I left Gjirokaster and drove about 240 miles all the way back to the northern part of Albania, the northeast corner this time. You may remember, I tried to hike up Mt Korab, the highest peak in Macedonia AND Albania when I was in Macedonia a few weeks ago, but was denied by the Macedonian border cops who said that the trail was closed. Instead, I hiked Medenica, which was an awesome hike, and got a pretty epic selfie with…
My drive from Bitola to Ohrid, my last stop in Macedonia, took me along the shores of two of Europe’s biggest lakes and over a beautiful mountain ridge through another of Macedonia’s national parks. I first made my way around pretty Lake Prespa where I had intended to catch a boat to Golem Grad, an island in the lake with some Roman ruins on it. Unfortunately, they told me the weather was too windy for the boats and it was…
There was really only one reason why I came to Bitola and that was to see Heraclea Lyncestis, the ancient city founded by the Macedon king Philip II. It just happens to be on the outskirts of Bitola, so that’s why I stayed the night. When I said in an earlier post that Stobi was the only archeology site mentioned in the guidebooks, I forgot about this place, there are two. Heraclea Lyncestis is a pretty small site, but holy…
I left Skopje for Mavrovo National Park on the western edge of Macedonia, but first I took a little detour to the ancient city of Stobi. Stobi is the only ruins I’ve visited in this country so far that is actually mentioned in the guidebooks and actually requires a ticket. It looks like they’re still excavating the site because there were people there working and photographing everything. The other fun part about visiting a site with some actual infrastructure is…
Well, another anxious border crossing turned out to be no big deal. All I needed was my passport, no test results were asked for. I got stamped out of Kosovo and then into North Macedonia and thirty minutes later I arrived in Skopje. Done and done! Aside from knowing there was an ancient kingdom named Macedonia, I really knew nothing about this country, but they have quite a history! The heyday was in the fourth century BC with king Philip…