Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Well here I am, back from a great four day trip to Lake Ohrid in southern Macedonia.  Igballe and I went to relax by the water, get some sun and check out the sightseeing in the area.  And boy did we ever see some sights... from the seat of a paraglider!  I will get to that more later, but first I guess I should clarify some of the geography of Macedonia.  Since I have been planning my trip for some time, I kind of forgot that other people might not be exactly sure even where Macedonia is.  It is a republic formed as one of the nations born of the former Yugoslavia and as a result has a very interesting mix of cultures, as I previously described.  So anyway, here are some visual aids:


Macedonia in relation to the rest of Europe

We have been spending most of our time in Skopje (the capital) and Tetovo to the North West, and just got back from Ohrid in the South West.


  So back to what we have been doing the past few days... On Wednesday afternoon we left Tetovo for Ohrid.  We got there in the late evening and went into the town for dinner and some shopping.  The region is known for a type of jewelry called Ohrid pearls, so we perused the shops and boutiques for a while.  In the main square we stumbled upon a folk festival where groups of young dancers from different countries were performing the various dances of their regions.  We headed back to our room after some coffee so we could rest before hitting the beach the next day.

Driving to Ohrid from Tetovo

Polish folk dancers

  On Thursday we drove to a beach area a little outside the town and settled into our lounge chairs to enjoy a day of reading, swimming and sun bathing.  The beaches were rocky, but the water was clear and warm.  The beach areas at Lake Ohrid mostly seem to be accompanied by a bar or restaurant who you pay to rent your lounger from and where you can order food and drinks to be consumed at your lake side leisure.  Overall the day was a pleasant one and when the sun started to sink toward the horizon we packed up and headed back to the room to get ready for dinner.  We strolled through the town for a while before finding a cute outdoor restaurant by the lake.  There were musicians performing traditional Macedonian songs and the food was delicious.  Two very enthusiastic thumbs up for the day!



The view from my lounge chair

Candlelit dinner by the lake with musicians in the background.  Tres romantique.
Notice my new Ohrid pearl earrings I'm wearing! :)

 Even though the previous day was highly enjoyed, we wanted to try a new beach the next day and decided on one called "Cuba Libre."  It wasn't really a beach but instead a bar on a pier that went out into the lake.  The pier was lined with super comfortable loungers, sofas and large round cushion things. It was very enjoyable and comfortable, if not extremely hot.  But the hot weather didn't bother us because jumping in the refreshing water was just a step off the pier.  

Relaxing at Cuba Libre

Iggy enjoying the sun.

Weeee! Pier jumping with the town of Ohrid in the background.

The sun beginning to set at Cuba Libre.

After the beach we again decided to head to our new favorite restaurant and were met by a friend of Igballe's.  We chatted and drank coffee for a while before heading to the nearby town of Struga.  In Struga we went to a bar where Igballe's friend's band was playing.  'Beni & Non-Stop' are apparently pretty famous in Macedonia and there was a large turn out.  Some songs were in English, though a lot were not and it was a cool introduction to Balkan rock music, which is much different (and better!) than the "Eurotrash" dance music I'm used in the area.


Ohrid town

Iggy lookin' all cute.

Another amazing waterfront dinner.

Ohrid town still bustling at night.  Notice the sign: "Unique Product: Pop Corn With Caramel"... wow. Innovative.

Beni posing for the camera.  His 13 year old groupies look a little shell shocked,
but I swear most people there were of actual bar going age.

The next morning we prepared ourselves for the most exciting part of our adventure yet... paragliding!  Iggy and I had been talking about it a day or two before Ohrid and the first night we were there we saw an ad for paragliding at the lake.  We had to do it!  So Saturday we met up with the instructors and after a bumpy (read: terrifying) jeep drive up extremely steep, rocky and twisting roads we found ourselves at the top of a mountain overlooking the lake and Ohrid town.  After being strapped in and given translated instructions, me and my tandem pilot ran into the wind and shot off into the sky!!!... well not so much "shot" as glided.  Which makes sense because it's called paragliding, right?  The journey was very peaceful and calming (apart from the pilots equipment which kept beeping loudly.  Of course I only found out after we landed that it indicated changes in altitude NOT that we were about to drop to our deaths as I had suspected.)  

Iggy at the top of the mountain waiting to take off.
Ohrid panorama from the mountain.

Igballe soaring above Ohrid.
It was a little scary at first...
But it got better...


Us and our pilots safe and happy on solid ground.

We did survive, however, and had a great experience in the sky over Ohrid.  After our thrilling ride we re-grouped and made our way to the Ohrid fortress where our afternoon of sightseeing (from the ground) began.  We started at the Ancient Theater, which is a Hellenistic theater built in 200 BC.  The stone seating areas are largely in tact and when looking toward the stage, one has a breathtaking view of the lake and surrounding mountains.  We then trekked up the hill to the stone fortress.  It was built in the middle ages during the rule of Samuil.  Now there are a lot of archaeological digs on site and the walls have been renovated so tourists can walk the battlements. 

Ohrid Amphitheater
Meh... I guess its an alright setting for concerts and plays and stuff...

View from the hill climbing to the fortress... pretty awesome.

The fortress entrance with the Macedonian flag.

Inside the fortress are a lot of ruins which are being excavated.



The next stop on our tour was The Church of St. Panteleimon.  The Byzantine-style Macedonian Orthodox church was built by Saint Clement on top of an existing Roman basilica on a hill known as Plaosnik.  There is continued archaeological work being done on the site and scholars believe St. Clement intended for the church to be used as a literary school for his followers.  We walked around the site and went into the church, where we were given velcro skirts to cover our bare legs and scarves to cover our shoulders.  Inside was a monk chanting, a man standing opposite him reading from a book (the Bible, I'd assume?) and three lonely attendees.  

Archaeological digs around the church with the fortress visible above the trees.
The Church of St. Panteleimon
The Church of St. Panteleimon


Next we climbed down the hill via a lovely path overlooking the setting sun over the lake and Albanian mountains.  After getting a tiny bit lost we finally made it to the Church of St. John at Kaneo.  The church is situated on an outcrop of rocks overlooking the lake with a view of Ohrid town.  It is believed to have been built by John the Theologian (writer of the Gospel of John) and it shows evidence of being built sometime around the 13th century.  We didn't enter because it cost money, but as we were walking back up the hill to the car we stopped and were able to witness a beautiful sunset behind the Albanian mountains with the church in the foreground.  Truly inspirational.

The path down to the last church... notice the beach at the bottom with the people swimming.


The Church of St. John at Kaneo


The Church of St. John at sunset.  The guys at the edge of the cliff danced around there for about half an hour and finally  got the nerve to jump into the water.  It was a bit high, but no Six Mile Creek.

  After a great day we had some dinner and drove the two hours back to Tetovo, exhausted but pleased with a great trip.  Since Saturday night when we got back we have been enjoying the company of Igballe's family, doing some shopping and living a bit of a more face paced city life in the north of Macedonia.  Tomorrow we will be joining Iggy's family to celebrate Eid, the end of Ramadan, followed by a couple days of parties before my departure Friday.  I am not sure I'll be writing again before I leave for Germany and my Fulbright orientation next week, but I think I've already posted enough on this part of my trip to keep everyone entertained for a while.  I hope you've enjoyed and please leave me any comments you wish! I'd love to know what things would be better changed and what things people enjoy seeing/reading!

Until Next Time,
Chelsea

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Здраво Македонија.

Well here I am! My first official overseas blog post.  A lot has happened since I left the States on Thursday, but I will try to give an overview in the most interesting way I know how, therefore I will be putting a lot of pictures in this post!

  First things first, my flight to Germany went fine and after I landed I met up with a girl (hey Franzi!) I met through CouchSurfing (see previous post) who showed me around her city of Frankfurt for a few hours.  I had a really nice time getting brunch and walking around with her since we have a lot in common and tons to talk about.  Hopefully we'll get to see each other again during the course of the year!

The Frankfurt Cathedral 

Römerplatz.  The historically restored square.


Panorama of Römerplatz with the Cathedral in the background.

  After some sightseeing jet lag finally caught up with me and I passed out around 8:30pm to wake up at 5:30am the next day for my flight to Macedonia.  Saturday morning, after some trauma at the airport (Where does it say that Austrian Airlines only lets you have 2 suitcases weighing up to 20 kg combined and not 20kg each like I thought??) I left Germany slightly frustrated and quite a bit poorer.  I survived though and was met in Skopje by the beautiful smiling face of my friend Igballe.  It was then that I found out my luggage did not actually arrive with me from my transfer flight in Vienna, but no matter, I was ecstatic to be reunited with one of my best friends in the whole world!

  We drove from the capital of Skopje to her city Tetovo, about 40km away.  She showed me around the city a bit, but she noticed my apparent lack of zest and decided to fix me some Turkish coffee, something I have become quite fond of.

Turkish coffee and Macedonian halva.

In case you are unfamiliar with Turkish coffee, it is quite thick and strong and served in much smaller quantities than American coffee.  It takes a little bit of getting used to, but luckily I had been introduced to it in Austria and now am able to really enjoy it here in the Balkans.  Along with the coffee, Iggy served me a new speciality called halva.  It is apparently very popular in many countries in this region, but the kind she gave me was specifically Macedonian.  It looks pretty weird in the picture above and its really hard to explain, but it is made from dried sesame paste, sugar and pistachio nuts.  It's amazing and I've housed pretty much a whole can for myself. 

Aforementioned can.

  That night, being the first night I was there, Iggy and I met up with her friend in Skopje at the old city Bazaar.  It is an area of the city that until just a few years ago had a pretty sketchy reputation but was completely rejuvenated and now has a bustling cafe and bar scene.  We were there on a Saturday night and the small winding, hilly streets were packed with men playing cards, jazz bands, people smoking shisha and young people downing Rakia.  We seated ourselves at a small plaza restaurant near a jazz cafe with live musicians.  There I tried my first Macedonian beer (very tasty) and first Turkish kebap (different from the döner all my German friends are thinking of, but also very tasty). 

Igballe at the Bazaar

Me trying some Turkish kebap.

  That night we also walked around the main part of the city a bit and she showed me the large main square filled with statues of former leaders, politicians, writers, Mother Teresa (She was born in Skopje? Yeah, I didn't know that either!) and various other things. 

Iggy on the bridge from the bazaar to the main square.  
Notice the large horse statue in the middle of the picture? That's Alexander the Great. 


  The next day we met up with a couple of Igballe's friends and drove into the mountains near Tetovo to a hotel called Radika that had an amazing outdoor pool with a view of a lake and the surrounding peaks.

Really doesn't do it justice. At all.

  The day was spent lounging by the water, boiling in the Turkish steam rooms and Finnish Saunas then jumping in the pool before lounging again.  Not a bad way to spend the day if you ask me.  Afterward we drove to a restaurant in a different part of the mountains for dinner.  The girls explained to me that everything served at the restaurant was grown and/or homemade on the property... and boy was it obvious from the exceptional taste of the food! 

Home made bread and cheese with tomato, carrots, salad, cabbages, cucumber, potatoes, and onions grown on the property.  And home made Coca-Cola! No, I'm just kidding about that one.

Fish raised on site and caught fresh after we ordered. Presented complete with head!

The view from the outside seating area wasn't too bad either.

  After our amazing meal was completed and the sun was well below the horizon the restaurant started to get extremely full.  As Iggy explained to me much of the population in the area is Muslim and as it is now the time of Ramadan people pack into restaurants around 8pm or so to break their day long fast.  We hightailed it out of there after a bit of car maneuvering (the small size of the roads and  aggressiveness of the drivers here make for some interesting scenes, but I will save that for another post) and enjoyed a nice coffee in the city before heading home.  

  The next day was a day for relaxing and errands (such as going to the post office and asking if can I avoid a 170euro fee for overweight luggage by shipping my belongings to myself at my new German apartment.  The answer: yes, yes I can.)  In the evening we met up in Skopje with the same friends from the previous day and a couple of others.  We went to the old bazaar again and enjoyed some food and drinks.  

More Turkish coffee, this time with a nifty little cup hat.


The people that I have met so far have all been so interesting and enlightening and I have found it fascinating to hear their stories of living in such a unique culture as this.  Thanks to centuries of occupations and cultural meshing, Macedonia at times seems like a hodge-podge of worlds; at the same time Orthodox and Muslim, Macedonian and Albanian, rich and poor.  These contracts seem to blend perfectly however into one bustling, lively society.  

A view of the top of an Orthodox monastery with a Muslim mosque in the background. 

   So back to what I've been doing, today was dedicated to sightseeing around Tetovo.  First we went to The Painted Mosque, a mosque built by one of Igballe's super-great-grandfathers in the 16th century.  The building was absolutely beautiful, having been hand painted by two sisters a really long time ago.  This was also my first time being in a mosque and though I was worried about overstepping any cultural bounds or somehow offending anyone, everyone we met there was extremely nice and inviting (even to a dumb American tourist).  

The mosque's dome ceiling.

The front of the inside of the mosque. 


Igballe



The man we spoke to even encouraged me to stand in the alcove in the front, which represents the direction (toward Mecca) that Muslims pray to. 

Outside the mosque compound.

  We then walked down the road to the old house that Igballe's ancestors built.  There are now modern houses inside the compound, but the old house still remains and it was pretty cool.

Igballe's ancestral home from the 16th century.

  We then made our way to visit some Orthodox churches, but they were all closed and we couldn't go inside.  We also went to Arabati Baba Teke, a community for Sufi Dervishes which was also built in the 16th century.  There wasn't much to see but the outside of buildings there because it is still a working Sufi community.  We did meet some adorable little girls playing in a fountain though!


  The final tourist stop of the day for us was a trek up a mountain above the city (in the car of course, no way we were hiking in the 100 degree heat) to the old Tetovo fortress.  Even Igballe had never been there, so it was a really breathtaking and awesome experience for both of us.  Probably even more so for her as, yep you guessed it, her family built the fortress!  There was actually a tunnel connecting the compound I mentioned earlier and the fortress on the mountain.  

I think the antenna was installed a bit more recently.

View of Tetovo.

My amazing hostess and I.

The opposite side of the mountain from Tetovo.

  Our day was concluded with a huge dinner at Iggy's parents house where the director of the new bank she recently got hired by was the guest of honor.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, but let me just tell you I have never been treated or fed so well.  The food was amazing (and there was so much of it!) and Iggy's family are the most welcoming people I have met in a very long time.  I tried tons of new foods, most of which I am still not sure what it was, but enjoyed all of it immensely.  

  I have only been here in Macedonia for four days and already I can tell I will have to book a return visit very soon!  I had previously mentioned that we were planning a trip to Greece, but that ended up not working out.  Instead tomorrow we will be driving south to the lake side town of Ohrid for a few days of beach relaxation.  Thinking back on the things I have already experienced though I really must say, I'm quite happy to be staying right here in Macedonia.  

Until next time,
Chelsea