Ohrid, Macedonia

Well, the bus didn't stop in Ohrid, so much as it threw us out at the highway off-ramp to the town at about 11pm. We had to take several cabs and then walk the rest of the way to our hostel in the Old City.
But, the photo on your right was the view from our terrace the next morning, so we were not that sad.

Lake Ohrid is the deepest lake in the Balkans, and one of the oldest in the world - it was reportedly formed 5 million years ago, and has been settled by people for many thousands of years. Ohrid is the spiritual heart of Orthodox Macedonia and is filled with beautiful churches, staffed by men who look as old and sad as the icons housed inside. When we went into the church of the Evangelist below, the caretaker made sure before we left to share with us a shot of his homemade Rakija from a plastic pop bottle under his desk. Rakija is a plum brandy that everyone distills themselves and is certainly the official drink of Macedonia.


We voted Macedonia our favorite country in Eastern Europe, for the sweeping landscape, the amazing architecture, the variety of vegetarian cuisine (see photo below) and of course for the kindness and generosity of the folks we met. The lady on the right was the shopkeeper at the market near our hostel, where we would go every morning to buy eggs, cheese, fresh rolls, tomatoes and juice and every evening to buy a bottle of wine. She kindly obliged us in exchanging our large Euro bills into many, many Macedonian bills.



Pavel, the man to the left, was our host. One day he insisted we spend the day with his family and friends at his make-shift lean-to at the other end of the lake. You can see him cooking us an inspiring vegetarian mushroom stew and roasted peppers at his outdoor "kitchen". We swam, ate, and drank "Niagara Wine" with his friends--they found much enjoyment standing on the table to pour sparkling water into our wine glasses from great heights.