Macedonia, birthplace of Alexander the Great and Mother Theresa has very interesting history...I could have skip sightseeing in this country and board a Tuesday 5am bus to Thessaloniki because I had to fly from Thessaloniki to Mykonos at 7am on the day after (the Turs buses only run on Mon, Wed, Fri 6am during off season and there is a private bus company that runs on Tuesday 5am...there is no more night train service between Skopje and Thessaloniki) . But I could not bring myself to not see this country. Hence, I decided to go to Thessaloniki by taxi at night instead...leaving a big hole in my pocket. Travelling in Macedonia is challenging. The cyrillic alphabets are used and obviously I became an instant dyslexic...totally crippled. I cannot read the bus schedule nor the destination board displayed in front of the bus.
Woke up early to have breakfast. While eating breakfast, Hideaki turned up at the hostel door. The poor guy arrived at 3am via bus from Podgorica and slept for 3 hrs in the bus station before walking around the city searching for Art hostel for 1 hour. He even went to the police station forndirection. At the end, he found my hostel instead.
After catching up with him, I set out for Lake Ohrid. The walk to the bus station took me 15minutes. The return bus ticket Skopje-Ohrid is cheaper than to purchase one way separately. And public toilet is not free: need to pay 10 dinar. Since the bus to Ohrid departs at 10am, I had 1 hour to explore Skopje. Walked along the Vardar river to the Stone bridge. There was a lot of ongoing construction. The statues and monuments around the bridge give a very grand atmosphere to the square. The Kale Fortress can be seen from far but I had no time to explore it. The Pasi Daud Amman, a traditional bath house, is now a museum. By end of one hour, I had to skip the statue and Memorial room of Mother Theresa and walked back to the bus station to board the bus to Ohrid.
The journey was long...lasted 3 hours plus. The bus passed by Mavrova National Park which was shrouded in snow. As I arrived in Ohrid, few people bombarded me with offer to rent out their rooms. But after declined gently, they retreated. One man even gave me direction to the Lake and town centre. It was a good 2km walk to the centre. From there, it is an uphill walk all the way to the Samoil Fortress. Ohrid is the spiritual heart of Macedonia. There are many medieval churches in the old town. I was quite lost but was lucky to meet a local Macedonian girl who accompanied me to the Upper Gate and amphitheatre. Then, we walked to the beautiful Sveta Kliment i Pantelejmon and the archaeological site surrounding the medieval church. This medieval church is nothing like any church I have seen before. The weather seemed to lean towards possible raining and I panicked. I rushed down the spiral paths to visit Sveti Jovan at Kaneo. From this old church, one can have a panoramic view of Lake Ohrid. It was awesome. Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest lake in the world and is the deepest in the Balkans. After that is quite a steep climb all the way to Samoil Fortress. Worrying that Sveta Sofija might be closed before 4pm, I skipped the fortress and shuffled my way down to visit this church which is famous for ancient frescoes. It was a close call because by the time I reached Sveta Sofija, it was near closing. My bus to Skopje is at 530pm and I had plenty time to spare. Lingered around Lake Ohrid before exploring the old town. Arrived at Ohrid harbour. Lost my orientation of the bus station and one of the local directed me to the wrong way...But another Macedonian lady helped me to get back to the right track. Near the bus station is a local burger stall that sells delicious hot dog for 50 dinar. That was all dinar that was left with me...he he. Watched sunset at the bus station and the bus departed on time. It was another 3.5 hour bus journey. Once arrived in Skopje, I had to half run half walk back to the hostel mainly because I booked my taxi at 10pm and also because the street was deserted and I was terrified. Freshened up and chatted with Hideaki while waiting for my taxi. It costs me euro 110 from Skopje to Thessaloniki airport. It is the cheapest fare I could find and I had no other options for night travel.
My Macedonian taxi driver can speak simple english and he explained about Macedonia history a bit. He made no effort to hide how much he dislikes the Greek. He had to remove his Macedonian car sticker just because the Greeks would not like it, he said. I slept a bit in the taxi and arrived at the airport at 3am. Exhausted, I slept on the seats in the airport. Checked in at 5am and slept again...before boarding the plane to Mykonos at 7am.
Woke up early to have breakfast. While eating breakfast, Hideaki turned up at the hostel door. The poor guy arrived at 3am via bus from Podgorica and slept for 3 hrs in the bus station before walking around the city searching for Art hostel for 1 hour. He even went to the police station forndirection. At the end, he found my hostel instead.
After catching up with him, I set out for Lake Ohrid. The walk to the bus station took me 15minutes. The return bus ticket Skopje-Ohrid is cheaper than to purchase one way separately. And public toilet is not free: need to pay 10 dinar. Since the bus to Ohrid departs at 10am, I had 1 hour to explore Skopje. Walked along the Vardar river to the Stone bridge. There was a lot of ongoing construction. The statues and monuments around the bridge give a very grand atmosphere to the square. The Kale Fortress can be seen from far but I had no time to explore it. The Pasi Daud Amman, a traditional bath house, is now a museum. By end of one hour, I had to skip the statue and Memorial room of Mother Theresa and walked back to the bus station to board the bus to Ohrid.
The journey was long...lasted 3 hours plus. The bus passed by Mavrova National Park which was shrouded in snow. As I arrived in Ohrid, few people bombarded me with offer to rent out their rooms. But after declined gently, they retreated. One man even gave me direction to the Lake and town centre. It was a good 2km walk to the centre. From there, it is an uphill walk all the way to the Samoil Fortress. Ohrid is the spiritual heart of Macedonia. There are many medieval churches in the old town. I was quite lost but was lucky to meet a local Macedonian girl who accompanied me to the Upper Gate and amphitheatre. Then, we walked to the beautiful Sveta Kliment i Pantelejmon and the archaeological site surrounding the medieval church. This medieval church is nothing like any church I have seen before. The weather seemed to lean towards possible raining and I panicked. I rushed down the spiral paths to visit Sveti Jovan at Kaneo. From this old church, one can have a panoramic view of Lake Ohrid. It was awesome. Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest lake in the world and is the deepest in the Balkans. After that is quite a steep climb all the way to Samoil Fortress. Worrying that Sveta Sofija might be closed before 4pm, I skipped the fortress and shuffled my way down to visit this church which is famous for ancient frescoes. It was a close call because by the time I reached Sveta Sofija, it was near closing. My bus to Skopje is at 530pm and I had plenty time to spare. Lingered around Lake Ohrid before exploring the old town. Arrived at Ohrid harbour. Lost my orientation of the bus station and one of the local directed me to the wrong way...But another Macedonian lady helped me to get back to the right track. Near the bus station is a local burger stall that sells delicious hot dog for 50 dinar. That was all dinar that was left with me...he he. Watched sunset at the bus station and the bus departed on time. It was another 3.5 hour bus journey. Once arrived in Skopje, I had to half run half walk back to the hostel mainly because I booked my taxi at 10pm and also because the street was deserted and I was terrified. Freshened up and chatted with Hideaki while waiting for my taxi. It costs me euro 110 from Skopje to Thessaloniki airport. It is the cheapest fare I could find and I had no other options for night travel.
My Macedonian taxi driver can speak simple english and he explained about Macedonia history a bit. He made no effort to hide how much he dislikes the Greek. He had to remove his Macedonian car sticker just because the Greeks would not like it, he said. I slept a bit in the taxi and arrived at the airport at 3am. Exhausted, I slept on the seats in the airport. Checked in at 5am and slept again...before boarding the plane to Mykonos at 7am.
Skopje
Lake Ohrid and Sveti Jovan at Kaneo
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