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Published: August 22nd 2009
TUESDAY 18 AUGUST 2009
My alarm went off before 6am but I was too tired to get up so ended up getting to the bus station at around 8am, and into Skopje at around 10am. Another border crossing without any problems. Because my map didn’t include even the ‘new’ area of Skopje where the hostel was I grabbed another cab for a grand total of two euro. Mind you, he tried to rip me off and I know I still paid too much because he said his meter was ‘broke.’
Managed to check into the hostel straight away; and they were extremely good about not charging me for the night before; mostly because I think they had managed to fill my bed anyway. Checked in, put all my clothes into the washing and at about 11am headed out. The hostel was a bit of a walk from the old town area but wasn’t too far so my first stop was the Stone Bridge (Kamen Most - 15th century) which led me into the old town (Carsija). I had a long wander through the shops and the cobblestone street pedestrian area, although didn’t actually buy anything. Went into the City Art Gallery; which is inside the Daud Pasa Baths; which used to be the largest Turkish baths in the Balkans. The ceiling of the rooms were somewhat impressive as the domes had small star-shapes cut into them to allow the light to pour through. The other baths (Clifte Aman) was another art gallery; although I didn’t go into those ones. Wandered around past the various churches (Church of Sveti Spas, Mustafa Pasa Mosque). From there I climbed up to the City Fort; otherwise known as the Trvdina Kale ruins which seemed to be having a lot of work done to them as areas were fenced off and there were lots of workmen about.
Then it was back to the hostel via the bus station where I bought my return ticket for a few days time to Dubrovnik on a direct (but long and overnight) bus.
Back at the hostel I got chatting with an Aussie girl who had been travelling for the best part of a year; and a Welsh guy I met originally in Budapest a few weeks back. Dinner was included at the hostel so we had vege soup and a few beers in the outside garden which was really quite pleasant. One of the guys from the hostel had brought their dog in and it was enormous - and only five months old. He kept jumping up on all the couches and seats and over people; and when he got excited there was really no calming him down and he really didn’t realise his own strength either!! He attacked the lamp for no reason and pretty much trashed the place just by throwing himself around.
WEDNESDAY 19 AUGUST 2009
Got up early to get some stuff done and repack my bag with all of my nice and clean clothes. Breakfast didn’t end up starting until about 8:30am (museil and bread and even eggs!) so I didn’t leave until just before 10am. Walked to the bus station this time and only got a tiny bit lost. Missed the 10:30am bus by about five minutes so had to wait until 11:15am. From there it was just over three hours onto Ohrid, which is said to be the prettiest town in all of Macedonia. The town centres around Lake Ohrid which is shared with Albania and is one of the oldest natural tetonic lakes in the world; and the deepest in the Balkans.
After finding my way to the hostel which was right in the old town; which of course meant up a hill, I checked in and headed out. First stop was the old Roman Amphitheatre and from there I continued uphill towards the Upper Gate (Gorna Porta) and the Church of Sveti Kilment. Inside the church it was quite impressive as the paintings of religious scenes had been restored. From floor to ceiling the church was covered in these pictures.
Onto the 10th-century citadel which had some lovely views over the lake and city and which also appeared to be undergoing significant restoration work. The citadel area was quite large so I ended up spending a lot of time there before heading downhill; past Sveti Klement I Pantelejmon Church. Then it was onto Sveti Jovan at Kaneo which was set on the cliffs above the lake. Was a lovely setting for a church; and below appeared to be the ‘beach’ where the locals went to. Apparently this church has made it into movies because of its stunning location.
Continuing downhill I went past Churhc of Sveti Sofia although unfortunately couldn’t go in as it was closed for rehearsals. As I wandered through the centre of old town I walked past another few chuches and a mosque; before wandering along the waterfront promenade area. Because it wad quite late in the afternoon by this point there was quite a carnival atmosphere going; with rides for kids; donuts, fairy floss, jumping castles and all sorts of stalls where you could buy things. People were still swimming lakeside as well. I grabbed some dinner at around 7pm before heading back to the hostel; where I chilled for the remainder of the nights in a hammock out in the back. Seems that you can’t escape running into people from previous hostels when doing the Balkan rounds; the German guy from Prishtina showed up quite late at the same hostel!!
THURSDAY 20 AUGUST 2009
Got up early to shower and dress this morning as there only appeared to be two showers in the entire place; despite their being at least 30 beds. I don’t like having to wait. Went upstairs to breakfast; which while only started half an hour prior to me going up there; had already run out of half the bread, all the cereal and all of the milk. I grabbed some toast though although other people who subsequently arrived were not so lucky!!
Over breakfast we were discussing plans for the day. I was considering going across to a monastry near the Albanian border called Sveti Naum; although a few other people were saying that they had done that the day before and because of the timings of the ferries and buses; you end up spending four hours out there and there isn’t a lot to see. While I was considering,. Two guys (one English one Irish) were debating about hiring bikes. Another Aussie girl asked if it would be possible to ride to the Albanian border… and before you know it the four of us were packing day packs and grabbing our passport. The hostel only had two bikes so we headed into town (grabbed good ol’ Fornetti for lunch - pastry shop all over eastern and central Europe) and found another hire place that had three bikes. Grabbed two of those and two from the hostel and set out. We had only gone about 500 metres when I realised my bike (which was from the hostel) had a flat. No sooner than I had realised that; the chain fell off. Fixed it and headed off. Partly came off so the others kept going and I did a quick fix; 200 metres later it was off again. By this stage I had figured that my bike was NOT going to make the 20km to Albania. So Chloe gave me a hand returning my bike and hiring the last one from the hire shop; before we attempted to set off - AGAIN. By this stage the guys had figured that even their ‘better’ bikes were also not going to make the distance - despite having gears, they didn’t work and they were struggling as well.
So we rode part way along the road heading to Struga; although ended up turning back and trying to ride the path directly around the lake; which proved a lot more interesting and doable, although we probably only made it 5-10km around the lake. When it was clear we couldn’t go any further without joining the highway, we grabbed a beer at what was essentially a locals beach and started heading back, stopped for another beer and a rest on the way. Sometime during the morning when I was having the chain hassles; I had managed to either put my camera down somewhere or have it fall out of my bag. Unfortunately I didn’t realise for some time; assuming it was in my bag; so by the time I retraced my steps; it was long gone. So while the others heading for souvenir shopping and sightseeing in town itself; I headed to the police station to fill in a police report. Managed to tell the guy there what I wanted; he asked all the questions you could expect; and then told me to come back tomorrow morning at 9am. I figured this was because someone had to write up the report.
Anyway a group of us met for dinner and we had Italian at the ‘best Italian restauarant in town’ which was ok. The salad though was great!! Met a few other people from the hostel at 9pm after the guys had demolished donuts and corn and popcorn and headed to a bar with live music where we had a few beers. On the way back to the hostel Chloe and I grabbed some hot chips from the only place that appeared to be open. There were a few jealous looks about them when we got back to the hostel.
FRIDAY 21 AUGUST 2009
Up early to shower and pack my bag before heading down to the police station for what I thought was going to be a very easy process. I thought wrong. I explained to two people what I wanted - and still had the piece of paper from the day before where the guy from the hostel had written a couple of sentences in Macedonian for me to show them. This is how the process went:
1. Spoke to policeman number 1 who sent me upstairs to room 28.
2. Lady in room 28 spoke no English, I went back downstairs.
3. Spoke to policeman number 2 who took me to booth outside.
4. Policeman 2 found police lady who spoke reasonable English.
5. Police lady took me over to shop where a civilian lady wrote on a piece of paper that my camera had been stolen, my passport details and the location where it was taken from.
6. She gave me the piece of paper and asked me for 160 denars (less than three euro). I queried it as no where on it did it say police and it was not in English - even though the guy before had asked if I would like the report in English. I asked for receipt - we continued the process.
7. Policewoman took me to policeman 3 who had to be found before logging a number in a book (keep in mind that this is all done on paper in hand writing - nothing electronic) and putting a stamp on it.
8. Policewoman takes me to policeman 4 who signs. I sign.
9. Policewoman takes me to policeman 5 who signs.
10.Policewoman takes me to policeman 6 who stamps again.
11. Policewoman tells me next step will take 30 minutes and I should come back. I say I will wait. Five minutes late civilian 2 brings back a typed sheet of paper with presumably what had initially been handwritten. I think he was the police typist.
12. Policewoman takes me to final step to get it stamped and signed.
13. I walk away with what I can only assume is a police report that says my camera has been lost/stolen. At no point during this prcess do they ask the brand of camera, the value, the colour; or anything. The guy from the day before had done all of that - but who knows what he did with that information!!
Following on from that long winded process which took almost an hour; I went back to the hostel; grabbed my bag; split a taxi with Chloe to the bus station (cost one Aussie dollar each) and got the 10:45am bus back to Skopje.
When we got there, Chloe hopped her bus straight to Prishtina, I put my luggage in storage and headed off to see about buying another camera and to locate an English language bookshop. I managed both. The camera shop at the main shopping centre stocked canons, and while they didn’t have my model as it is now the old model; they had the new one. Price was slightly more than I would have liked, but I had already checked my insurance policy and I should be able to claim - no excess; 200 pound limit per item, so while I won’t get all my money back I should get a fair chunk. Also bought another book as I had run out and knew that I had a long bus ride ahead that evening.
Ran into English and Irish guy who were wandering around Skopje as they had managed to get the 7:45am bus. As I had now bought a replacement camera and had a charged battery (spare one) I headed into old town briefly to grab some photos; as I had lost three days of photos (all of Macedonia). Had a wander around, grabbed some food, spent the last of my denars and headed back to the bus station where I got my bags out of the luggage room and jumped on the 8pm bus to Dubrovnik.
Thankfully I managed to get two seats to myself so after the first lengthy border crossing (back into Kosovo where we were all required to get off the bus; get all our luggage and put it all through to be x-rayed) I settled in with a cushion and a jumper and shawl to rest on and headed to sleep as best you can on a bus. This meant waking up regularly; particularly when the roads in Kosovo leave a lot to be desired and when we had another border crossing from Kosovo into Montenegro at around 2am; although this one seemed to be quite quick and painless.
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sara Nolan
non-member comment
Hi Amanda, Good to hear you are still traveling and having an adventure! I caught up with Sarah C the other day and she said to say hello! She is going well, studying and still working at AGs. When are you heading back to Aus? Take care. Sara:)