20 - 23 September 2013
Day 1: Catching the bus there
The bus ride there was like most of the others I'd had recently; not too much respect for rules. We started off with too many people for the minibus so there was one guy sitting on the floor and along the way we were dropping people off and picking them up at seemingly random spots. I reckon the bus driver was just doing favours.
At the other end, I jumped off the bus and whipped out my trusty compass. After some head scratching and twirling around I figured out the direction to wander and I was off. The highlight of the walk was when I went past a primary school and the kids ran up to the fence and asked if I had somewhere to stay.... repeatedly. These kids were less than 10. They really get them working young. I didn't have anywhere booked but I was headed towards the Sunny Lake Hostel, that came highly recommended, and was hoping to score a spot, which I did.
Dinner
I made myself dinner at the hostel because it had a full kitchen. It might not sound like much but most of the hostels I stayed at either didn't have a kitchen or they had an area that could maybe, sort of, be loosely defined as a kitchen. But even if they did have something, it rarely had enough utensils to be useful for anyone other than MacGyver. However, all the hostels I stayed at in Macedonia had awesome kitchens with lots of utensils and even spices and oil and all that other useful stuff. Plus, did I mention, they were some of the cheapest hostels I stayed at? Win!
After dinner I got in invited to dinner with the other people staying there, doh. I still went along and creepily watched everyone eat. I can't remember what I had for dinner but my notes say that I cooked myself basically what the restaurant served but mine was cheaper and better, go me :D After dinner we stopped at some bar and had the mandatory shots of rakia. Then we tried to make some dodgy deal with some locals to get some black market rakia but it didn't happen so we had to settle for cheapo wine from the local shop instead. This wine fuelled a night of card games (ring of fire) and saw us going to bed at 2am.
Day 2: On ya bike
I hired a bike from the hostel and went for a ride part way around the lake. The lake is over the border of Macedonia and Albania and I'd heard stories of people riding bikes all the way round but that would've been a much larger trip than I was prepared for so I stopped when the bike trail stopped and headed back. I rode up to the fort on the top of the hill and paid the cheap fee they were asking to climb its wall and look out over the lake and the town.
Hill climb
There's an decent sized hill next to the lake and the town that I could see from the balcony at the hostel. I could hear its siren call asking me to climb it. I, prepare for excuses, wasted too much daylight in the morning with the ride and really wasn't feeling 100% after the night of cheap wine but my hill climbing spirit was still strong so I had to at least try.
I made it part of the way up. I'm not sure exactly how much that part is but I'll put myself at about 50% although it looked harder toward the top because there wasn't really a trail. Even with where I got to, I still had a great view although the camera didn't because of the sun. Pro tip: if you're planning to take photos of something, try to get there when you aren't taking photos into the sun. This is something I failed at many times.
Going out
Back at the hostel everyone busted out there secret stashes of rakia (I swear this stuff is easier to get than water) and we all did the backpacker swapping stories thing. I really liked this hostel because it had a balcony with comfy couches, a great view, a nearby fridge and it was just the right size to host a good sized group of people. We visited two bars during the night. The first being a small upstairs place that learnt what a "three wise men" shot was thanks to my Kiwi friend and the second was a place that played live music, just for something different.
Day 3: Tourist sights
Today I went to see some of the tourist sights with two Aussie guys that were staying at the hostel. We went up to the fort on the hilltop, which I'd already been too, but it was good to have company plus there's someone to take photos for the blog. We also saw a basilica/church combo that was hanging on the side of the hill over the lake. Back in the town we stopped and chatted to a lady with a jewellery shop. The two Aussie guys loved all the stuff she was selling and after they bought some stuff (and I hadn't), she gave me a bracelet for free.. How nice :D
All three of us were crashing so we grabbed a Gyros, the local meat in a wrap thingo, and headed back to the hostel for a snooze. We stayed at the hostel and played cards and enjoyed some more rakia. My notes also tell me that I had a crap sleep but can't remember why; can't have been that bad.
Day 4: Back to Skopje
We spent the morning packing and chatting before making our way to the bus station. It was good because there was a group of 4 of us all heading back together and it's always nice to have company.
Day 1: Catching the bus there
The bus ride there was like most of the others I'd had recently; not too much respect for rules. We started off with too many people for the minibus so there was one guy sitting on the floor and along the way we were dropping people off and picking them up at seemingly random spots. I reckon the bus driver was just doing favours.
At the other end, I jumped off the bus and whipped out my trusty compass. After some head scratching and twirling around I figured out the direction to wander and I was off. The highlight of the walk was when I went past a primary school and the kids ran up to the fence and asked if I had somewhere to stay.... repeatedly. These kids were less than 10. They really get them working young. I didn't have anywhere booked but I was headed towards the Sunny Lake Hostel, that came highly recommended, and was hoping to score a spot, which I did.
Dinner
I made myself dinner at the hostel because it had a full kitchen. It might not sound like much but most of the hostels I stayed at either didn't have a kitchen or they had an area that could maybe, sort of, be loosely defined as a kitchen. But even if they did have something, it rarely had enough utensils to be useful for anyone other than MacGyver. However, all the hostels I stayed at in Macedonia had awesome kitchens with lots of utensils and even spices and oil and all that other useful stuff. Plus, did I mention, they were some of the cheapest hostels I stayed at? Win!
After dinner I got in invited to dinner with the other people staying there, doh. I still went along and creepily watched everyone eat. I can't remember what I had for dinner but my notes say that I cooked myself basically what the restaurant served but mine was cheaper and better, go me :D After dinner we stopped at some bar and had the mandatory shots of rakia. Then we tried to make some dodgy deal with some locals to get some black market rakia but it didn't happen so we had to settle for cheapo wine from the local shop instead. This wine fuelled a night of card games (ring of fire) and saw us going to bed at 2am.
Day 2: On ya bike
I hired a bike from the hostel and went for a ride part way around the lake. The lake is over the border of Macedonia and Albania and I'd heard stories of people riding bikes all the way round but that would've been a much larger trip than I was prepared for so I stopped when the bike trail stopped and headed back. I rode up to the fort on the top of the hill and paid the cheap fee they were asking to climb its wall and look out over the lake and the town.
Hill climb
There's an decent sized hill next to the lake and the town that I could see from the balcony at the hostel. I could hear its siren call asking me to climb it. I, prepare for excuses, wasted too much daylight in the morning with the ride and really wasn't feeling 100% after the night of cheap wine but my hill climbing spirit was still strong so I had to at least try.
I made it part of the way up. I'm not sure exactly how much that part is but I'll put myself at about 50% although it looked harder toward the top because there wasn't really a trail. Even with where I got to, I still had a great view although the camera didn't because of the sun. Pro tip: if you're planning to take photos of something, try to get there when you aren't taking photos into the sun. This is something I failed at many times.
Going out
Back at the hostel everyone busted out there secret stashes of rakia (I swear this stuff is easier to get than water) and we all did the backpacker swapping stories thing. I really liked this hostel because it had a balcony with comfy couches, a great view, a nearby fridge and it was just the right size to host a good sized group of people. We visited two bars during the night. The first being a small upstairs place that learnt what a "three wise men" shot was thanks to my Kiwi friend and the second was a place that played live music, just for something different.
Day 3: Tourist sights
Today I went to see some of the tourist sights with two Aussie guys that were staying at the hostel. We went up to the fort on the hilltop, which I'd already been too, but it was good to have company plus there's someone to take photos for the blog. We also saw a basilica/church combo that was hanging on the side of the hill over the lake. Back in the town we stopped and chatted to a lady with a jewellery shop. The two Aussie guys loved all the stuff she was selling and after they bought some stuff (and I hadn't), she gave me a bracelet for free.. How nice :D
All three of us were crashing so we grabbed a Gyros, the local meat in a wrap thingo, and headed back to the hostel for a snooze. We stayed at the hostel and played cards and enjoyed some more rakia. My notes also tell me that I had a crap sleep but can't remember why; can't have been that bad.
Day 4: Back to Skopje
We spent the morning packing and chatting before making our way to the bus station. It was good because there was a group of 4 of us all heading back together and it's always nice to have company.
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| There's a surprising end to this slide |
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| Up on the hilltop fort |
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| Me with one of the Aussie guys |
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| The view from the hostel balcony and the hill I tried to climb |
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| No issues with copyright here |
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| Looking out over the lake from the hilltop fort |
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| Looking back over the fort |
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| Looking over the fort from another angle |
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| The fort again |
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| The view toward the top of the hill from where I stopped |
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| Looking back out over the town from where I made it to on the hill |
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| The basilica/church thingo |
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| NO! Just, no. So ugly :( |
