Blogs from Macedonia, Europe - page 19

Hello bloggers! Since we last blogged we have travelled down the Turkish west coast through the Greek Islands and now up to Macendonia. From Troy where the last chapter ended we continued south along the Turkish Mediterranean coast to Bodrim via Bergama and Selchuk. Bergama was inland somewhat and the site of a huge Roman archeological site complete with amphitheatres, arches, aquaducts and temples (all ruined) on top of a rather dramatic hill overlooking the town and surrounding valley. The countryside has been devistated by millenia of overgrazing, deforestation, and olive growing and more recently major drought. So all in all very bare and dry. Certainly not the landscape the Romans would have enjoyed with forests, elephants, bear, lion and the like! At Selchuk are the ruins of one of the greates Roman cities (Ephesus for ... read more

Upon arrival in Ohrid I was quite surprised by what I found. I had read a bit about this town and the lake, how it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site full of ancient buildings and how the Cyrillic alphabet was invented here in the ninth century AD. I had also seen a lot of photographs, nearly all of a little church sitting on a cliff above a deep blue lake. Well that is only half the story. Tacked on to the side of the old town is a lively modern resort. There are lots of restaurants, bars, cafes, shops, banks, everything you need. There are a few tall hotels and apartment blocks but they don’t really bring the place down. In fact it is a nice contrast with the quiet cobbled streets of the old ... read more

Hi Everybody! We spent Saturday afternooon exploring Thessaloniki. We went to the Roman Forum, Paradisos Bath ruins, the Arch of Galerius, the White Tower, several Orthodox churches. We went through a park and I saw a woman jumping rope, my favorite exercise. I tried to communicate with her and found out that she was from Afghanistan. Today has been great! We caught an early train from Thessaloniki to the capital of Macedonia, Skopje. We had a cabin with 6 seats that we shared with a super, nice guy - Chad. He is working for a contractor in Kosovo. Our trip flew by as he filled our brains with lots of interesting facts about this region of the country. Near the end of our trip, another American joined us. He was visiting a former Yale classmate from ... read more

We leave for Numburg Germany at 9.30am Morning of Sunday 29th October, from the capital Skopje (Скопје in Macedonian - which for some reason reminds me of "cronejay!") That means we have to be up and fully packed at 4.30am to catch the 5am bus the 250km to Skopje from Strumica!! Unfortunately Lex's package from home hasnt arrived... with uni enrollment forms etc... we have waited as long as we really can - the bus only goes once/week and we already only have 19 days in Germany... our flight out booked for 16th, from Frankfurt - Bangkok, Thailand! Anyway keep ya all posted when we can... Very very sorry to hear about Dixie!! Big Congratz on getting a job rob!! (applause!) Ditto to Katrina + Tom for making the front page of the star! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ... read more

Yes you can judge by the title that Lex is in completely recovered health... otherwise it would be something more serious!! Unfortunately just Ez here again as the internet was down at the internet cafe (comeon... what kinda internet cafe has net that goes down!!) and lex got a bit tired and headed off for bed! As i was saying... she made it through (with the help of a few wee pills called painkillers - marvels of modern science!) as she was in intense pain and we had a few sleepless nights and worried moments! Still not sure on what it was or what the cause was (though Zoki maintains it was sitting on coldstones which she did for all of a minute on a hot day!) Macedonians national sport seems to be: feeling cold and ... read more