I am not a pleasant person to fly with. Not only do I find the whole airport experience ‘rather unpleasant’, I am also convinced that every plane I board will crash into a mountain, or the sea, or be hijacked, or explode (etc etc etc). Nothing, however, can prepare you for the sheer untold trauma of flying Wizz Air, from Luton Airport, having been awake since 4am. Once you accept, however, that there is no cheaper way to get from the UK to the Balkans (return fare for £75 each) it becomes slightly more palatable. We landed at Skopje Alexander the Great airport, making the Republic of Macedonia (or, to be compliant with UK Foreign Policy, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) our first country.
‘Macedonia’ refers to an ancient land, nowadays comprising the sovereign country of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and the region of Macedonia, part of modern day Greece. Due to ongoing naming debates between the two countries, Macedonia’s admission to the United Nations in 1993 was on the condition that the country be referred to as the FYROM (a name used by other international organisations such as NATO and the European Union). In Macedonia however, Macedonian nationalism is strong, and references to its Yugoslav Republic days are few.
Our first night accommodation was in Ohrid, a city about 150km from Skopje. We picked up our car (a delightful Skoda Citigo) from a Macedonian car hire firm (interways car rental – http://www.macedoniarentacar.com.mk), and headed out of the airport complex. In retrospect, hiring the Skoda from a local Macedonian car hire company was a fantastic idea. I will touch on this throughout this series of blogs, but the general standard of the roads and the driving in the Balkans leaves a LOT to be desired, and parking is, at best, precarious – so having a slightly bashed up, stone chipped and dented small city car was a godsend. At this point however, we were enjoying the sunshine on a modern Macedonian motorway, approaching our first destination.
Ohrid sits on the shores of Lake Ohrid, one of Europe’s largest and deepest lakes. The small city has become a tourist hotspot for being one of only 28 sites globally to be UNESCO World Heritage sites for both culture and nature – and the windy roads and impossible turnings in the Old City were a clear indication of the historic nature of the place. We spent the first afternoon exploring the main town, mostly consisting of a high street and central area with lots of shops, bars and restaurants, right on the shores of the lake (and enjoyed local Macedonian beer – Zlaten Dab)
The view of the new town and old town from the shores of the lake, and the view of the old town.
The next day we hiked from our apartment in the Old Town up to the top of the main hill where all the main sights are. We visited the ancient theatre (an amphitheatre adapted by the Romans to host gladiators), some Orthodox Christian churches, and at the top of the hill, Car Samoil’s Castle, the fortress of the Old Town. From here you get a fantastic view of the lake and of Ohrid town, and this was definitely the busiest part of Ohrid we visited. After this, we went back into the town and did the usual holiday activities of eating and drinking (fantastic in Macedonia as everything is cheap – a shared starter, 2 pizzas and 2 beers for less than £10 makes eating out affordable).
The view of Lake Ohrid from the castle, and the castle walls
We only had 2 days in Ohrid, but this was definitely enough time to explore the sights, go out for some nice meals and enjoy being in the sun. Ohrid does have its own airport, and isn’t far from Skopje and the Albanian and Greek borders, so not difficult to visit. After 2 days in Ohrid we packed up again and prepared for the drive to Tirana.
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