Bitola was the town I got into after I crossed the Greek border. I liked it a lot, but I didn’t plan to stay long. Accomodation was expensive and Lake Ohrid was supposed to be much better; a better place and cheaper accomodation.
Here’s the clocktower, and a view of the street.
I had a traditional Shopska salad (also in Bulgaria), and straight-chilled in the park with this 1.5L of beer.
I found these badass shoes in the bazaar. Mocassins. I couldn’t pass them up.
I left for Ohrid in the evening. I was going to take the bus, but a group outside the bus station cajoled me to join them in a shared taxi. I thought it might be a good ride. I was right and wrong.
There was this loud Macedonian who had been living in the US for a long time. He did seem very American. I asked him about why Greece doesn’t recognize the country as “Macedonia” since Macedonia is also a region in Greece. Instead, Greeks call Macedonia FYROM (Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia). This guy gave a huge story. “That’s our land. Half of Greece. Half of Albania. Half of Bulgaria. That’s ours. There’ll be a war in the next 5 to 10 years. I guarantee it.” “Although I live in the US and I work for the US government, if there’s a war here … buddy, I’ll be here fighting.” He was really heroic. He was also in his mid-fifties.
Then he continued with a talk on women. He’s been engaged to six women in eight months. Wow!! And he regaled us with a story of his might. “I was fucking my girl for 4 hours, and she said ‘Are you using Viagra?’ and I said ‘Honey, if I was using Viagra, it would be 8 hours!’”
He feels honesty is most important in a relationship. “I like to leave my wallet out … as a trick … to see if she steals any. If even 100 denar (~$2) is gone, I kick her butt out. But if she’s honest … if she’s honest, boy, I’ll buy her golden panties. Or put $4000 in her tit.”
Then he commented that I must be Scottish. “I can see it in his face. Yeah, definitely some Scottish” Factually, “No, I’m Irish and German-Hungarian. I’m not Scottish.” “I’m just kidding. Hey, it’s good to laugh, to joke. That’s what we do here.” Well, it wasn’t even funny; that’s why I didn’t laugh. Asshole.
I told him that I wanted to go to China. “Definitely do NOT go to China. After the Olympics are over, there’s going to be all kinds of terrorist attacks. They already killed three American tourists over there recently. If you go over there, you probably won’t come back. Believe me. I know. I’m in the US Reserves.”
He and the taxi driver arranged a place for me to stay, some private accomodation. They assured me it would be only 300 denar (~$7). Then later he was saying not over 350. Then between 350 and 400. Not over 350. Cable TV. Nice room. Great deal.
So I’m dropped off and this woman brings me the the room. Looks fine, very simple. Then I ask how much and she tells me 400 denar. I told her I was told 300. She says no way. And I tell her I was promised cable TV. Nope. Then she also tells me there’s a tourist tax of 1 euro each night I stay. I tell her this doesn’t work. I was told many different things. So I suggest she shave off a little, so she gives me a 1 euro break. Good enough, it was still a good deal. It pissed me off though. I figured that would happen.
The next day I walked around Ohrid. It’s a nice town. Touristy and pretty quiet. It was also pretty boring since it’s a place to just laze away the days.
A church in Ohrid.
Ohrid lake.
Since I had private accomodation, I made use of the kitchen. I made tortellini with some oil and a lot of fresh tomatoes. And a Lasko Bulgarian beer on the side. Great experience.
I went up to the room and lay down for a minute, but then I woke up about four hours later at midnight. Lazy day.
I got up early the next morning to get out of Ohrid. I thought I might be able to make it to Belgrade for the last day of the beer festival. So I got a bus to Skopje, spent the day there, and would get the night train to Belgrade.
Kale fortress.
After visiting the Kale fortress, I looked at my straw hat and decided it’s life with me was over. Anyway, I had found an abandoned baseball hat on a bus in Greece. So, I laid it down on a cement stump and said goodbye. Goodbye straw hat. I passed by the dirty river that flows through Skopje and found fishermen fishing and children swimming in it.
There’s more but I need to update it later. I’m in Belgrade now.
