Up early today, no time for breakfast at the hotel – we checked out and had the hotel call a taxi for us to take us to the bus terminal. In Tirana the East Bus Terminal is pretty far outside of the city, and it took about 15 minutes by taxi to get there. The terminal is attached to a rather large shopping mall, which was closed because of the early hour.
But the bus station was active, with quite a few buses of different sizes coming and going. There were no signs or markings about where to take our bus, even though we were already holding tickets that we purchased in advance over the internet. As we walked through some burly guy asked me where I want to go, and I kind of avoided answering because it sounded like he was trying to get us to go with him somewhere. We kept walking, and checking our phone, but there was no information to be found.
Kuniko went to look at a place on our Google map, but that turned out to be unmarked, and finally when walking on another sweep a woman asked me what I was looking for. The woman was in her 50s, dressed in regular clothes and seemed a little brusque, but I told her and she pointed to a travel office, saying that company had a partnership for buses to our destination. It was a precise answer and then I realized that people like us get lost here all the time – the man and the lady were either paid employees or volunteering to help out travelers. My initial instinct was that they were trying to steer business in a particular direction, but they were just trying to help.
Once the travel agent office opened up we showed him our ticket printouts, and he wrote down the information on a sheet along with our passport info. He said we could wait on the sofa that was in the office, and since it was air conditioned and comfortable we took him up on that. I noticed with a little alarm that the bookshelf next to the sofa also had a half-empty bottle of whisky displayed, maybe for particularly stressful days.
A few other people came and checked in, fewer than I expected, and by overhearing their conversations with the staff we learned that our bus would be 15 minutes late. Par for the course, though – we expected difficult connections on this trip. When the bus did come it was a smaller bus, perhaps 16 people capacity. Kuniko grabbed two prime seats in front – there were already some passengers from some other place in there. Our suitcase fit in the back (luckily) and then we were off.
It was an interesting ride. The driver had a co-pilot who sat up front with him, and together they chatted (in Albanian?). The bus looked great on the outside but the interior was pretty beat up. There was a sign that showed a WiFi password, but no network was available. They played some traditional music via CD, sometimes the radio, and kept a running conversation going. The driver was a little deaf, so throughout the two hour ride to Ohrid we heard him say “Eh?!?” about a million times.
The driver was a good driver, though and we made pretty good progress. We passed lots of small villages, roadside fruit stands, and a lot of nature. Much of the drive was alongside a river that would appear and then hide in the trees. I noticed a lot of roadside fountains that drivers would pull over and use to refill their bottles. It was fun to sit with Kuniko and munch on snacks while watching the scenery go by. There was a brief pit stop at a rest area up in the mountains, but after that we made good time.
There were some things we couldn’t figure out. At one point some cars in front of us started weaving in and out of their lane with their blinkers on. I thought maybe they wanted to overtake other cars, but they stayed behind. Some cars had streamers that they let run outside their window, which made us think that maybe it was some kind of celebratory event. As we got close to the border to North Macedonia many houses had water hoses set up to spray the water up in the air – not a permanent thing but something set up for a special occasion? Mysterious!
The border crossing process was a little longer because of the number of passengers on our minibus. The driver collected our passports and went into the office, while we could just sit in the vehicle. Soon the driver came out with all our passports – he dropped them a few times and struggled to get them all together in his hands – but then handed them out in the bus. A very cursory customs inspection in the back of the bus and then we were off. We were disappointed that the border guards weren’t beautiful ladies like when we entered the country.
Once we crossed into North Macedonia, our 4th country of the trip, the buildings initially looked really nice. But that didn’t last and as we get closer to Ohrid it evened out to a mixture of stylish and run-down homes. Ohrid is next to a big lake and so we drove along the lake as we approached the town. Once inside town the drivers did a loop and appeared to be lost. Eventually the copilot got us figured out and dropped us off at the main bus station in the north of town. But that was a problem…
Our plan (as dreamed up by me) was to take the bus into Ohrid, stop there for a while to look around and have lunch, and then take another bus on to Skopje where we would be staying the night. As it turned out we needed to use two different bus companies – one to get to Ohrid and another to leave and get to Skopje. The tickets I bought for the first company showed the bus destination to be that company’s offices in Ohrid, in the south near our sightseeing spots. However, that isn’t where the bus dropped us off – this was a completely different terminal. I tried to point this out to the driver but he pleaded “No English” and told me to take it up with the terminal staff. It became clear that we were not going to be going to where our ticket said we would go.
So this change in arrival location made an impact on our plans, and we had to shift things quickly. First, we needed some North Macedonian dinars, so I went over and was able to get some from an ATM nearby. Then we went looking for a taxi. The first one we found said our destination was impossible, but we changed our strategy and chose a nearby restaurant, and the next taxi driver said he could do it. We threw our suitcase into the trunk and hit the road.
Our driver was really friendly, and asked how many days we’d be staying in Ohrid. I told him it was actually a matter of hours. We were only in town for the next few hours, but from what I saw of the town it was pretty nice and would have been a good place to stay for longer. The driver took us towards the south, near where we would have started if the bus arrived where it was supposed to.
Then we started up a narrow street, barely two-way, we got stuck in some traffic. The driver assured us that it was very unusual – in his career of driving in Ohrid he had never seen this. Soon we got gridlocked into the traffic on the very narrow street, and nothing was moving. I started thinking about what time our bus would leave and wondering if we’d be able to make it back in time.
Meanwhile our driver was chatting with the locals walking down the road, and criticizing the other drivers in the local language. He said it was jammed because it was a bunch of tourists renting cars and not knowing how to drive the narrow streets of Ohrid. And also that it was Sunday, and everyone was leaving the churches at the top of the hill.
Which happened to be our actual destination.
Planning the trip I never thought about the day that we would be there – Sunday – and how that would affect seeing the famous churches in the area. Big oversight!
We were still not moving in traffic and we were getting more and more nervous in the back of the cab. Finally we inched a bit farther up, and we were able to get out at the foot of some steps that led to the gate at the top of the hill. This was as far as cars could go unless they were local residents. I paid the driver 500 dinars, and then he wished us luck and drove off – he was a cool guy for getting us this far.
There was nothing to do then but carry our suitcase up to the mountaintop – more hot weather sweat incoming!
Kuniko navigated on her phone for us and I just concentrated on getting the bag up the hill. It wasn’t too far, just physical labor, and once we got to the top I could roll the suitcase through the main gate and over the cobblestone steps. Our poor suitcase wheel was still rotating and seemed to be holding up but we were really putting it through some extreme wear and tear.
Everyone else was walking hands-free and the rumble of our suitcase being pulled uphill over cobblestones sort of echoed through the neighborhood. But there were plenty of beautiful views to see. The houses and road that we traveled was looking over a steep drop with the lake and beautiful churches down below. I wanted to stop for photos but also wanted to make sure we didn’t miss our bus out of town, so it was a little stressful.
We passed some kids selling local honey at booth and I waved at them, but they watched us go by with curious stares. Sometimes cars would pass, people who lived in the neighborhood. Finally at the top we found the entrance to the Church of Saints Clement of Ohrid & Panteleimon, located on the mountaintop overlooking the lake. I stopped to rest in the shade, while Kuniko went farther to take some photos of the church. Because it was Sunday they were not charging admission to enter the grounds – and we could hear the sound of a church service taking place inside. It was a short visit, but I’m glad we made it.
Then, after a rest we headed right back down to where we started. Rumble-rumble past the houses and lake view and honey-selling kids (they waved back this time) and then we were going down the long stair path (easier than going up), but what we found when we arrived at the bottom surprised us. No cars, no traffic, just a smooth road back into town.
So I guess the church crowd leaving had thinned out enough for the traffic to resolve itself, and we would have plenty of time to get back to the bus terminal. What a relief!
Since we had plenty of time at that point, we decided to walk down a road near the old town that seemed to have a lot of restaurants. Most of them were Turkish restaurants, but since we’d be in Turkey soon it seemed like we should try something else. We found a good looking place that took credit cards with outdoor seating in the shade, so we sat down for lunch.
The cold beer went down well after the mountain climbing, and the owner was really nice to us. We both had skewers – we shared chicken and veal kebabs. Kuniko had some wine and we were able to catch our breath. While eating a young woman walking by said “konnichiwa” to Kuniko, which was a first for our travels. The street had some people walking by but it was much quieter than the streets in the past few towns. It was great to relax.
While relaxing we started to make a plan for the next step. Our departure terminal for the next leg was the same one we arrived at, and since we had plenty of time Kuniko thought that we could probably start walking and then if we felt too hot or tired we could hail a cab for the rest of the way. So after using the clean restroom of the restaurant we set off.
Kuniko guided us through the back streets of Ohrid with her GPS, and as long as we stayed in the shade it wasn’t too hot. Some of the roads reminded me of the backstreets of Okubo back home. At one point we passed a group of guys painting inside a building. They saw Kuniko first and gave a boisterous “Hey, how are you?” In English, and then I walked past behind her and called out “Hey, what’s up?” in my American English and they went wild laughing and cheering. We kept walking but could hear them still calling after us.
Finally we could see the bus terminal ahead – we had made it without the taxi. We were still pretty hot, so we went to the adjacent shopping center and had a couple of gelatos to cool down. Kuniko had Ohrid pear flavor, and I had espresso. Hers was not so flavorful but I liked the caramel ribbon running through it. Since the shopping center was air conditioned we killed more time looking through the drug store DM, and then finally went out to the bus terminal.
We had pre-purchased the next bus leg’s tickets online, and so I showed my printouts to the terminal staff. She looked confused for a while but apparently she found our info. She said we needed to pay a station tax (this sounded kind of dodgy – was it real?) but since it was really cheap and they accepted credit cards I went ahead and did it. They printed out tickets and said we could go ahead and board the bus – it was the only one in the parking lot. I put our poor suitcase in the storage bay under the bus, then we got on board. Our bus filled up and they lined up another one to take the overflow – thanks to that our bus left 10 minutes early. I was relieved we weren’t still stuck on a taxi somewhere on that hillside.
This bus leg was entirely within one country and we were on a full size bus this time. The scenery wasn’t quite as pretty as the last leg. We did pass a national forest that looked quite lush even in summer, and I noticed that we saw a lot of mosques that anchored towns, rather than in Western Europe where a church would be the anchor. We sat a few rows back from the driver, and at one point I noticed that he was smoking – what the hell?
As we approached the outskirts of Skopje, a couple of old ladies arranged to get dropped off near their homes instead of going all the way into town, which seemed convenient for them. As we passed over the central river on the way to the terminal I saw a ship on the water below – sort of docked in the river. And then we turned again past some more churches and found the bus terminal.
Since we had plans to leave the country by bus in a few days we decided to go ahead and buy our tickets while we were here. The lady at the info desk was hard to hear, and she had to say it a few times before I got the message – but we both smiled at the goofy situation. At the correct booth we asked about tickets for the day after tomorrow, and the lady working there had good English and seemed really happy. She was very helpful but her boobs were a little distracting – low necklines are pretty common here.
With our tickets purchased we walked through a very hot stretch that had no shade on the way to our hotel. Kuniko’s phone had died this time, so she used mine. We were tired and snapping at each other a little about it, but we were on the right track and getting close to our hotel. This hotel was a special one – it was actually the ship on the river that I had seen before. I have never stayed on a ship that was a hotel, so it was going to be a novel experience.
Soon we saw the ship on the river, but as we got closer and closer something looked off about it. There was spray painted messages on the stern, and the hull was broken open. The wood was faded and damaged, and a group of birds had pooped all over the side. It was also abandoned.
Uh oh.
Kuniko said something like “Is this it?” and since she was holding my phone I didn’t really have an answer for her. I hoped it wasn’t it.
But up ahead in the distance there was another ship, and it was with great relief that we observed that it was in much better condition. Confirmed on my phone, we were at the wrong ship, and we should keep on walking. The walk was quite nice here, under the shade of the trees the walkway widened into a broad pedestrian avenue, with some stylish restaurants on our left and the river flowing merrily on our right.
The correct ship was nicely decorated, with flowers flowing from flowerpots tastefully arranged in front, and a shiny wood service that looked like it was well-taken care of. The top of the ship was converted into what looked like a restaurant, and there was an open terrace with comfortable seating near the front. Kuniko’s comment was “Very nice, I guess.”
And when we entered it was nice. There was nobody at the check-in desk but after ringing a bell the staff came out of the restroom to help us. We joked about the first ship we saw and he said that some customers were sure they had been scammed. We got two keycards and then took the tiny elevator down one floor. The hallway and rooms were all wood and carpet and looked quite nice – they really went in for the nautical theme. Inside our room were windows that opened out onto the lake with dramatic views of the regal buildings on the other side of the river. It was a great view and location.
We freshened up and went up to the deck to get some drinks. The sun was still out but dropping rapidly, and I had a beer while Kuniko took another shot at a margarita. This one was just as bad as the last one – two bum margaritas in a row! While we were wrapping up an attractive woman sat at the table across from us, she was alone but she gave us a nice smile.
Feeling hungry we decided to go across the street to one of the restaurants, and we chose “Soul Kitchen”, mainly because their big menu had some local cuisine in addition to the usual pasta, pizza and burgers. We had some sarska pleskavica (cheese-stuffed beef patties) and also some beans served with a big smoked sausage – so delicious! We went through a few glasses of great red wine, and just watched people strolling by with our ship/hotel in the background.
After dinner we strolled around a bit for some photos. There were two bridges, each with some kind of cheesy statues. They seemed like a recent addition – maybe a quick way to try to borrow some prestige for this country. A little cheese is fine, but maybe they went a little too far here. We also walked through a big square with a gigantic statue/fountain with a mounted Alexander the Great on top. Plus lots of LED accents – hmm…
Finally we walked through a closed down shopping center on the way back, and lucked into an open convenience store where we could buy some water and drinkable yogurt.
Finally it was back to the hotel. It was quite a travel day – looking forward to relaxing in Skopje all day tomorrow and doing some exploring.
