{"id":301,"date":"2014-07-18T00:00:23","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/musaka.me\/?p=301"},"modified":"2016-01-03T13:25:47","modified_gmt":"2016-01-03T02:25:47","slug":"18-jul-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/?p=301","title":{"rendered":"18 JUL"},"content":{"rendered":"

KORCE-MACEDONIA-OHRI-GREECE<\/p>\n

It was an early rise\u00a0<\/span><\/span>at<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Aleks’ <\/span><\/span>apartment<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Kor\u00e7\u00eb<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Breakfast once again at the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Konti<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0Hotel next door. Cheese, eggs, toast (if you can call it that – more like hot bread). This time we were joined for\u00a0<\/span><\/span>coffee<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0by the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Shaholli<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0boys, whom we were with last night. We reminisced about the funny events of the night before. Guzwar!!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We soon drove off toward\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Ohri<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0(Ohrid) to see the 9th century\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Saint Naum<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0Monastery. The journey was hot, humid and not so squeezy, one side with Anisa and other with Bashkim in the back seat, Rohan and Alek in front. On route we stopped at\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Enver Hoxha<\/span><\/span><\/a>‘s private\u00a0<\/span><\/span>communist<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0party\u00a0<\/span><\/span>lakeside<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>resort<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0– on the Albanian side of\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Lake Ohri<\/span><\/span><\/a>. The\u00a0<\/span><\/span>lake<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0was cool and refreshing. The lake\u00a0<\/span><\/span>beach<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0was full of\u00a0<\/span><\/span>litter<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We crossed the Macedonian border on a fine 24deg day, heading past the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Castle<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0of<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Ohri<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Macedonia<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0seemed more economically sound, well\u00a0<\/span><\/span>kept<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>streets<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Once we arrived in Ohri Rohan,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Anisa and I<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0walked through the central\u00a0<\/span><\/span>plaza<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0area. We were hungry and overwhelmed by the smells of meat cooking. We decided to eat\u00a0<\/span><\/span>along<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0the lake\u00a0<\/span><\/span>shore<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0beside the large\u00a0<\/span><\/span>statue<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Saint George<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Rohan and I had the seafood pasta (Spaghetti marinara) that had barely any seafood in it at all! After complaining, then replacing our meals with another, we went for a safe option, a hamburger, which had no burger bun, french fries that were steamed potatoes with herbs – which now I realize is a Mediterranean way of making fries, but still, no Buns! The waiters were so impatient. Not a good start! No tip either!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We then drove on to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>St Naum<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Church<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to view the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>magnificent<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>grounds<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>iconoclast<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>and<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>frescoes<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>. The\u00a0<\/span><\/span>cold springs<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>views<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0were incredible. We were rushed as time was short, as always. Nonetheless we\u00a0<\/span><\/span>experienced<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>splendor<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0of this prized attraction.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We drove straight back to Kor\u00e7\u00eb<\/span>, squashed in the back seat again, but with a fun and visually delightful experience under my belt.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We picked up our luggage and drove straight to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Dion Travel<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0to wait for our 2 drivers. Two young lads (brothers) Ledion and Genci picked us up in their very comfortable Audi.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We said our goodbyes to everyone and were off and running, headed for the SE Greek border to take the super highway along (parallel to) the Albanian border. It was night. Rohan and I wrote in our diaries and played some\u00a0<\/span><\/span>AC\/DC<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0for the lads – who knew and loved them already.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually went through the border then stopped for\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gyros<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0(again with chips inside) in some Greek town. We kept heading toward SW Greek border so we could cross back into Albania. We arrived at the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>border<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0approximately 1am, only to find gate wasn’t open until\u00a0<\/span><\/span>6am<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/strong>. So we had to wait in the Audi, 4 grown sweaty men in a medium sized car, too hot to close the windows, to many mozzies to leave open the windows. Farged if we did, farged if we didn’t! Not much sleep at all!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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KORCE-MACEDONIA-OHRI-GREECE It was an early rise\u00a0at\u00a0Aleks’ apartment\u00a0in\u00a0Kor\u00e7\u00eb.\u00a0Breakfast once again at the\u00a0Konti\u00a0Hotel next door. Cheese, eggs, toast (if you can call…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[112,7,32,80,12,111,105,110,113,44,17,106,109,107,191,104,6,108,103,102],"class_list":["post-301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dear-diary","tag-acdc","tag-adem","tag-aleks","tag-anisa","tag-bashkim","tag-dion-travel","tag-enver-hoxha","tag-genci","tag-greek-border","tag-konti-hotel","tag-korce","tag-lake-ohri","tag-ledion","tag-macedonia","tag-musaka-road","tag-ohri","tag-rohan","tag-saint-george","tag-saint-naum-monastery","tag-shaholli"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":640,"href":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions\/640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musaka.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}