The Last of Macedonia

 Hello again!

We left the gorgeous historic villages of the lakes area in the south-west corner of Macedonia and headed to the small city of Bitola. We have booked most of our rooms in advance as it's peak summer holiday time. Many rooms in Macedonia are way too lurid for our tastes. Simple rooms decorated in purple, yellow and lime green were common! One in Bitola caught our eye though. Yes, it seemed lurid but in a classy way. It was in a great location right on the main pedestrianised street in Bitola where all the action happens so we booked it.

The place wasn't hard to find but the parking was horrendous. We damaged the car trying to park on the side of the road while waiting to find out where the hotel parking was. It turned out to be down a rough, narrow, dusty laneway where cars could barely move and we got boxed in sometimes.

The owner found our key and opened the door to a passage towards some of the rooms. We nearly fell over in surprise. Light gleamed from the polished and mirrored surfaces. Gold in the tiles shone brilliantly. What the???

If the passage was a surprise, then the room was a shock! Hidden coloured strip lighting reflected on the full sparkly wall behind the bed. Each bed leg had inlaid mirrors and a chandelier hung above the bed. Satin sheets and pillowcases were on the bed. It looked like the setting for a porn movie! After the very simple timber room we had at our last place, we had gone from one extreme to another. The one thing we were hoping for though was a softer bed. The last one had been quite hard. We felt it with high hopes. It was as hard as a rock.

The room was fairly small and dark so it wasn't ideal for our three-day stay. It was also located above two casinos - there are casinos everywhere here!

Luckily there was a lot to do and see outside. The main pedestrian street was lined with lovely old buildings.

Every evening this street filled to the brim with people. Restaurants lined the edges and people sat in them eating, drinking and smoking (they smoke a lot in this country) and watching everyone else walk by.

Amazingly, we heard so many Aussie accents! We came to realise that Melbourne was a big destinations for Macedonian migrants and many of those come home each summer. They were mostly in family groups so we didn't really get to talk to many of them.

We found a great bakery that served fresh-baked borek (filo pastry pies filled with meat or cheese) for breakfast. Nearby was the first town sign like this that we've seen. (This says Bitola in Macedonian.)

We drove out of the city to explore the area on a Sunday, because that's the only day where we could get back into our car park without too much stress as there's far less traffic on a Sunday. We headed to Pelister National Park and had a ride and a walk but it wasn't incredibly interesting. There was a nice viewpoint.

We climbed up a long way and I was amazed to see snow ploughs parked for the summer. It's still so hot here - I can't imagine it snowing.

Back in Bitola, we had heard there was music happening each night and we caught some traditional dancing on our first night. Very professional and enthusiastic dancers entertained the crowd for an hour or more. As we had missed the introductions, we didn't know what country they were from and were very surprised to learn they were Sicilian!

I love the pom poms and the witches britches!

We caught the introduction on the second night but were none the wiser as it was all in Macedonian. It turns out they were Serbian.

The dances were sometimes fast, sometimes slow and sometimes looked a bit Russian.

I love their shoes!

Near the town is an old ruined Roman city. We got there early to beat the heat and managed to beat most of the tourists as well.

A highlight was the many mosaics on the floors of churches and grand houses.

On my way back (John went for a bike ride) I stumbled across more dancers and singers. It turned out that Bitola was hosting an International Folk Dancing Festival. 

I learned there would be a performance that night at 8pm so we thought we'd get there early to get a good spot. To our amazement hundreds of chairs were set up in front of a large stage and they were all full! By the time the show started, many more people were standing. Apparently this was the grand finale of the festival and all the groups danced. I was in heaven and watched until the end but John didn't last as long.

Some of my favourite groups:

The Croatians had amazing costumes.

The Irish team had the Riverdance thing happening. I'm a bit confused about the wigs though.

The Georgian men had some weird moves and looked like they were wearing wetsuits!

The Mexicans were the most popular team (apart from the Macedonians of course) for their colours and rhythm.

We were both rapt that the festival was on while we were there. It's not often that we time these things right.

We finally left the city of dancing (and the porn room) and headed to wine country. This would be our last stop in Macedonia. Tikves is a well-known wine region in Macedonia and we booked a room at a winery in a small village there. 

The view from our simple but spacious room was amazing.

We got up early the next morning to exercise and we arranged a time to be back by as John cycles and I walk. But there was one problem - I got a bit lost. Ok, I wasn't technically lost because I knew where I was, the problem was that I didn't want to go back the way I had come. I had walked through a tricky spot on a rough track and had got stung by nettles. It looked easy enough to go back a different way so I followed my nose for a while. And then a bit longer. Then even longer. 

The river was beautiful though.

At one stage I saw a swing bridge not far away. It took a bit of negotiating through the scrub to get to it and once I got there I found it went nowhere!

Tracks kept ending in dead ends at small farms. Thank goodness I had a local sim card in my phone and could email John who was by now back at our accommodation. Every time I stopped to email him I got bitten by bugs of some sort though.

An hour after I was supposed to be home I finally stumbled into a village I thought I had passed ages ago. John was my knight in shining armour. As I had both the car and the keys (I had left the car at the start of the walk), he rode his bike all the way to where I was, picked up the keys, rode back to the car and came back and picked me up. I waited under a shady tree with a very friendly dog that we had met the previous day. Like so many other dogs, she was a healthy and friendly stray. She was also pregnant.

With legs covered in scratches and bug bites, I was happy to be back at the hotel. Breakfast had finished by the time I got there but they have saved a few things for me. They must have thought I would be hungry! The fried things at the back are fried dough. This is a bit like a doughnut and is a traditional breakfast.

Macedonia was an interesting place to visit. We made a mistake going there when it was so hot as this limited what we could do but overall we enjoyed it.

Hooroo!
Heather and John