Our journeys yesterday and today have been everything that we hoped for when we planned our tour, well almost everything-some of the road surfaces leave a great deal to be desired, whilst the potholes are not quite up to the Ukrainian size they are a close second!
Moving between Bulgaria and Macedonia gave us the biggest landscape change we'd seen since setting off through Belgian. Up until coming into Macedonia the landscapes had been consistently compromising of lush forests, rolling hills and mountain vistas. As soon as we crossed through the border point entered a Mediterranean landscape of brown and dry tracts of land and tall cypress trees; it was as if there was a barrier separating the two climates.
Our entry into Macedonia was not without adventure and left Colin 50 Euros lighter! When we passed through the Bulgarian side the guards told us that without a Green Card we would not get into Macedonia, we thanked them and said we would give it a go but we may be back round in 10 minutes, which made the guards laugh. As soon the Macedonian Guard realised we didn't have a Green Card he called over a colleague who instructed us to move our bike out of the way. He then gestured that Colin needed to go with him and I should stay with the bike which I did.
Colin returned sometime later having purchased local insurance.
When we arrived at our hostelry Colin rang his insurance company who said they didn't give out green cards,. We are now wondering if we will need to buy insurance as we move through Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia that's assuming they let us in to their countries, we may have to have a plan b just in case.
Our lodgings were in a vineyard and when we arrived it was the first day of harvesting, an earlier start than usual due to the high temperatures over the summer months. We had a tour and then enjoyed a wine tasting 3 course (me) & 4 course (Colin) meal both the food and drink where delicious.
On our way to Ohrid this morning we rode to an archeological site where we spent over an hour wandering about what could prove to be the next Pompei, if the government will fund the excavation. It was simply incredible and my photos do not even start to convey the size or quality of the finds. The guide told us that before their independence the dig had been funded by the Yugoslav government but now their government is not interested in advertising, marketing or finding the project.
On arriving in Ohrid we went for a stroll along the lake front and whilst we thought the town looking back on it was pretty we could see why they have an Unesco award. Later when we turned left out of our lodgings and began to walk up to the fortress on the hill we understood why everyone was telling us what a lovely place this was. We spent a good few hours exploring the roman and other monuments and buildings.
Walking back to our room we found ourselves surrounded by hoards of tourists out for the evening entertainment, we not come across so many people since we left Prague.