Blogs from Macedonia, Europe - page 10

Slow start to the day as our cycle was only short. Panniers packed and we set off towards Matka. The road signs don't make any sense to me and Gus so we were totally reliant on Gus' Garmin. A large portion of the route was on a bike track which ran at the side of the road and when that ran out we chose the pavement. Lol. Along the way we stopped at a fruit shop and then at Lake Treste. The facilities at the lake were sadly abandoned but it would have been a great place when it was first built. Now it looked like a scene out of a movie. The road ran out and we cycled along a path under the steep sides of the canyon. The hotel appeared at the end of ... read more

With any long trip there's the potential for a cluster and the flight over was one such example. I held concerns initially when I boarded the aircraft and found the nuffy behind me getting on with his head mounted GoPro filming. His holiday videos will obviously be a "must see". Flight with Emirates to Dubai was good as I was again bitten by the tsetse fly and slept for 12 out of the next 17 hrs. I also felt safe as I was sat next to a man of the cloth and not next to the budding film maker so I figured the big guy upstairs would keep an eye on him and therefore on me by proxy. I met Gus in Dubai without too much of a drama. Then the cluster started. We had to ... read more

In the twilight of early morning the cliff-side swallows trill us awake. They are the first creatures to pierce the canyon quiet. Too late to sleep and too early to head off to feed they kill the time in between, preening and gossiping alongside their cliff-mates high above the water. The lake is more viscous for the night chill. Cohesive as quicksilver and icy-still, the mirror-like surface is a panorama of inverted Karsks and singing birds. It is 6 AM. I'm hanging out the window and breathing it all in with a shiver. We are in Macedonia. The place is called Matka; 'The Womb'. We found it by accident. We had planned a short stay in Skopje; Macedonia's capitol before moving north to Belgrade. The Tripadvisor map showed us the locations of Skopje's hotels. I noticed ... read more

The capital of Macedonia, Skopje has a LOT of statues. And sun, like most of the Balkans in the summer. When I got here, I decided to change my plane ticket to come home a week earlier. I realized I could still see what I wanted to see and be home with more time to relax before going back to work. A win-win. I couldn't get to the airline office before they closed, but I talked to them on the phone from the hostel, and they could change my ticket, but I would have to pay for it on the phone with the airline in Belgrade directly. I wasn't sure how to do this, because skype was outdated on my work computer and I have no access to update it. But then this German guy let ... read more

The last day in Ohrid I took a boat ride of the lake that went to Sveti Naum, the same monastery. It was an hour and a half ride, and I was really doing it for the boat ride. What I didn't know was that the boat would stay there for 3.5 hours before coming back. People were planning the whole day at the beach there. I had no suit and no towel, no idea that this would be the case. The guy who rented me the room neglected to mention this. But anyway, I looked at the place again and then found a beach and sat under a tree reading instead of swimming. It was still nice, just not ideal. But overall, a really great area to visit.... read more