Skopje and Ohrid

I'm writing from Prizren, Kosovo. So much to tell about my day in Kosovo -- but in the interests of chronology I'll write about my time in Macedonia first and then post about Kosovo later. It's all just words for now, I'm afraid -- pictures will follow upon my return.

Skopje, Macedonia's capital, was unlucky enough to lose much of its notable architecture in an earthquake in the 1960s. (The old railway station building retains a clock which stopped at the time of the earthquake and has never worked since.) As anyone who's visited the UEA campus knows, the 60s was a bad decade to have to rebuild your city. So the 'new' part of Skopje will not win any prizes in beauty contests. For most, Skopje is simply a necessary stopover on the way to more interesting places. But parts of Skopje have a certain charm. North of the river is an old Turkish district, Čaršija, which we owe to the Ottomans who ruled here for centuries. There are old mosques, markets, and streets, as well as a monaestery, Sveti Spas, which has an incredible interior.

I spent three days in and around Ohrid, which is a large town on the lake of the same name. Ohrid is a very popular tourist destination in the summer (it always baffles me how this can be true of a place whilst it's still completely unknown in the UK). Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest lakes in the world, is apparently the cleanest lake in Europe, and has a beautiful setting surrounded by mountains on the Macedonia-Albania border. The town at Ohrid is picturesque, too, with loads of very old Orthodox churches etc.

I met several characters around Ohrid. I was amused by a boatman, Nikola, who was so proud that his tours are recommended in the Bradt Guide to Macedonia that he can tell you the exact page on which he's mentioned (in the English edition, the Chinese edition...you name it). Then there was another boatman, Kristofer -- in order to convince me that I should go on a trip with him, he first had to regale me for some time about many many things irrelevant to boating, Ohrid, or even Macedonia. He was a funny guy, though, and made for a good guide. Then there was the Bulgarian tourist group who I coincidentally ended up sharing both of the above boat trips with -- an odd bunch they were (though a couple of them were friendly and seemed genuinely interested in what on earth I was doing in Macedonia on my own).

For Skopje and Ohrid, pictures will tell the story better. For Kosovo, there are lots of words to be had as well. But they will have to wait for another day.