Kalambaka -- September 15 We got up very early for our arranged taxi to take us from Bitola across the border into Greece and on to Kalambaka to visit the monasteries at Meteora. Transport across the border is tricky here, so we were advised the arranged taxi is the way to go. Friendly Dimitar and Biljana met us at 6am for the trip to Greece. Although concerned there could be issues at the border due to not-so-friendly relations between Greece and Macedonia, w...

Bitola -- September 15 After spending the morning relaxing for a few final hours in Ohrid, including a brief boat tour on the lake, we headed to the bus station. We boarded a bus for the 1 hour journey to Bitola. Bitola is well off the tourist trail, and our primary reason for coming here is that it is located near the Greek border, and Greece is our next destination. We had gotten spoiled as most of our bus rides were relatively comfortable. The bus ride to B...

Sv. Naum -- September 14 We decided to take a trip to the southern tip of Lake Ohrid on the Macedonia/Albania border as we heard the monastery there, Sv Naum, was worth the trip. We hopped on the 8:30 minibus to Sv Naum. The trip took about 45 minutes as we drove along the twisty lakefront road. We arrived at Sv Naum a bit queasy, but eager to see the sites. Most of the people on the minibus with us were locals who were headed to Sv Naum to open the shops and so...

Ohrid -- September 13 We made it to the Skopje bus station (this time being careful not to get ripped off by the cab driver!) and got on our bus to Ohrid. The trip was about 3 hours through beautiful mountain scenery. The bus was practically empty, but the problem was this bus was made for Lilliputians and there was absolutely no leg room whatsoever. Craig arrived in Ohrid around 11am with very sore knees. We took a taxi to our next accomodation -- Antonio's Gu...

Skopje -- September 12 Well this day didn't start on the best note. After rummaging around in our room in the dark to get ready for our 5am taxi, we got to the bus station to learn the 5:30am bus to Skopje wasn't running today for some reason. So we hoped on a bus to Pristina hoping we'd be able to make a connection to Skopje there. About 2 hours later we were back in Pristina, and within 15 minutes were on a bus for Skopje. The highlight of the bus trip was a ...