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Good news – I’ve got my guide book this morning, so здраво from Ohrid.  I set my alarm for 6am this morning to set up my camera on the balcony for a time-lapse of the sunset.  Wasn’t expecting it to already be bright at that stage, but the results are still pretty impressive.  

Dad likes to head out early for a little swim, so this morning I went with him, and wanted to swing by the Church of Saint Jovan and the Kaneo viewpoint again.  This is the view that appears on all of the guide book covers – with the church in the foreground and lake in the background.  It’s said to be the most photographed landmark in all of North Macedonia.  Given how awkward it is to get to, (a good 30 minute hike at least from the town centre) I’m a little dubious.  

The skies are a bit overcast, but the church looks fab.  Incidentally St. Jovan in Macedonian is St. John in English.  They call him St. John the theologian, as he’s the guy who wrote the book of Revelation in the Bible.  He might even be the same guy as the apostle John who wrote the gospel of John, but the evidence of that is inconclusive.  

While dad’s out swimming, I’m pottering around the beach writing yesterday’s blog.  I’m a bit behind, but will catch up!

We have to check out of our accommodation by 11am – and once we’re all packed up and ready to go, we take time to chat to (and take photos with) the lovely Maria who runs the place.  

Maria’s guesthouse is called Villa Saraj, and Saraj seems to be the hardest word.  Is it pronounced Sara, Sarah, Saraj, Saray?  God knows!  

Across the road is a building with a jewellers on the ground floor and restaurant on the top floor.  Incidentally, Ohrid is known for its pearls, so nearly every item in the shop contains pearls (just if you needed to know.  We go upstairs and enjoy breakfast overlooking Ohrid town and harbour.  I go for a traditional breakfast which is basically a pepper omlette with sliced sausage on top, two slices of grilled halloumi, four slices of bread, and a garlic sauce.  

All fuelled up for the journey ahead, and we hop in the car for Skopje.  We’ve already decided to do a bit of a drive along the lake side, before heading on to North Macedonia’s capital (and our last leg of the holiday).  Given the early start, I find myself nodding off pretty quickly, and as I wake, we’re back approaching Saint Naum (where we were yesterday with the boat tour).  Dad needs a coffee or something to keep him awake on the road, so we know we’ll find one at one of the bars inside the monastery complex.  

In the car park, we find a supped up Honda Accord parked up, which had passed us further up the road.  It looks cool, but I remark how that’s solely down to the spoiler.  If you take the spoiler away, that’s a distinctly average looking car.

Lake Ohrid is pretty well renowned, but did you know it has a sibling?  Lake Prespa is separated by Galičica Mountain, the Galičica National Park, and a very twisty mountain pass known as the Koritski Rid.  

Traversing said mountain comes at a cost (something like 100 MKD per person – that’s like £1.40 each).  It’s well worth it, as the winding road is a joy to drive, and there are barely any other cars on it either.  At the top, a crowd of onlookers is assembled as a man throws himself off the edge of the mountain.  Don’t worry – he’s got a parachute though!  

Paragliding is a pretty popular pastime here at Lake Ohrid, and we’ve already seen quite a few posters around the town.  As the first paragliders rise up high into the sky, another is getting ready to fly.  

It’s much windier today – I know we’re standing on top of a mountain, but there is rain on the horizon and the winds are really picking up.  What a contrast from the still water we sailed on yesterday.  

Next thing we know, and the other paraglider is packing up is parachute and aborting the jump.  The wind is directly in our face, so would blow him back towards the mountain, which I suppose could be a bit dangerous.  Rumour has it that his mate was last spotted over Italy! 

After a few pics, we get back in the car and head towards Lake Prespa.

The second lake isn’t interesting as the first. The land surrounding its edge is much flatter, and at the right hand side as we’re looking at it, there’s a large beach and beyond that, what looks to be a flood plain.

Even when we get back down to lake level, the winds are still very strong, and blowing sand and dust off the fields and across the road.  Branches and leaves are strewn all over the road, and it looks like some post apocalyptic scene in a sci-fi film.  As it so happens, an intense storm had actually blown across the Balkans.  On TikTok, I’ve seen some crazy videos of Sarandë and Girokastër of terrestrial downpours and heavy flooding.  Looks like we’ve got off quite lightly, and been very fortunate with our timing.

The winds intensified the further we drove, and it started raining as we arrived into Skopje (although not very heavily).

Driving in through the North Macedonian capital, and the place looks quite rough.  There are many residential tower blocks, dull and bland buildings and grass growing up through the bricks on the pavements – first impression is that Skopje looks like a place that time forgot; a product of the 60s & 70s.  Although, the traffic is light years better than Albania – far less traffic on the roads and a level of courtesy that’s been lacking everywhere we’ve been so far on this whole trip. I’ve heard really great things about this place, so will reserve judgement until we’ve seen the city centre.

For this leg, our apartment is on floor 33 of a highrise tower (Çevahir Sky City block B).  There are four of these towers standing together – each 142 metres / 42 floors tall.  They’re collectively the tallest buildings in North Macedonia, and were completed in 2020.

The view our rooms are immense, and the clouds part to leave a golden tinge over the buildings below us.  

Directly underneath us is a shopping complex, so we head to a restaurant there for some food, then return to our apartment to watch the new Thursday Murder Club film on Netflix.  We’ve done a lot of driving over the last few days, so it’s nice to kick back and relax for a bit.