We'd wanted to skirt through Macedonia when we undertook our Eastern Europe road trip in 2017, however our car rental wouldn't allow it. At the time
there was also UK foreign office advice to avoid Skopje due to shootings in the streets. From a look at a road atlas it would have been impossible for us to avoid Skopje and
so we decided to give it and by proxy Albania a miss. Eight countries we deemed to be enough for that trip.
Having done a long Eastern Europe road trip ticking off most of it took us a few years to gather the incentive to come back and do just Albania & Macedonia. But were we glad
we had come back, leaving Albania into the mountains bordering Macedonia the scenery became dramatic with lakes, winding passes, mountains and forests.
Our car however started to cause us problems, and by problems I mean cut out entirely leaving us with no electrics in an automatic gear box. This meant we lost braking, drive,
power steering not to mention our hazard lights. Best we could figure out it was happening most on tight bends to the left or following any overly bumpy sections of road.
Unfortunately for us this happened after we'd just hoped back in the car at the border, the car still blocking border control. No ignition or power to any systems. I guess we
should've been happy we even managed to unlock the car. In a flurry we popped the hood and it became apparent that the issue was not serious, but difficult for us to fix without
tools. The positive terminal lead on the battery was loose and disconnecting frequently.
Speaking no Macedonian we set out on route to our hotel for the night keeping our eyes peeled for any garage / mechanic that might be able to help us. After about fifteenth minutes
in a retail park we saw a shack with a BMW jacked up and someone under the hood. We pulled in and drove right up to them, with no language communication I gestured to the guy the
issue and he fixed the issue for us for free in a minute. Macedonia is would seem was very hospitable.
Upon arriving in Ohrid and seeing the lake we could see why this was a popular destination for eastern europeans. What we hadn't expected was to find so many
western europeans including english. In fact out very hotel had a section reserved for TUI.
Despite us having had a long day with an early flight out from Luton and then a several hour drive across a country border. We planned to make the most of our time in Ohrid. So we
immediately set out from our hotel along the lake side, skirting through the old town before heading back along the coast to the scenic viewpoint above the church of Saint John the
Theologian. From here we climbed up the winding forest path to Samuel's fortress before circling back into the downtown and settling down for some lake front food & local wine.
The next day we set off early on the drive back to Albania with several stops on the outskirts planned on route to Tirana.
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