After a great breakfast at our hotel we went for a walk and visited the Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum. One of the things I liked about the museum was that they often had photos of the items as they were discovered.
Thessaloniki, Greece
Category: Europe Fall 2022
In September and October 2022 Duke and I are travelling through Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Greece.
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
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.
We arrived in Thessaloniki about 7 and took a cab to our hotel which overlooks the water.
For dinner we had moussaka, sardines and ouzo at a table overlooking the water and people strolling along the waterfront.
Ciflik Winery, Bitola, North Macedonia
Today was a lovely rest day. For breakfast we had an omelette and pancakes outside in the sun.
Later we went for a walk.
Dinner was great too.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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