Sofia, Ohrid and Albania

(BULGARIA) Sofia - Rila Monastery - (MACEDONIA) Ohrid - Sveti Naum - Sveti Petrov - (ALBANIA) Tirana - Kruje - Durres

Mirdite!

STUCK IN SOFIA
Last time I left you I was stuck in Sofia for a week waiting for the Romanian Embassy to open (when it did it took only an afternoon to process. Sucks how Aussies have to get a 40USD visa at the embassy whilst almost everyone else can get a free one at the border!) Being misinformed and waking up late due to late night partying meant I stayed in Sofia rather than go anywhere else and come back when it opened. Although there is not much to see in Sofia (I saw all the sights the first afternoon I arrived), I became rather fond of the little city, the friendly locals, the multitude of cafes, restaurants and bars/clubs! I also became quite fond of the family run hostel staff, where I preoccupied myself with causing fun and mischief to drive Toni, the receptionist, insane.

Did go on a day trip however to Rila Monastery, a stunning monastery south of Sofia, decorated in red and black candy cane stripes and magnificent Byzantine frescos covering every wall and pillar, second to the Vatican itself in it's artistic majesty. This of course being contained in a courtyard surrounded by an enclosure four stories high
containing monk cells and arched balconies. And, as with most devout monasteries, situated in a remote valley of lush vegetation and mountains.

I must say that Bulgaria, with it's food, the people, the little picturesque villages and nature, has tied with Portugal as my favourite country so far to date.


HOSPITALITY IN OHRID
After sadly farewelling the hostel staff in Sofia after a week of hilariarty and fun spent with them, I left for Ohrid in Macedonia. Though upon reaching the border I was informed by the border guard that despite what Lonely Planet says, Visas for Aussies are not free, you must pay 25USD to get into Macedonia. Not sure if I was scammed or
not, but what can you do? So, having entered Macedonia 25USD lighter and not impressed, I arrive in Ohrid at 4am.

I was planning to stay at a house in the old city, but as fate turned out it was lucky I didn't, since I would have been walking a long distance up a steep hill in the dark to find it. Instead, I decided on the spur of the moment to ask a group of young people walking past if they knew any hostels or cheap rooms.

Such friendly people! They spoke English, and told me that indeed one of them has a cousin who lets out rooms in the residential area north of the center. So they drove me to the house where I was immediately served coffee and cigarettes. (Thing about Macedonians is that they smoke and drink coffee ALL THE TIME!!!! I've never had so much
nicotine and caffeine in my life (I don't usually smoke but only accept cigarettes because I feel disrespectful or out of place if I don't))

The mother who owned the house and her son Sasha did not speak any English, yet they were incredibly hospitable and did everything to make me feel welcome. The mother even cooked me dinner every night and called other cousins to come and take me around Ohrid and also to see the nightlife. Me and Sasha became close friends even though the extent of our conversation mainly centred around the words "Ubavo" (beautiful - in reference to nice girls walking past), and "Dobro" (good) for everything else.

Speaking of which, Macedonians like telling me that the girls are stunning in the country. Personally I think they are ok, the Bulgarian girls are way more hotter!

Luckily Macedonian is similar to Bulgarian as I was able to get the gist of many things being said by the frequent guests in the house (seems like everyone goes to everyone’s open houses at all hours to talk, drink coffee and smoke - I love it!)

Anyway, Ohrid is a beautiful place, the old town up a rocky hilly peninsula where a fortress citadel sits on top, 365 churches (for 10,000 people!), a roman amphitheatre, and the usual traditional old houses on cobbled streets. The peninsula ends with a rocky cliff where locals would dive into the deep blue crystal clear lake itself (265m at its deepest).

The nightlife was pretty disappointing however, as the clubs were all overcrowded that you couldn't move, and full of smoke.

SVETI NAUM
Did a day trip via ferry across the lake to Svet Naum, a 10th Century monetary on the other side of the lake. Georgian in it's style, with many soot covered frescos. Also a beautiful tranquil pool of water that becomes a rapid stream flowing icy water into the lake, the flow you can actually see in the lake itself being a greenish colour to the
surrounding blue lake. Nearby, people bathe and soak in the sun on the small beach, and here I also met many families from Melbourne (particularly from Epping), who were there like many other Macedonian families around the world, for a holiday back in their homeland.

I'm also starting to get locals staring at me and saying "Chinese" or "Jackie Chan". Not again! Same thing happened when I was in Morocco! Though they mean well, they also say "Hello" and "Welcome to Ohrid". I usually have to remind myself that they are not being racist, only curious, but it's a struggle sometimes. I wonder if less touristed
Albania would see an increase in this sort of behaviour...


SVETI PETROV
I arrived back to the house on my last day to receive a surprise from my "cousins", who took me to another monetary at night up a hill illuminated with a huge cross. As it turned out, almost everyone else in the town went to this monetary that night, because it was apparently the saint day of St Petro (Macedonians are devoutly religious folk). So, was taken through the throng of people past the stalls selling icons, toys and fairy floss in the monetary grounds, into the monastery itself, where they lit candles and made many prayers at different areas of the monastery; me, the spectator, overwhelmed by the immaculate frescos, the one of the Last Judgement especially intrigued me (why is hell always depicted as a large monster with flames coming out of it's mouth swallowing the damned in this part of the world?).

And then we went to a nightclub.


ALBANIA
After being sadly farewelled by my friends in Ohrid at the bus stop, I got on the bus and wondered what Albania had in store for me...

First, I had difficulty getting across the border because they only accept Euros for the entry tax and I only had US dollars. After some haggling they finally relented. Then, what was apparently meant to be a 3 hour trip turned out to be 6 hours, since we stopped for lunch at a restaurant for an hour, and we took the long way around, stopping at
towns around Tirana before actually going in to the capital itself.

Then, after finally arriving, I had to worry about finding an ATM that would accept my MasterCard. After trying a dozen ATMS, I finally found one that would (at least it's a far cry from 3 years ago where only one ATM existed in the whole country!).

And then I had to find the backpacker hostel (which had only opened last month, and is not yet registered. Was lucky to discover it's existence via a web forum otherwise I would have to find a hotel room which are expensive in otherwise cheap Albania).

After wandering around with a dodgy map along streets with no street signs or numbers, and asking locals who didn't even know what a hostel was let alone knew of the existence of one nearby, I finally stumble across it - a house with a large iron gate with the number 85 on it. Phew!

Anyway, Tirana is actually quite a nice looking city, due to the way they had painted all the communist era megalithic concrete block apartments and buildings with bright cheerful colours like pink, yellow and orange. It actually does work too! Apart from being pretty though, there is not really much to do.

The language is very difficult. Like the Bulgarians, they shake their head for yes and nod for no. Their language resembles nothing else on Earth. "Hello" is "Tungjajeti", "Thankyou" is "Yu falem nderit", and so on...


KRUJA
A pleasant little town, typically Albanian with the old houses scattered down mountain side, with imposing fortress on top and stunning views around. The little bazaar consisting of old wooden houses and cabins along rickety cobbled streets was the highlight, though they all seem to sell only souvenirs as opposed to anything practical...

DURRES
Is extremely disappointing (but that's what happens when you go to the closest beach instead of the famed steep cliffed beautiful Albanian Riviera (which would have taken 8hrs and 3buses and 1hr walk to get to). The buildings were decrepit, and the water was putrid and polluted. The upside with Durres at least is that the people are alot
more friendly than in Tirana.

Well, off to Montenegro tomorrow morning!

Mirupafshim!