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Published: September 29th 2022
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We rented a car in Skopje which has proved a good decision. Driving here is very easy, although we did take care to avoid the mayhem of Skopje city by using the ring road. The quiet motorways charge tolls of €1 periodically and we haven't found any roads busy. Even the small roads into the mountains villages are paved and well maintained.
Just an hour's drive south west of Skopje, we enter the Mavrovo National Park, 300 square miles of mountains, lakes and gorges dotted with traditional villages. Our first stop is at Mavrovo Lake, its beautiful, deep blue water edged by forests that are just starting to show autumn colours. The water level is low and the usually flooded church of St Nicholas sits high and dry just off the shore.
A winding side road leads us up over a high ridge and down to the Majik village of Galicnik. The sun is still shining but the temperature has dropped from 15c at the lake to 7c in the village due to the altitude; its at 1500m, higher than Ben Nevis. Many of the buildings are being restored in traditional stone and wood. Set
on a south facing slope, the view from the village is stunning but we wonder how they survive the winters; that narrow 10 mile-long road over the hills is the only way in. The mountains to our west are in Albania, those to the north are in Kosovo. Our route took us within a mile of the Albanian border and we see the Albanian flag flying in some of the Macedonian villages. Elsewhere, the new North Macedonian flag in flown everywhere but even this flag is the result of an international treaty. Their original flag upset the Greeks - the Greeks said the sun logo on the flag was theirs - so the North Macedonians had to adopt a second new flag with a different sun logo!
We have to stop on our way out of Galicnik due to a traffic jam. A shepherd, a huge number of sheep and four or five very solid sheep dogs are crossing the road. It seems that Macedonian sheep are just as daft as those on Exmoor. The dogs wear fearsome spiked collars to guard them against wolf attack - wolves go for the dog's throat. There are also brown
bears and lynx in these mountains, so really not much like Exmoor after all.
We stay in the St. Jovan Bigorski monastery's guesthouse which has been built in the traditional Majik style; stone, wood and white render. Our room in the roof has small shuttered windows and dark wooden furniture, very monastic. The monastery, 20 minutes up the hill, is tranquil and its church has frescos on every wall. There are gold and silver icons, too, quite overwhelming. The huge circular wooden ring hangs on chains over our heads; the wood is delicately carved and holds dozens of candles.
We have noticed that English is widely used here, whatever people's nationality, but last night we met two Bulgarians who explained that they speak Bulgarian with the Macedonians as the Slavic languages are very similar across the whole region.
Driving further south we reach Ohrid Lake which is actually one third in Albania. We are still high, at 700 metres, but it feels like we are at the seaside: ice creams, fish restaurants and pedalos. Our apartment is in the old town, hidden in a maze of lanes. Driving to our parking
slot means weaving our way up and down ever-narrowing streets and there is nothing to tell us which narrow lanes are streets and which are staircases! It's easier on foot as we can dive down the stepped alleys to get to the harbour but we have to carefully remember every turning, so that we can find our way back!
The old town tumbles down a steep hillside and is enclosed by a high wall - we drive through a gated tower to get to our apartment - and at the very top of the old town is Tsar Samuel's huge fortress. Its outer walls are well preserved and inside feels impregnable. An archaeology team is slowly restoring the walls of the buildings inside the fortress. Ohrid's history is one of invasion, occupation and liberation; Romans, Byzantines, Slavs and Ottoman Turks have all ruled here.
During Ottoman times most of the churches became mosques and all the frescos were painted over with white paint. Some 500 years later, after WWI, many of these mosques became churches once again. Incredibly it was found that most of the paint could be removed and the frescos have been
restored.
A boat on the lake takes us 20 miles south to another monastery, St. Naum's. Next to the monastery is the main river that feeds the lake - a river that runs underground through the mountain from a higher lake on the other side! There are lots of orchards here, as in many parts of North Macedonia, and we pick figs, apples and plums as we walk - just to check the quality, of course.
Ohrid is famous, well not so famous that we knew but we'll let that go, for Ohrid pearls. These are expensive and look like pearls, nearly, and are made using a secret process involving scales from a fish known as the Ohrid trout - which isn't actually a trout. There are jewellery shops all over the town selling Ohrid pearls … or maybe they aren't. There are now fake Ohrid pearls being manufactured in Turkey and China and sold as the real thing. Except, of course, the real Ohrid pearls never was the real thing.
Galicica National Park starts on the edge of town. We drive up to the small village of Velestovo at 1000m
and then walk on and up to the ridgeline at 1364m (we've topped Ben Nevis again). There is little sign of wildlife and only a few birds but the flora is amazing. Underfoot are succulents and alpine plants; next to the path are juniper bushes, thistles and hellebores; above us birch, poplar and oak, all turning to their autumn colours.
We've been eating well and cheaply. An evening meal with a glass of local wine cost perhaps €20 for two in a nice restaurant, often less. We really like the local dish tava, a sort of casserole that comes in various guises and sometimes includes a mild cheese topping; the grilled vegetables are invariably excellent too. We've yet to see a 'chain' restaurant or cafe - no Starbucks, Pizza Hut nor Nando's here. We enjoy wandering the old town's lanes in the evening, choosing tonight's restaurant.
A drive over the Galicica mountains and past Lake Prespa (part North Macedonian, part Albanian and part Greek) has brought us back to Skopje. Tomorrow we fly home,
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