The Balkans (1)
Albania, Macedonia and Greece
23 february 2011
Drive through Albania into Macedonia
Durres, Tiranna, Lunch overlooking Elbasan, Border crossing
Parked- Roadside in Lake Ohrid
Drive through Albania into Macedonia
Durres, Tiranna, Lunch overlooking Elbasan, Border crossing
Parked- Roadside in Lake Ohrid
Wow, what a day! Went to bed last night at 2300 pulling out of Bari Italy, adventures in Albania (to be discussed) and ended the day sliding into a 106 degree ofuro tub with a glass of Mater Matuta red wine, the best we have. It has been a great, eye opening experience. Just getting out of the port was a challenge, everyone was amazingly helpful and yet despite that we ended up in the customs inspection area with no way out. Assistance from an Albanian truck driver got us on the road to Tiranna, the capitol. We were planning to stop in Tirrana to see some sights but there was absolutely no place to park and we just drove slowly on through. It is a fascinating place, the people are well dressed, not like tacky Italians, but like post WWII classy people. They are a blend of Slav and Muslim and are very attractive and classy. The road out of Tirranna was the worst we have encountered, hairpin turns up steep mountains, but the roads are fine and there was very little traffic so it was an enjoyable ride. We stopped to explore one of the thousands of cement bunkers their former dictator Enver Hoxha built for to defend the country from who knows who. If he had invested that cement and labor into the roads it would have taken us less than an hour to cross the 25 miles of mountain road. But, .. the landscape is breathtaking, and the weather was beautiful. Our second adventure of the day came at the Macedonian border. We didn't intend to cross into Macedonia today, intended to spend at least one night on the Albanian side, but got farther than we thought. Our GPS navigation device doesn't get road info in Albania and we were suddenly at the mountain peak, in the snow, at the border, alone. There was no one crossing the border but us. We passed through the Albanian checkpoint with no problem, and then got a lesson in Easter European, former communist border etiquette. We passed a no mans land of dead trucks and busses before stopping at the Macedonian Checkpoint. Passports good, Registration good, but no insurance greencard! We had an insurance card but they claimed we needed a green card that stated we were accepted into Macedonia. If we didn't have the card it would be $600 for 15 days in Macedonia. I smelled a scam, backed the truck up and searched my computer for my insurance info. meanwhile Stef was searching my scraps of paper stuffed in every nook and cranny until she cried out, "here's a green card" It was a little green card the insurance company gave us, but we had never had to pull out and use, so we forgot about it. Solved, we drove through to Macendonia, Lake Ohrid and my tub. I am really tired.
24 February 2011
Lake Ohrid
Sveti Kliment, tour by Maria, Lunch Resturant Sofia
Parked- Same road
Lake Ohrid
Sveti Kliment, tour by Maria, Lunch Resturant Sofia
Parked- Same road
25 February 2011
Lake Ohrid
Parked- Asked to move by Police, moved to a dirt parking lot.
Lake Ohrid
Parked- Asked to move by Police, moved to a dirt parking lot.
I have to get down some of the observations from the last few days, we're not in Kansas anymore. Just finished a 3 night stay in Lake Ohrid Macedonia, the jewel of the Balkans, the place that all the locals come for scenery, culture and religion. The people are not like the Italians, the do not look at you or greet you in anyway as you pass. They seem my childhood picture of depressed, deprived Communists. Don't expect a smile until you have interacted with them, then they are wonderful. We needed to find a hotel with wireless and bath (The girls don't use Shachagra's bath... boy cooties) and all the rooms were closed as we are the only ones here in the winter. We asked our waiter after lunch, he made calls, then walked us to a nice place up and down small streets we would have never found without his help, then wouldn't accept a tip. In Egypt there would have been 5 people to take you two blocks down a straight street and they would have grabbed onto you until you gave them all a tip. I think the Macedonians are very proud people, and that will help them out of the communist past. We visited Sveti Kliment, a reminder of this areas roller coaster of religion and occupation. The first church was built in 916, in 2002 it was rebuilt after they tore down a mosque that had taken the original church’s place. The attendant, with the demeanor of a prison guard, made it clear with her glare that the photo ban would be enforced. We had been in the church for 20 minutes before she announced that we could get a tour for 10 Euro. I immediately was inclined to decline, but Stef luckily said yes, and asked who the guide was. "I am the guide, I am licensed" was the last thing the guard said before she transformed into Maria the nice, pretty tour guide. It was a good tour, though it exposed the ignorance of religion that those of religious passion, like the guide have for every religion but their own. The children had good questions, discussion flowed and during the discussions the prison guard transformed into nice, pretty Maria, she even gave Grace free postcards and let me take a picture inside the church, but that obviously made her nervous. Macedonians, unlike Italians, are definite rule followers, you can tell that just by watching a crosswalk. Maria's church had me confused when we first arrived. I am re-reading a great travel book written by Dame Rebecca West about her travels through the Balkans in 1938, just before WWII, 1100 pages of the most difficult reading I have ever attempted, 3000 pages of ideas stuffed into 1100. Rebecca West had visited the same church that Maria was describing to us, yet it was newly built in 2002 on a 3rd century foundation. The church which Dame West visited had been used as a Mosque for 600 years and had been modified in the Muslim style to let in light. The Macedonians tore that beautiful Mosque down to the original foundation and rebuilt the old dark, enclosed space we toured. The poverty in Macedonia is very well hidden. The city is like a poor, proud person who despite having no money, still looks well kept and respectable. The streets are as spotless as the people walking on them. Grace wanted to buy a pin and postcard yesterday in the late afternoon, but the store didn't have change for a 1000 denar note- that's about $20. How can you operate a store all day and still not have change for a 20! We stopped at the Macedonia National Museum, an old Ottoman style mansion that may someday be filled with treasure, but for now the treasure is the mansion itself. The artifacts in the museum were uninteresting, but I think the Government got its hands on a Muslim mansion, moved all the furniture out of the lower rooms and called it a museum. Some of the upper rooms were kept as they were, surprisingly as it seems Macedonia is trying to erase all signs of Ottoman rule. The guestbook revealed that we were the only visitors in a week. Stef noticed in the brochure they gave us at the border that we needed to contact the ministry of finance within 24 hours if we were not staying at a commercial lodging. I didn't take this very seriously, but we decided it was a good excuse to get a room and lounge for a while. We got a room, a suite actually (thanks to the waiter) in a nice hotel and started constant use of the shower and tub. It was nice watching TV, all English channels, and using the Internet. Grace decided she didn't want to sleep there, she wanted to go back to the RV, then I laid on the hotel bed and decided I wanted to sleep in my own, and Stef came along. Shannon wanted to come back, but we didn't want Charles alone so they both stayed. Its a good thing we stayed in the hotel, when we checked out they gave us a card to present at the border Today we are going to take off touring and catch up on some homework before we drive about an hour to the city of Bitola, just North of the Greek border. We may spend the night there if we can find parking, if not we will continue on into Greece. So starts the adventure, 5 days out of the EU and then right back in. The temperatures have dropped to freezing here in Macedonia, I know we won't get sympathy from anyone back home, but it will be nice to get down into Turkey where the weather and the people are warmer.
26 February 2011
Drive to Bitola Macedonia
Museum of Bitola, Watched pirated Harry Potter Mudeum
Drive to Bitola Macedonia
Museum of Bitola, Watched pirated Harry Potter Mudeum
27 February 2011
Travel Day
Parked- Meteroa, just outside a Monestery
Travel Day
Parked- Meteroa, just outside a Monestery
28 February 2011
Monasteries in the Sky
Hiked to 3 Monasteries
Parked- Meteroa
Monasteries in the Sky
Hiked to 3 Monasteries
Parked- Meteroa
1 March 2011
Travel
Parked-Rest Area
Travel
Parked-Rest Area
2 March 2011
Royal Tombs of Virgina
Parked- Rest area near Kavala, Greece
Our trip through the Balkans just flew by. We are way ahead of schedule, based mostly on the bad weather which we try to avoid by driving, and it has been bad for a week. We've seen the sun once since we crossed into Macedonia, and that was for about 15 minutes. We also need to consider that without any sun, our truck alternator is our primary source of electricity. Greece has been nice with two great sites so far, the Monasteries at Meteora and the Macedon Royal Tombs. Both were amazing. The royal tombs could be the nicest small museum we've been to if not for the Greek propaganda, both sites were filled with it. It bothers me to see nationalistic propaganda in a church. Greece went into WWI a backwards nation on the brink of extinction, but backed the right side and got lots of land from the Ottoman Empire as it died. After WWII they were a pain in the butt, always on the brink of communism, but christian. They were the smallest and poorest country admitted to the EU, and they seem to have an attitude, a chip on the shoulder. The people we have met thus far have been mean spirited, Greeks are the the fattest in Europe, and they are corrupt. They are a fundamentalist nation without separation of church and state, they (the government) don't even recognize Catholicism as a religion. So, back to our visit to the tombs. Great display, they uncovered 4 tombs in a huge burial mound, two unopened. They excavated, built a series of domes over the excavation, and buried the whole thing again. The tombs are believed to be for the family of Alexander the Great, his father and his son. It is really cool. But the propaganda. The first thing they tell you is that Alexander led the Greeks in conquering the world and spreading Greek culture, second is that Macedonia was a Greek country, proven by shards of gravestones found that have Greek names on them. Its total BS, Macedonia conquered Greece in 338BC, then went on to conquer much of the rest of the known world. There is a method to their madness. Macedonia, the same Macedonia that conquered Greece, remained a distinct area through the years, even under the Ottoman's it was Macedonia. Following WWI the allies carved it up and gave half to Greece, the other half went to Yugoslavia, and is The Republic of Macedonia today. The Greeks know their claim to the southern half of Macedonia is weak, so they make stuff up. I keep getting back to bashing the greeks, time to bash us. We broke our rule today and tried to enter the city of Thessaloniki in the afternoon (never after 0700) and almost got her stuck again- so we skipped the city altogether. Too bad, there was some UNESCO World Heritage sites in the city. That has become our guide for touring, we go where there are UNESCO sites. I look back at how many we missed on our sprint through France and it is a shame. No more, we don't pass one by unless we can't get to it.
Parked- Rest area near Kavala, Greece
Our trip through the Balkans just flew by. We are way ahead of schedule, based mostly on the bad weather which we try to avoid by driving, and it has been bad for a week. We've seen the sun once since we crossed into Macedonia, and that was for about 15 minutes. We also need to consider that without any sun, our truck alternator is our primary source of electricity. Greece has been nice with two great sites so far, the Monasteries at Meteora and the Macedon Royal Tombs. Both were amazing. The royal tombs could be the nicest small museum we've been to if not for the Greek propaganda, both sites were filled with it. It bothers me to see nationalistic propaganda in a church. Greece went into WWI a backwards nation on the brink of extinction, but backed the right side and got lots of land from the Ottoman Empire as it died. After WWII they were a pain in the butt, always on the brink of communism, but christian. They were the smallest and poorest country admitted to the EU, and they seem to have an attitude, a chip on the shoulder. The people we have met thus far have been mean spirited, Greeks are the the fattest in Europe, and they are corrupt. They are a fundamentalist nation without separation of church and state, they (the government) don't even recognize Catholicism as a religion. So, back to our visit to the tombs. Great display, they uncovered 4 tombs in a huge burial mound, two unopened. They excavated, built a series of domes over the excavation, and buried the whole thing again. The tombs are believed to be for the family of Alexander the Great, his father and his son. It is really cool. But the propaganda. The first thing they tell you is that Alexander led the Greeks in conquering the world and spreading Greek culture, second is that Macedonia was a Greek country, proven by shards of gravestones found that have Greek names on them. Its total BS, Macedonia conquered Greece in 338BC, then went on to conquer much of the rest of the known world. There is a method to their madness. Macedonia, the same Macedonia that conquered Greece, remained a distinct area through the years, even under the Ottoman's it was Macedonia. Following WWI the allies carved it up and gave half to Greece, the other half went to Yugoslavia, and is The Republic of Macedonia today. The Greeks know their claim to the southern half of Macedonia is weak, so they make stuff up. I keep getting back to bashing the greeks, time to bash us. We broke our rule today and tried to enter the city of Thessaloniki in the afternoon (never after 0700) and almost got her stuck again- so we skipped the city altogether. Too bad, there was some UNESCO World Heritage sites in the city. That has become our guide for touring, we go where there are UNESCO sites. I look back at how many we missed on our sprint through France and it is a shame. No more, we don't pass one by unless we can't get to it.