Oct 11, 2012 - Bitola - Macedonia

Nesta viagem são as seguintes nacionalidades pelas quais já passámos, algumas são curiosas...: Romenos, noruegueses ( tem tudo a ver ...), brasileiros, franceses, albaneses,alemães... Não passamos por italianos, porque há imensos por estas zonas, sobretudo na Macedonia, e reconhecem bem o italiano. Saímos de Ohrid sem grandes planos definidos. A ideia é começar a descer para Sul, em direcção à Grécia e Bítola é uma cidadezinha macedónia que calha a caminho e está quase colada à fronteira grega. As fronteiras entre a Macedonia e a Grécia não...

Oct 7, 2012 - Ohrid - Macedonia

Em Ohrid ficamos hospedados no Villa Lucija, um hotel familiar. Os donos vivem no rés do chão e os 3 pisos para cima foram convertidos em quartos com varandas viradas para o lago, pois o hotel está mesmo situado sobre o lago. Tem uma pequena cozinha comum e por isso podemos preparar o pequeno-almoço e depois tomá-lo na varanda com uma vista absolutamente soberba. Estamos no ultimo piso, e ficamos sentados a beber café com leite e a apreciar as gaivotas a voarem sobre o lago ou o bailado de meia duzia de cisnes, com as montanhas como pano de...

Oct 6, 2012 - Macedónia - Ohrid

A viagem até à Macedonia, que faz fronteira com a Albania e mais precisamente para Ohrid, foi longa. Saímos cedo de Berat e apanhamos uma camioneta bastante velha para Elbassan, mais a Norte. Chegados aqui a, apanhamos um taxi numa viagem curta até junto de um estádio de futebol e daqui um furgão até Progradec, já junto à fronteira com a Macedónia. A casa de banho na estação de camionetas há-de ficar na meméoria...desce-se um lance de degraus que vai ter a um portão e onde se entra para uma catacumba com 3 sanitas lado a lado. A estrada é...

Jan 21, 2011 - Skopje - Jan 19-21

January 19, 2011 We were woken up this morning at the border between Serbia and Macedonia at about 5am. We spent about an hour at the borders and once moving again we soon dozed off back to sleep before arriving in just before 7.30am. We were staying with Dave and Sabine who had offered us their spare room after we met them in Ljubljana. We decided to walk to their apartment but the lack or road signs didn’t make it easy! I had to guess which was we needed to leave the station and, thankfully, after asking a local or two, we appeared to be...

Jul 9, 2010 - Skopje und andere Irrwege - Skopje and the Odyssey

Dass -auch geschichtlich bedingt- die Beziehungen zwischen Griechenland und Mazedonien nicht gerade gut sind, mussten wir heute spueren. Obwohl die mazedonische Grenze nur ca. 80km noerdl. von uns lag, wuerde es mit den Oeffis 2 tage dauern dort hin zu gelangen, also mussten wir den Umweg ueber Thessaloniki nehmen, wo wir durch die Strassen bummelten und uns ca. 6 Stunden ausruhten bis 17h nachmittags fuer die einzige Verbindung nach Mazedonien. Bulgarien waere nur mit Ankunft um 01h30 nachts moeglich und daher keine Option. Nach mind. 2h...

Jun 18, 2010 - Walking to Greece

We took the bus from Ohrid to Bitola, not sure whether we would stay in Bitola, which was runored to be a fashionable place, for a night or not. Rolling into Bitola, either the hype exceeded reality or we missed the fashionable part entirely. A guy at the bus station offered to drive us to the border and we piled into a car that we were not sure would make it out of the parking lot. Thankully, 10 minutes later, we exhaled and exited the car. Now at this point it is raining pretty good and it's worth mentioning that, a few days ago, Julia...

Jun 16, 2010 - Ohrid, Macedonia

If you ever want to feel like the long lost aunt and uncle finally returning home for a long overdue visit, go to Macedonia. And the guidebooks and Albanians are correct, Ohrid is much more beautiful than Pogradec, or any other town, in either country. In fact, we are hard pressed to think of a nicer lakeshore town anywhere in the world. Steps from the waters edge was our apartment (of course, fabulous and inexpensive) and our new extended family. With the football world cup in full swing we spent most evenings at the bookie/sports...

Apr 11, 2009 - Thessaloniki to Skopje

We arrived into Thessaloniki around 5:00am. We have been to Thessaloniki on an earlier trip so decided to try and find a connection to Skopje. Waited around until the international train ticket office opened around 6:00am and bought two tickets to Skopje. The train didn't leave until 10:45am so we had some time to kill around the train station - not the most exciting place in Thessaloniki. Train, which consisted of three carriages and an electric engine eventually left at 11:05. It was a pleasant and smooth trip and the train stopped at a...

Mar 17, 2009 - Former Yugoslavia Politics 101

3/17/09 Yugoslavia Politics 101 After easing our way into former Yugoslavia via Macedonia, we had to be quite judicious about planning our next route into Serbia and Kosovo. Perhaps now is a good time for a brief history lesson about Yugoslavia (Rick Steves does a nice job summarizing it in his Best of Eastern Europe book). With its access to the sea and strategic location between east and west, the area has always been a crossroads of cultures, with Illyrians, Greeks, Romans, and Slavs conquering and populating the area. With the demise...

Mar 14, 2009 - A Post Man's Dream?

3/14/09 Could it be—a real bus station! A building, with places to sit, and posted schedules, and buses that leave from appointed times! Skopje had already exceeded expectations. Unfortunately, we had to struggle a bit to find an inexpensive place to stay, so tourism has a bit of a ways to go. Still, we enjoyed our time in Skopje. Unique to their now-mandatory old town with fortress and quaint cobbled streets, the Macedonians have revitalized their Turkish bath houses (hamans) making them into unique spaces to show their colorful and...

Mar 11, 2009 - Magical Lake Ohrid

3/11/09 Immediately after crossing the border from Albania, the rubbish improved, building materials and implements of destruction disappeared, and the homes became larger and more picturesque (using artistic stone and tile construction instead of repeating concrete slabs). Hoxha’s bunkers gave way to handfuls of blown-apart houses followed by graveyards spiked with black tombstones bearing the same end dates. The driving improved, English became more prevalent, and more people came up to us offering accommodation. Politics already began to...

Oct 10, 2008 - Macedonian Marvels

(To see these photos up close, run your mouse over the botton left corner of the slideshow and click on Macedonia. This will take you...