Macedonia

It was a real treat to arrive at Orhid in Macedonia, just over the border from Albania. It is a very beautiful summer resort city situated on Lake Orhid.

When we (Carly, Carlos and I) arrived in Orhid from the Albania/Macedonia border by taxi, we were let out at the top of the main square. Having no map and no knowledge as to the layout of Orhid, we must have looked dazed and confused. In fact, we were! As it seems to happen more often than not in these situations, we were spotted by an opportunistic but friendly fellow who asked us if we needed accommodation. We did, so he offered to show us his tourist apartment just a few minutes walk away. He just happened to be marketing when we showed up, and if not for him, I guess we would have attracted a different entrepreneur with available accommodation. But his apartment was clean and modern and we agreed to take it for a few nights

Orhid is a city worth visiting and touring around on foot. Lots of history and ancient sites, and a gorgeous location. We took a short boat tour of a small part of the lake. The boatman was super friendly and pointed out a few of his favourite spots. He was very deliberate about turning his boat around at a certain point - the Albanian border runs through the lake, and he seemed to know exactly where on the water that line is. One doesn't mess with the Albanian border, apparently.

As we were wandering about the grounds of one of the old churches, I met another young Aussie traveler, (I think that there are more young Aussies out of their country than in!). Later that day, we bumped into him again near the market, and we made arrangements to go for a hike in a nearby national park the next day. We rendezvoused at the bus stop at 8:00 am next morning, but were unable to squeeze onto the already over-crowded bus. Of course, there was an unofficial taxi there, willing to take us to our destination for slightly more than the sum of 4 bus fares, so off we went.

The somewhat bemused driver dropped us off at the park border, where we set out in search of a trailhead. We found the park map, with trails marked on it, and chose the one we thought was appropriate. Turns out to be an old road, up through the trees, arriving eventually at a summit. No big deal - just an easy hike up a dirt road. Until the park warden showed up, that is. He and his sidekicks came along in an SUV, and warned us to not go any further, that we were almost at the Albanian border. He demanded to see our identity documents, and told us to turn around and go back. Albanians were out there, with guns and it was a dangerous place to be!

There were other interesting sites within Orhid itself, including a re-construction of a magnificent Orthodox Church on the original foundations, and Roman amphitheatre and fortress.

It is a beautiful and restful spot and after a few days in Orhid we felt refreshed and ready to move on to the next destinations: Bitola, Kavadarci and Skopje.

Bitola seems smaller than it is, with a surprising population of over95,000. There are some lovely old buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries, but a lot of them are in a "quaint" state of disrepair. There is a large market and pazar area with many craft and artisan shops. The cafe culture is alive and well in Bitola, centred mostly on the main pedestrian boulevard bisecting the central business district. This is where you will also see dozens and dozens of very young gypsy kids, with or without their very young mothers. These kids apparently don't attend school and are extremely disadvantaged, judging by their lack of warm clothing and footwear. They are constantly on the look out for cash handouts, which apparently goes straight to the gypsy mafia in Romania. At least that is the general consensus, and so they rarely if ever receive any support from the citizens of Bitola. They take it all in their stride though, and seem undaunted by their low success rate.

Bitola is where we parted company with Carlos, who went straight through to Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. Carly and I had decided to check out Bitola and the wine district of Tikves, first. Macedonia has very good wine, and the Tikves region has the largest winery in Eastern Europe. A closer look was recommended by the Lonely Planet guide. Read on.

We left Bitola for Kavadarci, the heart of Tikvis. (There is supposed to be a little smile on top of the "s", but my anglo keyboard does not provide for that punctuation, so you will just have to imagine it being there. What that does to the "s" is it turns it into "sh". Tikvish.) Upon arrival at the bus station, I made an enquiry about the winery and accommodation options. As soon as I spoke, I was waved over to a young woman sitting in the waiting area, who obviously spoke English. In fact she was an American Peace Corp worker, and indeed, she did speak English! She was also functional in Macedonian. She was amazed and concerned that we had come to Kavadarci as tourists, and she wasn't even sure if there was a hotel in town, nevermind a hostel! She made a phone call to her local friend who told her that there was ONE hotel, and it was right near the bus station. She also pointed the way to the winery, and basically wished us good luck!

That was when Carly bailed. She said she really wasn't interested in seeing the winery or the area and that she was going to get on the next bus to Skopje ("j" sounds like "y") and get to the big city in time for the weekend party scene. So that left me stranded for the full shot for a hotel room, but I figured "whatever".

I took and paid for the hotel room, put my suitcase inside, and started making enquiries about the winery tour. The receptionist was unable to get me the necessary information, but promised to try again in the morning. Meanwhile, I decided I might as well walk over there, since there was nothing else to do.

After a 20 minute high speed walk, I located the visitor kiosk at the winery entrance, and found the attendant doing his day-end bookkeeping. I managed to get through to him that I was interested to do a tour, but he indicated that the last tour for the day was done (4:00) and that there would be no tour the next day - "Subato!" Saturday!!!! Oh no! I quickly decided to high tale it back to the bus station to find out when the next bus to Skopje was, and if there was a chance to get it I would grab my suitcase and head that way, rather than spend the night in this dreary, grey, grim city.

The next and last bus was leaving in 5o minutes, so I dashed back to the hotel, pleaded my case and managed to get my hotel fee back, since I had not used the room for anything other than to put my suitcase in. I had a few minutes to grab a quick bite to eat at the restuarant attached to the station, but got most of it packed up into a doggie bag. I made it on the bus with seconds to spare, and got the last available seat. And who should be on that bus, but Carly!

So we both ended up in Skopje at the same time after all, and the icing on the cake was that Carly's bus seat mate (a young woman living in Skopje) offered, no - insisted, on getting us to our hostel. That was very kind and generous, because we would have had quite a time finding it ourselves, late at night. And on top of all that, our friend Carlos was staying at the same hostel, so we had another re-union the next morning!

Skopje will need an entry of it's own. Stay tuned...