Ohrid Orientation

A walk to start the day seemed like a good idea—a chance to get our bearings in a new place. We started at the lakefront, which is just 150m from our apartment. There’s a wooden jetty that leads out to a rock platform where people seem to be swimming. The water is really shallow beside the jetty but gets much deeper out at the rock platform.

An older man is just climbing out from his morning swim. We naturally say hello, and it turns out he speaks English, even though he looks like a local. He spent 30 years living in various parts of Australia. He asks if we’re going for a swim, and we say maybe later. He says it’s much nicer first thing, before it gets too hot.

While chatting to him, I spot what I think is an eel in the water—about 3 feet long. It looks more like a snake. In fresh water? It’s a bloody snake! As soon as I try to film it, it shoots away under the water. The man saw it too and says they’re not poisonous. Then Sarah sees another tiny one with its head poking out of the water. Yikes. A bit scary, but Google confirms they’re harmless.

Another younger man nearby must have heard us chatting and picked up that we were from New Zealand. He’s about to have a swim too, and he’s from Australia. His parents are Macedonian, and he’s here with his family for a three-week holiday. He gives us some tips on what to see and do while we’re here—a really nice guy.

Chatting finally over, we start our walk along the lakeside promenade towards the boardwalk the second man told us about. It was in the direction we wanted to go anyway and takes you around the nearby headland. This is a very pretty area, with such a friendly and chill vibe to it. We’re already starting to like it here! 👍

We find one of the old churches marked on our map. (Pic below.) It’s called the Church of Hagia Sophia. Right beside it is the start of the boardwalk, and just after that is a small pebbled beach where people are having morning swims.

The next beach we come to is called Potpesh Beach, and Kaneo Beach follows that. They’re obviously touristy beaches with loungers for rent and are surrounded by cafés and restaurants. Very nice at this time of the morning, but likely very busy later in the day.

The boardwalk turns into a concrete and stone-paved footpath, which then climbs steps up the hill to another church. This one is very pretty too—it’s the one we recognize from many of the pictures you see online of Ohrid. It’s called the Church of Saint John and sits on a rocky corner of the walkway. We climb more steps to view it from above, where there’s a good spot for taking photos. There’s also a geocache here that we find along the way.

The walkway continues along the shore, but higher up, and then branches down to a much quieter and more isolated beach. We continue just a little further to a point where we can see the next big bay and a long stretch of beach. Here, we turn back and take another sidetrack up the hill. I’m hoping to see the third church on the map, but this one isn’t accessible from this track—it’s closed, and we have to loop back to Saint John’s.

It’s starting to get warm now and we’ve walked enough, so we head back towards town along different roads that eventually bring us out near the first church again. From there, we have a quick look at a small part of the town centre and then return to the apartment.

It’s hot now and we’ve walked 5km—far enough to earn a shared cold beer on the balcony, with some Camembert-flavoured potato chips. It’s 10am—that’s late enough to be drinking, isn’t it?! 😮 It’s the local lager called Ckocko, which according to the English on the other side of the can is spelled "Skopsko." But don’t ask me how you get a "P" in that conversion.

A nice bit of relaxing, and soon it’s time for lunch. The local bakery isn’t far away, and they have some nice-looking bread that appears to be filled with cheese and possibly meat. We take it back to the balcony to enjoy with coffee.

I’ve been making Turkish coffee the last few days because I accidentally purchased what I thought was instant coffee in Shkoder, but it turned out to be Turkish. The language barrier strikes again! You heat the finely ground coffee on the stove in a cezve (pronounced "jez-ve"). The liquid foams when it’s hot enough, and then you carefully pour it into a cup, allowing the grounds to stay mostly in the pot. You still get some in your cup, so you let it settle before drinking. You’re not supposed to add milk—but I do. Sue me!

After lunch and coffee, I’m starting to nod off. Might be the beer, or it could be because I’ve been waking up at 4:30am the last two mornings and struggling to get back to sleep—eventually reading from 5:30am each day. Whatever the reason, siestas are common in these parts, so I’m not going to fight it.

4pm and I’m awake again. Very nice snooze. 😂 We spent the next two hours checking on Plan A flights and dates. Nothing booked in the end, but I think we’re almost sorted.

For dinner, we first check the lakeside food carts, but nothing appeals. While walking, we see a group preparing to march and play music—some sort of cultural event. We play follow-the-Pied-Piper-of-Hamelin and tag along to watch and listen. Sarah later found out it was the 14th International Folklore Festival.

After watching them for a bit, we wander the main drag of restaurants and shops, but they’re pretty touristy (i.e. overpriced). Eventually, we both agree that last night’s doner kebab was so good we should just get another. Sarah gets a repeat, and I try the one called "Durum." It was okay, but the doner was better.

We sit by the lake to enjoy them and do some people-watching. Ice cream on the way home tops off a great first day. We might owe the calorie bank a few miles tomorrow! 🤔