Balkan tour - The capital of Macedonia and Lake Ohrid

Two days ago, my Balkan tour started. After my friend accompanied me in America, this time a good friend is traveling with me through the Balkans for two weeks. Unfortunately, he only has two weeks, otherwise we could have spent more time here. We have planned to visit four countries in total and our journey started in Macedonia. After about two hours of flying, we landed in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, on Friday evening. We spent the evening going out to eat and planning the next day. The following day started with a long walk to the bus station. I wanted to arrange the onward journey to Ohrid for the next day and after a short conversation at the bus counter, this was taken care of. Then we set out to explore the city. Skopje is not very big and the tourist highlights are very central around Makedonja Square. This square is dominated by a huge statue of a warrior on a horse. It is really impressive to stand in front of such a large statue. You can then cross a stone bridge to the old town and we strolled through the alleys and looked at the shops on the left and right. It was very hot that day, so we kept looking for shady places. Nevertheless, we also wanted to climb up to the castle, which we had already seen from the taxi from the airport yesterday, so we climbed the sweaty path up to the castle. It was very untended and overgrown, but it offered a good view of the city. Around noon, we realized that we had already seen almost everything in Skopje and wondered what we should do for the rest of the day. We had read about a canyon outside of Skopje on the internet and it was also recommended to us at the hotel check-in. So we decided spontaneously to rent a car and visit this place. After some negotiations, we drove to the Matka Canyon, which is about 12 kilometers away, and enjoyed nature. In general, we really liked the canyon, but unfortunately it was pretty littered in many places and the trash cans didn't seem to have been emptied for years. Well, never mind. The canyon was beautiful, but it is also very popular with the locals, so the path was completely overcrowded and there were many people there. On the way back, we stopped at a huge lake, where strangely only a few people were swimming. Unfortunately, we didn't have swimwear with us and regretted it a lot at 33 degrees. Back in the city, we returned the car, had something to eat, and had a beer at the hotel. This morning we took the bus from the bus station towards Lake Ohrid. The bus ride was fine, but also a little adventurous. The bus driver smoked one cigarette after another and at regular intervals a room spray sprayed some fresh scent into the bus. The roads were okay, although sometimes very broken. After about 3 1/2 hours, we arrived in Ohrid. Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest lakes on earth. After checking into the hotel, which is located a bit outside the city of Ohrid, we grabbed our swimming trunks, applied a thick layer of sunscreen, and made our way to the lake. It was pleasantly cool and crystal clear, so you could always see the bottom. In addition, you were constantly surrounded by a swarm of small fish, but it was a really great feeling to cool off after the heat. When we returned from the lake, we took a taxi back to the city of Ohrid and explored the old town there, including the castle on the hill and an incredibly beautiful church directly on a hill by the lake. When it got dark, we had delicious cevapcici and then walked along the promenade in Ohrid. Tomorrow we will continue by bus to Tirana, the capital of Albania. We really liked Macedonia overall and the prices are really good. The Matka Canyon and Lake Ohrid were really impressive landscapes. Unfortunately, Skopje had a bit less to offer, so one day there was completely sufficient. Now we are looking forward to Albania and are excited to see what awaits us there.