Month: October 2022

Bitola, North Macedonia to Thessaloniki, Greece

The view from our window at Ciflik winery this morning was beautiful. Fall has definitely arrived in Macedonia.

Today was a travel day. We relaxed at Ciflik Winery until checkout time when we had a taxi ordered. As we were waiting for the taxi we had a conversation with the owner of the winery, Filip. He had fond memories of his time as an exchange student in Enid, Oklahoma. I would recommend Ciflik Winery to anyone who wants to visit Macedonia

Filip, the owner of Ciflik winery and us before we left

Our bill at Ciflik for two nights inclusing breakfast, two dinners including a bottle of wine each night plus olive bread and wine each afternoon was just $244. What a great bargain.

Our taxi took us across the border into Greece to the train station in Florine. The distance was about 22 miles and cost us $45. We waited about 3 hours for the train that took us to Thessaloniki. It was a lovely day so sitting, reading and knitting was quite relaxing.

Knitting, listening to a book and waiting for the train
Our train

We arrived in Thessaloniki about 7 and took a cab to our hotel which overlooks the water.

The view from our balcony

For dinner we had moussaka, sardines and ouzo at a table overlooking the water and people strolling along the waterfront.

Ouzo
Moussaka
Sardines

Ciflik Winery, Bitola, North Macedonia

Today was a lovely rest day. For breakfast we had an omelette and pancakes outside in the sun.

Breakfast. We shared an omelette and pancakes

Later we went for a walk.

Out walking

Dinner was great too.

A burger with cheese
Pork with berries

It’s been a nice break here at Ciflik winery. Tomorrow we head to Greece.

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.

Duke at 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.

French toast/ fried bread

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.

In the cab

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.

Where we are staying
Olive bread and a glass of wine

Tirana, Albania to Ohrid, Macedonia

The Albanian dictator, Enver Hoxha was paranoid about outside forces attacking Albania. Starting in the 1970s the communist regime built 175,000 bunkers across the country. We saw many of these when we were driving through the countryside. They also built enormous bomb shelters under government buildings. This morning we visited BUNK’ART 2, a museum about the communist era and an art site. It is in a former secret bunker under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

BUNK’ART 2
Corridor in former secret bomb shelter
Duke wasn’t welcome in Albania in the 70s
Display about people who tried

We walked back to the hotel and around noon checked out and took a taxi to the bus station where we caught a bus for Ohrid, Macedonia

Our bus for Macedonia

It was an uneventful trip except that we did see a minor accident when a truck stopped quickly because someone was stopped to make a left turn on a curve and the car behind him ran into him. This is the second accident we have seen the aftermath of. The other one happened a few days ago. It looked like a Mercedes had hit a tractor that must have been crossing the road. Both the tractor and the Mercedes’ were in bad shape

The truck involved in the fender bender

We took a taxi from the bus station in Ohrid. Unfortunately I showed the driver the address for Villa Saint Sofia instead of Villa Sofia. It took us a while to find the right place but eventually we were settled in a very nice room overlooking Lake Ohrid. Lake Ohrid is very similar to Lake Tahoe, big, clear, deep and very blue.

The view from our room

After resting a bit then we hiked up to Saint John’s church on a point overlooking the lake. We stayed to watch the sunset.

St John’s Church overlooking Lake Ohrid
St John’s church at sunset

For dinner we walked down to the waterfront. It was a bit cold but we had a very good dinner right on the edge of the lake.

Duke at dinner
My homemade sausage and fries
The view walking back to our room.

Peshkopi to Tirana, Albania

The couple who owned Guest House Tershana in Peshkopi where we stayed Wednesday night were our age. A lot of Albanians have told us they have relatives who live in the United States. Our hosts had a painting of four men on horseback in the breakfast room. The man, whose name I can’t remember, told us that it was of his father and his brothers in the picture. And that his father and two of his brothers emigrated to the U.S.

Thursday we completed our tour around Albania and drove back to the capital, Tirana. The roads were mostly paved today except for some road work.

The road back to Tirana
That’s a woman carrying a bundle of sticks on her back.

It is nice to have a car but it is also nice not to have to deal with traffic, bad roads and navigating. In Tirana we dropped our bags at the hotel then drove to the rental car return place.

The rental car return place is on a one lane street. There was a car in the driveway of the garage where we needed to return the car so we blocked traffic with horns blaring behind us until the car was moved. In any case we successfully returned the car. By the way, the car review video will be posted to YouTube soon.

Returning the rental car

Then we went for coffee and treats to celebrate a successful completion of this part of the trip.

Coffee and treats
Baklava and other honey soaked goodies

After getting our caffeine and sugar high we walked to our hotel.

The mosque in Tirana

We went to an excellent rooftop restaurant for dinner and had their 10 course tasting menu. The chef delivered a couple of the courses. Each course was a taste treat.

Tasting menu
Six of the courses