It was an early morning. Breakfast was at 6:30 and consisted of a croissant, a boiled egg, and toast. I'm so sick of bread and bread and more bread, but of course I keep eating it. Taxis rolled up around 7:15 to take us all to the bus station. We left Skopje at 8am sharp and off we went to Lake Ohrid, Macedonia.
At the 2 hour mark we stopped for apple strudel and a coffee. Sadly, they sold out of the infamous apple strudel right before I made it to the till to order so I got stuck with a greasy awful cheese pastry (more bread, yay). It was about another 2 hours until we made it to Lake Ohrid. I managed to sleep probably 75% of the whole trip, which is quite unusual. I'm not sure why I was so tired either. I have a new roomie now, Jane from Australia, and she's awesome. She's very quiet and considerate, so I slept like a baby last night.
At first Lake Ohrid wasn't what I had expected and I think that's due to the impression I got of the lake and mountain landscape in Slovakia. It's less of a mountain getaway and more of a city on a lake - which is totally fine. It was a very hot sunshine filled day out today, and we took advantage of this right upon settling into our rooms.
I quickly went and grabbed an orange from the supermarket before we all met at 1 for what was supposed to be a 3 hour walk and turned into 4 and a half hours - again, totally fine. Before setting off the call to prayer began right on the hour. About 33% of the Macedonian population is Muslim. It's a very interesting thing to hear. I quite like it - it's different.
Our walk was great. We saw churches along the lake, monastaries, amphitheatres, old town and new town, and more! My favourite part was when we walked along the water and came to this spot where all of the horoscope signs are posted and you're supposed to touch your sign and throw a coin into the lake over your shoulder while making a wish. I hope my wish comes true!
Having gone for such a long walk in the sun, a drink stop along the lake was necessary. People were swimming in the water right out front our restaurant and I was so tempted to jump in and join them. I had a beer and a tomato and cucumber with cheese salad, also known as Shopska salad, and olives. It hit the spot. Steve ordered an Ohrid cake and it tasted like baklava in cake form - amazing.
We also walked the walls along the fortress and got amazing views from the top. You can actually see Albania across the way. 75% of the lake is on the Macedonia side and 25% on the Albania side.
Once back at the room I quickly showered before attending the traditional pre-dinner wine and chocolate. Macedonia has some very good wine! Then it was off to dinner. Dinner was down by the water and there was a band playing some traditional music while children danced on the grass. I indulged in chicken with cream sauce, grilled veggies, and rice. The Netherlands were playing Chile while we ate as the bars we passed were just packed with the colour orange. The Netherlands did win, 2-0.
The girls and I walked back to the hotel along the main road with all of the shops and did some window shopping. Once back we ran into Brian who was keen on watching the 10pm game - Croatia vs. Mexico. He managed to convince us all to go down to the bar literally five steps away from where we're staying to watch it since it was filling up fast with excited Croatian fans and would be so loud we wouldn't be able to sleep anyways. I decided to post on here quickly first before going down to join them so that's where I'm headed now.
We're all getting picked up at 8:15 tomorrow to spend the day out on a boat on the lake though so it won't be too late of a night!
Macedonia flag at top of fortress:
Lake Ohrid:
Kathryn and I in our more modest bottoms at the church:
Shade break on the steps:
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