Villa Germanoff Ohrid

Hallo zusammen,

bin vor 6 Uhr aufgestanden um den Bus nach Bitola zu erwischen. Dies war eine bedeutende ottomanische Stadt mit einigen Konsuln aus anderen Laendern. Daher gibt es einige nette alte Gebaeude, einige Moscheen und einen kleinen Basar, wie ihn jede islamische Stadt hat.

Die Stadt ist natuerlich nicht uebermaessig gross, hatte 3h Aufenthalt, neben der Stadt gibt es allerdings noch eine weitere Sehenswuerdigkeit 2km ...

Hallo zusammen,

anbei noch einige Nachtaufnahmen aus Ohrid. Endlich weiss ich, dass ich mein Trauma vom Raubueberfall ueberwunden habe, wenn ich durch eine dunkle osteuropaeische Stadt wandere:-)

Gruss
Ralf

... als Einnahmequelle zu foerdern, hat aber das Problem, dass es keine Kueste hat, das haelt dann doch viele Touristen ab hierhin zu kommen. Dafuer hat es den tiefsten See des Balkans, Lake Ohrid, an dessen Ufer die Stadt Ohrid liegt (300m tief). Dies ist die schoenste Stadt Mazedoniens, einige Kirchen, eine Festung ueber der Stadt und einige alte Gebaeude. Es ist daher auch die touristischste Stadt. So ...

... the cobblestone roads to the fortress are great. The pace is slow and relaxing. There is a great path that winds in and out of the beaches on its way to a great old church. The old man giving us a tour is delighted that we are so interested and offers us Raiki (a local brandy).

After some rain, a beautiful rainbow appears.

... from the hospital after breaking her leg. My sister has arranged for a call with the follow up care specialists in a rehab center. It is at 10 PM. Calling booths have virtually disappeared with the popularity of cell phones and internet. I had to make sure that my hostel for this night had internet so I could use Skype for a PC to phone call. The group is going out but I have to make the call. My mother is progressing so no need for me to head home.

... cut it in 2 and then just kinda stuffed one pipe into the other and if this wasn't bad enough they didn't even put gum gum on to seal it (gum gum is some sorta exhaust sealy stuff??? Ned's area, not mine!) so a battle pursued between me and the (chauvinist) Croatian mechanics well you can all imagine how that went... meanwhile, while this battle was underway, Ned was trying to sort out the week old full loo and realized the foreign bleach wasn't bleach at all and was ...

... Apostles of the Slavs. I was as excited as if I saw Ghandi! We wandered along the Ohrid lake coast line, towards the park and boats rental place. Then we walked in the opposite direction - up a hill, in between narrow streets, among these beautiful and these ruined houses, to the church of Sta Sophia. Ohrid is a city of byzantine churches, they are ...

... and I was all out of Euros. Since it was Sunday all of the banks were closed as were most of the exchange offices, however, a local man who takes people out on his boat was eager to help me find a place to change money, of course once we found a place I knew I would have to hire his services to take me out on his boat to Sveti Jovan at Kaneo (small church that looks out on to the lake). All in all ...

... perfect weather. Then I went out all night, the first half just with Ben and the second with all 4 guys. Ohrid has a good bar scene, especially on weekends, there's a big tourist scene so the bars are packed. I wasn't in bed til 4 AM. i couldn't believe that I had only been in Ohrid one day, it seemed like the longest day of my life (i guess it was almost a 24 hour day,) which is probably why this seems like the longest blog entry of my life as well.

So our first night it Macedonia was about as bad as I think it could have been, with preconvieved notions or not. I forgot to mention that within about 3 seconds (absolutely no exageration here) of getting off the train, we heard gunfire that sounded like it was coming from just a couple of blocks away. I will never forget the face that Tyler made right after hearing that. Well things have gotten conciderably better ...