herbata - niezidentyfikowanym ziolem. Na sniadanie podali nam najprawdziwsze na swiecie jaja na twardo i caly dzban przepysznej gorskiej herbaty - wiedzieli, ze nam smakuje, a po drodze kupilam sobie cala jej wiazke. Zeby nie wracac ta sama droga na polnoc, chcielismy pojechac bardziej na wschod, nad jezioro Ohrid. W praktyce, oznaczalo to gory, gory, gory... Pierwszy przystanek zrobilismy przy goracym zrodle kolo wsi Benja, ktore tworzy maly basenik, a raczej duza wanne, gdzie z ... read more
May 24th 2010
Quando decidimos incluir Macedônia e Albânia no roteiro, demos um tiro no escuro. Sem nunca ter ouvido falar de alguém que já tivesse ido para qualquer um desses países, e considerando que as noticias sobre ambos em jornais, revistas ou blogs de qualquer parte do mundo são mais do que escassas, não fazíamos idéia do que viria pela frente. Esperávamos cenário parecido em ambos, com alguma natureza bonita, dificuldade de locomoção e, certamente, desorganização, pobreza e sujeira. Mais uma vez, estávamos errados. Apesar da fronteira comum e do passado comunista, são dois universos paralelos. No primeiro, limpeza, beleza, povo simpático e nada de pobreza à vista; no segundo, o oposto: sujeira e mais sujeira, gente da máfia em todo canto, mais Mercedez por metro quadrado do que é possível imaginar, alguns mendigos (em geral ciganos) e ... read more
August 20th 2009
I am a couple of weeks behind, but thought I would try and catch up anyway. SO the true start of my travels, and I began jsut 30 minutes from where the general assembly was in Ohrid. We were only there for about a day, but I really liked it. We spent most of our time in the Old Town, and enjoyed walking around the Med style cobbled streets and houses complete with grape vines and cats. We visited a few of the 365 churches Ohrid boasts. They were a contrast of Orthodox Christianity and Catholic, all very ornate with lots of icons. The one that really sticks in my mind was the little church on the cliff over looking the stunning Ohrid lake. We sat by and gazed out to the view for about an ... read more
May 14th 2009
Welcome back everyone! I had a much needed, quite cozy night of sleep after my arrival in Ohrid, so now I'm ready to conquer the city! I have heard so much about Ohrid and I told myself I would make sure I hit up this town during my next Balkans visit. Ohrid is well known for its famous lake, beautiful old town, and overall gorgeous scenery. I'm so ready to discover what this town has to offer and I only have one day to do it. After having some breakfast, I headed out into town. I decided to head towards the lake. The day started off grey, cloudy with a bit of light rain to top it all off. "Oh well," I thought. Rain or shine I would make the most of my time here ... read more
May 11th 2009
After having reached the Skopje bus station, I was immediately approached by various taxi drivers all asking me, "Hey, where are you going?". "I'll take you anywhere you wanna go." They stand outside of the bus station seeking customers left and right. I have never experienced persistent taxi drivers like I had in Skopje. Many of them even offered to drive me to Ohrid. I got price offers from as high as 80 euros to as low as 30 euros. No thanks! The bus will be just fine with a nice little price tag of around 10 euros. "But you can ride in comfort in my nice car," several of them said. "No, it's ok, I wanna experience the local buses since I'm here for the adventure," I replied. One of the more persistent taxi drivers ... read more
May 10th 2009
After a really swell day in Pristina I headed for Macedonia. My plan was to reach Skopje, the capital city and then take a bus to Ohrid. I have been pondering over the idea of hitch-hiking around the Balkans. I would not even consider doing this in the USA, but this isn't the USA. In my mind I was thinking, "Come on Gina, you only live once." I have met several fellow travelers who have successfully hitch-hiked around the world. I can also do the same, right? I have even come across and heard about solo female hitch-hikers as well. I am also a solo female traveler. The more and more I think about it, the more exciting and adventurous it sounds. The only real concern I have, except the fact of nobody actually picking me ... read more
March 25th 2009
After the rather unpleasant incident on the Albanian side of the border, I got stamped into Macedonia without further ado. They actually had anti-corruption stickers everywhere warning foreigners not to hand over any money, which would have been plenty helpful when I'd entered Albania. There were no buses or taxis to the closest town and I was the only guy crossing the border, so I had to walk for a couple of kilometres before I finally managed to score a ride to Ohrid. I was quite happy when I arrived there half an hour later and the sun hadn't set yet, so I could get a glimpse of this town in daylight. I contacted my host Karen, who fetched me shortly afterwards from the central square in the old town, and took me to her place, ... read more
September 18th 2008
Nachdem wir den gestrigen Abend mit „griechischen Spezialitäten“ ;-) haben ausklingen lassen, wurden wir heut früh von strahlendem Sonnenschein und nur noch 20°C geweckt. Den Weg in Richtung mazedonische Grenze habe ich trotz des erholsamen Schlafs in unserem Designer-Zimmer weitestgehend verschlafen, bis wir durch Zufall über einen Wasserfall stolperten. Kurz den Anblick genossen und klein Dennis ans Steuer gelassen. Bis zur mazedonischen Grenze konnten wir unsere Gelüste noch im Rahmen der Möglichkeiten auslassen, doch dann sollte für uns die Hölle beginnen. Der Grenzübergang war kurz und schmerzlos, doch dann kam von J die Info, dass man sich hier besser an die Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzungen hält, da Ausländer wohl bevorzugt aus dem Verkehr gezogen werden. Das ist für uns natürlich kein Problem, da wir ja eh regelkonform fahren! ;-) Aber 40 und weniger in der Stadt u... read more
February 25th 2008
The bus got into Skopje at 545am. I had to change bus and the bus to Ohrid left just pass 6am. Got into Ohrid at 945am. At the bus station an elderly gentleman asked me if I was looking for accommodation and I said yes. He was riding a bicycle so we walked to his house which was a 10 minute walk from the bus station. He said he can give me a room with an attached bathroom for Euros 15 per night and a room without an attached toilet for Euro 15 a night. Vesna from Belgrade told me I should check-out Apartment Kosta as it is in the city centre and near the lake. I told him I will check apartment Kosta and come back, he tried to do a better deal by saying ... read more
