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It was a very pleasant surprise to open the shutters this morning and find a very beautiful elevated view of Lake Ohrid, Ohrid town and the surrounding hills.  Not to say I didn’t know it was there, but it’s always special arriving in somewhere at dark and pulling back the curtains to reveal a cool view.

As it’s our first morning in a new country, it would be nice to welcome you in the native tongue, however my Macedonian is as bad as my Albanian, and I’ve left the guide book back in the apartment.  That will have to wait, I guess.  In fact, up until today, I thought they spoke Greek here, and didn’t realise they had their own unique language.  It seems it comes from the same Yugoslavia family of languages, even if there are some similar letters to Greek.

I never know whether it’s better to write these blog posts in past or present tense.  To let you in on a little secret, I usually write these the next day, so apologies if it’s a bit of a mouthful to read.  I can assure you it’s as much of a mouthful to write!  But given the benefit of hindsight, I can say if today was a Friends episode, it would probably be titled ‘The One with Meryl Streep, Nile Rodgers and the Skirt Incident’.  

So if you’re sitting comfortably let’s begin.  And we’ll start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start.  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…”. 

Ok maybe not that far back!

We’ve got just one full day to explore Lake Ohrid, so that’s our loose plan for today, and from what I understand, the best way is by boat.  From our balcony we can see the cruise boats departing the harbour below.

Before we explore those options, we head down the steps again to the old town in Ohrid, retracing our journey from last night. 

Between the souvenir shops and jewellery shops is a drinks bar which also happens to be serving food.  The logo is an Afro’d man sipping a blue cocktail.  I think he looks more like Belgian footballer Marouane Fellaini, dad thinks it’s the late frontman of Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynnot.

It’s about 11:30am, and I’m stuck in a quandary – breakfast or lunch, sweet or savoury, banana & chocolate crepe or a ham and cheese toastie.  I know about the concept of brunch, but it feels too late for breakfast, yet too early for lunch.  Getting both would be satisfying yet greedy.  I opt for the crepe, but I know deep down it’s not the right choice.  It’ll be a fifteen minute wait for the waffle machine to heat up the waitress explains.  Fine, no bother, after waiting 2 hours for dinner last night, fifteen minutes is a piece of cake!  In all, the food arrives 45 minutes later.

The crepe was doused in Nutella with banana slices on top and inside.  Usually this would be to my tastes, but there’s something about the warm Mediterranean climates, where chocolate just doesn’t work.    Probably something to do with sugar levels and body temperatures.  

Across the road from the bar is the seafront, where two large piers reach out into the lake.  The main one has several boats docked on either side, and dozens of tour operators with pop up billboards trying to plug their lake cruises.  The first one that catches our eye is a company called Aleksandria, where at 1:30pm, €15 pp would get us an excursion to the Monastery of Saint Naum (at the other side of the lake), stopping off at the Bay of Bones.  It all sounds intriguing, and given the times line up well, we ask the guy to reserve us a place. 

With just over an hour to kill, we head into the new town of Ohrid, where a shiny tiled boulevard divides rows of shop fronts.  Most of the souvenir shops sell exactly the same stuff (very similar magnets, postcards and ornaments).  I’m a sucker for all of it!

We arrive back down to the marina in good time ahead of the 1.30pm departure.  There’s no sign of our boat yet though.

A crowd starts to form on the pier, and a double decker cruise ship arrives into the harbour, with some passengers dancing on the top deck.  The horn sounds and they’re swiftly told to sit down by the fun police as the boat docks.

Once all the previous batch of passengers have safely disembarked, the new crop are welcomed on board.  We head upstairs to the covered top deck seating area.  There are probably about 60 passengers in total, and most are part of an organised Polish tour.

The boat is pretty spacious.  Aside from a. Few members of staff manning the onboard bar, there is no one on the lower deck.  There’s on board WiFi, music playing over the speakers, and toilets.  But I really must address the elephant in the WC.

This isn’t a criticism of the boat, not at all, but rather something I’ve noticed in North Macedonia, and also when we were in Greece, three years ago.  You can’t flush the paper down the loo!  There are signs up by nearly every toilet.  It’s well and good giving your bottom a wee wipe when things are good, then scrunching it up and throwing in the adjacent bin, but when it gets messy (and let’s be real, sometimes when you’re travelling it can get quite messy!) it’s really not hygienic to leave the remnants lying around in a waste bin.  

The reason for this crazy old fashioned rule, is that this part of the world has very old and fragile sewers.  Seemingly they just can’t hack toilet tissues!  Anyway, glad to have got that off my chest.  Sadly I’ll have to give an extra hard scrub to get it off the hands!

Our first stop on Lake Ohrid is the mysteriously titled Bay of Bones.  As we arrive in to dock, we see a massive wooden pier with probably in the region of 30 traditional huts built on top.  

Upon closer inspection, the huts are a clay / wood composite construction and have some very basic displays inside.  It’s 150 Macedonian Dinar / approx. 2.11 to legally gain access.  

This was the site of a prehistoric settlement, and the current huts are a historians interpretation of how things might have looked.  Between 1997 and 2005, a lot of remains were excavated by a team of underwater archaeologists – many of which were animal bones (hence the name Bay of Bones).  This is the most visited museum in North Macedonia (or Nomac as I’m now abbreviating it!)

Some of the displays inside the huts include animal bones and fur.  I’m not sure what it’s there fur!  It takes thick skin to look at dead animals remains.  

The boat only stops here for around 40 minutes, which is ample time to see the displays.  That said, two members of the Polish tour were taking their time to get back to the boat, and there were a few angry honks from one very impatient captain.  We do have a tight schedule to adhere to, you know!

I do wonder what happens to the people left behind on the boat.  Clearly they’re not going to wait all day, and it’s not like someone was counting people back onboard.  I’d hate to think there are some lost tourists still roaming around the place!

As the boat sets sail once again, I’m amazed at just how still the water of Lake Ohrid is.  It’s one of the deepest freshwater lakes in Europe, and there’s a calmness due to the total lack of wind.

In the southeastern corner of Lake Ohrid is the Monastery of St Naum (otherwise known as as Saint Nahum).  According to the map, we are tucked just inside the Notth Macedonian side of the Albanian border.  The monastery itself is exactly the same stock of Byzantine Orthodox architecture as all of the other churches we’ve seen in the area. I do love a bit of architectural consistency.  No flying buttresses though, so win some / lose some. 

The Polish group beats us off the boat, but while most head for the monastery first, we look instead for lunch.  I have a bit of a headache setting in, and am hoping it’s nothing that a cold drink and feed won’t fix.

We stumble upon a traditional Macedonian restaurant within the monastery complex and sit down – there weren’t any staff around, and if it wasn’t for the one small group of people eating there, I’d have thought the place was shut.  A few minutes of loitering with intent later, and a waitress appears.

The menus in the Balkans tend to be very fish or meat heavy, and very dinners.  Few restaurants seem to have a dedicated lunch menu, and if they do, paninis or sandwiches just aren’t a thing.  I opt for a cheese & ham platter.

After lunch, we walk around the monastery grounds.  It doesn’t look like it’s in active use – there are far too many tourists around for that to be the case.  In the centre of the main courtyard, sits a church or chapel.  Some people are lighting candles for loved ones out the front.

Away from the monastery, but still at the same stop, there are a few other activities on offer.  For €15 pp you can go in a little covered rowing boat towards a natural spring – they’re calling these Peter Pan boats.  Whys that?  Because they Never-land.  (Actually no idea, just made that up!)

We have only 30mins, which is exactly the same amount of time as the rowing boat trips last, so that’s probably best left for some other time.  As well as the spring, there’s also a beach with several bars, and a row of market stalls selling the same stuff as everywhere else.

We talk briefly with one of the older ladies working in one of the stalls.  They’re always fascinated to learn where we’re from (not that it’s in anyway fascinating), and keen to practice their English.

Her name is Fatiha and she gives us some travelling tip.  Turkey is very beautiful, she says.  We get into an interesting discussion on Yugoslavia.  I ask if she prefers life now or life before.  Her response surprises me – “better together”.  “Life was easy, women didn’t have to work, free healthcare and education”.  I guess Nomac didn’t have the same bloody wars as Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, although I still think Fatiya is in the minority here.  

In 1991, a referendum was held and 95.26% of North Macedonians voted for independence.  Independence was peacefully granted later that year as Serbia were busy fighting with neighbours elsewhere (and obviously didn’t deem that North Macedonia was worth fighting for).

The biggest dispute actually came with Greece over what the newly independent nation would be called.  Macedonia is an ancient region of Greece much further south.  Clearly, at some point in history, the Macedonian peoples spread north, but this land was never part of Macedonia.  So as a compromise, it was named the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (or FYR Macedonia for short).  Greece never approved of this though, and vetoed the country from ever joining NATO or the EU over fears they would stake a claim to the Macedonian region in Greece as well.  In 2018 the Prespa agreement was signed, whereby FYR Macedonia would change its name to North Macedonia, and the following year it came into effect.  All Greek vetos were then dropped, and the long road to joining NATO and the EU formally began.

Anyway, that chat has put in our remaining time rightly and we’re ready to board once more.  As the boat returns back to Ohrid, there’s a lovely sunset over the hills on the Albanian side of the lake (to our left).  

As the boat arrives into the harbour, I catch a glimpse of a woman in her 70s with long whitish / blonde, who can only be described as Meryl Steep, taking photos our boat.  Interesting, I think to myself.  🤔 

We disembark the boat for the last time, and set about walking through Ohrid town.  We’re indecisive about dinner – none of us are particularly hungry, so maybe a walk might build up an appetite.  Ultimately not, as it turns out!

The main shopping road in the town that I talked about earlier, is known as the Bulevar Makedonski Provetiteli, and about half way up this on the right hand side, I spot a stage area all set up, with some people gathering behind in traditional costumes.  Others had gathered at the other side of the stage in a small tiered grandstand to watch. 

It turns out that there’s an International Folk Festival just about to begin, and troupes have gathered from all across the Balkans to dance and sing.  According to their website, “this festival has been designed with the intention to offer to its participants and to the spectators the opportunity for them to witness and share cultural diversity and to celebrate folklore, tradition, costumes and cultural heritage.”  Boy does it do that!

Before the show starts, Meryl rushes in, and takes prime seats on the front row.  I assume that performer of her calibre must be judging.  A dreadlocked man closely resembling Nile Rodgers joins her.  What a judging panel that is – X Factor eat your heart out!  

The first act is a glorified school choir.  There’s a bit of dancing, but it’s all rather tame.  Onto the next lot.

The second lot from Serbia are a big step up.  They’re made up of 8 girls and 8 guys, all in traditional dress.  The dancing is intense and fast, and accompanied by some traditional folk music.  Half way through the routine, one of the girls loses her dress (it’s hanging off at the back) and she’s forced to hold it firmly in place.  They say ‘the show must go on’ and in this instance it does – no one is fazed and the professionalism is astounding.  They’re the early ones to beat.

A few more groups come and go – from Croatia, Ukraine and Albania, but they’re not a match for the Serbian team we’ve already seen.  One team whips out a professional singer, who immediately reveals himself to be quite the diva “more echo, more echo” he frantically demands as the opening bars of his backing track play.  A selection of dances line up behind him shoulder to shoulder swaying to the music.  

However once the singer makes his way off the stage, the same dancers take centre stage, with the lads squatting furiously Cossack style. Those calf’s must be absolutely killing them by the end.  Their piece de resistance though is a human pyramid, with 4 guys at the bottom, 3 above them, and it’s just as well another 2 & 1 didn’t go up on top, they’d have been having to dodge overhanging branches.  I couldn’t see the look on Meryl’s face, but she strikes me as the sort of person who’d love a good human pyramid.  

The show continues, but sensing that nothing will top a human pyramid (aside from more humans), we head back to our accommodation.

Upon a bit of later research, it seems this festival was tinged with tragedy.  A team from Ukraine were making their way to Ohrid last month, when the bus they were in veered off the road and into a ditch.  There were no fatalities, but four were seriously injured, and one girl had to have an arm amputated.  Obviously my thoughts go out to those impacted – life can be so cruel sometimes.

After returning to our appartment, we ditch mum who’s ‘in for the night’, I grab my power bank to top up my fully depleted phone battery, and Dad and I head back up to see what else is going on in Ohrid.  We can hear music and see flashing lights from our room, balcony so curiously adventure out to explore further.  

It turns out, at the same time, there’s some musical show going on in a purpose built arena up on the hill.  It’s totally free to enter, and the North Macedonian equivalent of Bonnie Tyler is belting out some power ballads (sadly Meryl Streep had other duties, so wasn’t available for an Abba medley!)

After Bonnie wraps things up, the North Macedonian equivalent of Tony Hadley appears.  The crowds don’t seem to be quite as into him, and there’s a stream of bodies (including us) heading for the exit.  Poor guy!

After some meandering, we accidentally stumble across the Ohrid Boardwalk – a wooden walkway roughly 1km long over the edge of the lake.  It’s quite dark, but there’s just enough light to prevent the embarrassment of falling in.  The boardwalk ends at the Church of St. Jovan perched several floors up at the side of a steep hill.  This one’s worth another look in daylight, so let’s take another look tomorrow morning.