Ohrid to Bitola, North Macedonia

The place we stayed in Ohrid, Villa Sofija, was the first place we have stayed that didn’t include breakfast. But it was a really nice place to stay and it was cheap. We paid $54 Euros. It is really fun to walk around a town to find a place for breakfast. We ended up at the same place we ate last night. It is a family run restaurant right on the lake shore. We had a great breakfast.

On the menu the English translation of my breakfast was fried bread. It turned out to be what we call french toast. And it came with a cup of jam and a cup of tapenade.

At 11 we checked out of our room and walked down to the central square to find a taxi to take us to the bus station. As we got out of the taxi at the bus station another taxi driver offered to take us to Bitola for the same price as a bus fare. We agreed and got in. There was another passenger in the front seat. A bit down the road our driver stopped at a bus stop and recruited more passengers. I moved to the center seat in back and another guy got in the back, basically the trunk.

We were headed to Ciflik Winery which the taxi driver said was very nice. The distance from Ohrid to Ciflik winery in Bitola was about 45 miles. It took us about an hour and 15 minutes and cost us about $14.

We are staying at Ciflik for two nights to have a vacation from our vacation. The place was packed with people enjoying a Saturday lunch when we arrived. They have grass and playground equipment and children were running everywhere. And there were lots of parents running after toddlers. Some things are universal.

We had a snack mid afternoon and a great dinner after most of the crowds had left.