Ohrid - 25th October

As the ancient fortress (10^th century) was closed yesterday when we walked past it (and because the Kale Fortress in Skopje was similarly closed when we went to it), we decide to begin the day with a trip to the fortress.  While it is nowhere as impressive as Dubrovnik, at 50 cents to enter as opposed to 10 euro, it is a lot better value.  Also we have the place to ourselves.  We do get some good photos of the whole town and lake.

The main business of the day is a day trip to Vivceni, a nearby village.  This place has been picked by Dorota as a place to visit because it is quirky.  This quirkiness has been decided upon because it decided to declare independence from Macedonia when Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia.  One man’s quirkiness is another man’s secessionist nutcases I suppose.

As well as picking the location Dorota also seems to pick the transport.  OK we are getting local busses, and we are just waiting at stops for the first ones that come along, but we do get some unusual transport choices.  The first bus which takes us halfway to a town called Struga is a pretty dodgy 15 seater in which I have to stand the whole way, about 25 minutes.  However this is luxury compared to the 6 seater, and 6 benches in the back, mini-van which takes us to Vivceni.  What’s quite funny is there is a normal single decker bus about 20 seconds behind it going to the same place, but by then we have paid.  The only thing that meant I didn’t fear for my life too much is that the wife of the guy driving it was on the benches with us (hopefully they hadn’t had a row this morning).

The village itself is quite pretty, with its famous water springs set in a very nice little garden.  But there isn’t too much there, so we go to a local restaurant for lunch, and then head back to Ohrid, via Struga for a quick drink (there isn’t much to write about in Struga).  As we are a bit tired we end up self-catering from a supermarket rather than eating out, meaning I miss out on a second chance to eat Lake Ohrid cake.