Lake Ohrid, Macedonia

Rode from Albania to Lake Orhid which is one third in Albania and 2 thirds in Macedonia. Decided to take the scenic route up near the Greek border. It only took about 8 hours to ride maybe 250km! The roads were pretty damn bad but mostly tarred, although with plenty of pot holes and other obstacles...the worst being the Albanian drivers. All along every rode there are little post box size churches or shrines to those who lost their lives on that particular road. There would always be a picture of the deceased in a suit etched onto the grave stone. So sad to waste your life in a car accident, really it is not that difficult to ride on your own side of the road...but these guys insist on over taking on blind corners and in the craziest places that no sober or sane person would attempt. They seek death out, so no sympathy from me, just stay well away from me. anyways survived and made it to Macedonia. Here is a picture from somewhere along the way:

Again all the Balkan people have been very friendly and always ready to help when they see you looking at a map. Even though we cant speak the same language we usually end up having a laugh and shaking hands. So made it to the lake pretty late and feeling knackered, just wanting a good shower, meal and sleep. Unfortunately the campsite was pretty grim and I had none of these. I knew I was just tired so hoped the morning would improve things. Photo of the lake looking over towards Albania:

There is a museum of the bay of bones in Gradiste where we camped, they have created some houses on stilts, which is how people used to live here a few hundred/thousands years ago they found evidence of this under the water. It was pretty interesting. You could scuba dive here as well as the water is super clear.
I was distracted by the water snakes which were large and plentiful.

I managed to spot a guy with a bear in Albania, I couldnt believe it. So i stopped the bike to take a closer look...but then the owner started thrashing it with a stick and his friend started shaking a tambourine and then the bear started dancing on its back legs. I didnt want to encourage this so started up the bike and moved on. It will be a good day when the bear turns on his owner ;-)
Here are some of the beaches near our campsite:

Next we headed into the old town of Orhid and climbed up to the citadel and to the highest part the fort of Samuel



Next we checked out some old church, of which there are millions in the Balkans, they take this stuff really seriously here...maybe because they know they are going to die young and soon on the roads?

Next we saw the old theatre and a flower we had not seen before.

Next we headed back to the campsite for a local bottle of red wine called T'ga Za Jug which translated means longing for the south and is named after a poem. It was very good.
I then foolishly drank a few of these 'Party Brandy' bottles...the bottle doesnt lie and soon I was ready to party...but the next day was no party and we decided to move on to Stobi it took a few hours and we eventually found our way with the help of some friendly locals. The map I have is not always that accurate.
We drove over the mountain above lake Ohrid, it was pretty high, around 1600 meters and the fresh air soon cleared the remaining party brandy headache.
I should have taken pictures lower down, as the top was just cloud!
So we are in Nis, Serbia at the moment and need to go and see the tower of skulls and the Nazi concentration camp here so will have to blog about Stobi and here later. We head up to Belgrade, Serbia tonight.

I just have to mention WORK for all those who are attending tomorrow, I will not be present ;-)