LAKE OHRID
With a little more than two weeks left in my trip, I still had
quite a bit to see. The Balkans is an extremely diverse region, where the cultural boundaries are marked by each
mountain range or large lake. The
next border crossing would be at Lake Ohrid, which is shared by both Albania and Macedonia. It is considered one of the oldest and
deepest lakes in Europe. A picturesque
and relaxing stop before moving onto the Macedonian capital of Skopje. I decided to spend a few days on the
Macedonian side of the lake at a lakeside town by the same name. In fact, the lake’s edge is dotted with numerous quaint
towns and villages.
Summer is the most popular time of year, so I’m be in good company.
There are a number of things to do, but after being on the
road for seven weeks, I pretty much was fine just getting lost and walking the town and lake's edge to the next town. The streets and
restaurants were full to capacity with tourists. The days were hot and sunny, and surprisingly,
the nights were chillier than expected.
After a day of exploring the castle and the ruins of a Roman amphitheater
in the old town, I was ready to do some hiking at Galichica National Park. The biodiversity of this park is incredibly
abundant for Europe. A thousand species
of flora on the mountain alone. Lake Ohrid
has about two hundred endemic species.
Unfortunately, I found out it can be expensive to try and hike to the
mountains peak solo. Despite the low
cost of living in Macedonia, a taxi to the mountain just twenty minutes away
was too expensive to justify going solo, not to mention entrance to the park,
and hiring a guide. These places depend
so heavily on tourism that all the tour agencies jack the prices up so that the
eco-tourism industry has extremely inflated prices compared to the normal
economy. It is next to impossible to get
around this unless you have local contact.
Can’t really knock their hustle.
As a result, I didn’t make the hike and just spent a couple days
exploring the lakeside.
MATKA CANYON
After two days, I was ready to move on to Skopje but not
before stopping by Matka Canyon just west of the city of Skopje. The canyon is massive with the mountainous
walls the canyon covered with lush alpines as along as the canyon walls
go. Nearly every place I “discovered” on
this Balkan trip was unknown to me until a day or two prior. I had no guide book or wifi, so just relied
on word of mouth from travelers, locals, and hostel owners.
The local bus drops you right at the foot of the Matka
dam. This is the oldest artificial lake
in Macedonia and attracts lots of hikers and kayakers. I decided to do pass on the kayaking go with
a guide and boat in order to explore some of the cave systems. The longest cave here is over five-hundred
feet long. Funny, how when we showed up to the cave, the guide turns on
a little Yamaha generator, clicks on the switch and the cave lights up like
Walmart at 2am. Huge stalactites hanging down like gothic pillars. Once we leave, he flicks the lights off,
cranks down the generator, and then we are off in our motorized canoe. Lastly, we stop at a spot on the lake where
water is bubbling up and he tells us to feel the water. It’s is gushing cold and he says this is the
flow of water from an underwater cave.
It has never been fully charted and could possibly the longest
underwater cave system in the world. I always
suspect there is no actual desire find out whether that is the truth because if
you find out it is not, then you lose the speculation and that is what people
want. They want to believe that
something is the oldest, deepest, widest, highest. That’s what attracts tourists.
After experiencing one of the oldest and deepest lakes in
Europe and possibly the deepest underwater cave and oldest artificial lake it
was time to get to the capital city of Skopje.
SKOPJE
I started this Balkan trip with five weeks to get through
get through six countries, so if there was one country I was going to cut out,
it was gonna be Macedonia. Not because
of lack of interest, but logistics.
Being the last two weeks and still needing to travel through four
countries, and since Macedonia was the furthest from where I needed to be than
I was close to bypassing it all together.
But, crossing other travelers who passed through the city, all told of a
curious tale of the capital city of Skopje.
It stood out from all the most European capital cities with its grand
tribute to Alexander the Great.
Macedonia is synonymous with this man.
After all, he conquered all the Greek speaking city-states, and went on
to defeat the Persians. Ultimately,
creating an empire stretching from the Mediterranean to India. The relationship between the modern nation of
Macedonia and the ancient people of Macedonia is complicated to say the
least.
The problem is the area that is known today as Macedonia today
has been under the influence of many regional powers over the past two millennia
and the demographics of the country do not reflect the ethnic Macedonia people in
which Alexander the Great belonged to depending on who you speak to. For the Greeks, they see Alexander the Great
as a Greek speaking kinfolk. Modern
Macedonians speak a Slavic language and have no historic ties to the ancient
Macedonians, and therefore do not have the legitimate claim to call their country
Macedonia. They are Slavic immigrants
who came after Alexander’s times and therefore to not have the right to use his
likeness and namesake. Of course, to the
Macedonians, they feel differently and as a result, they have dedicated many
statues to him and other Macedonians, as well as the classical architectural
style of the Greeks and Romans. As a
result of the feud, Greece
immediately demanded from the international community not to recognize the
country under its name Macedonia when it became independent from Yugoslavia in
1991. 
So,
visiting Skopje is like witnessing a big Fuck You to Greece. The city center is just a giant tribute to
the ancient Macedonians. The biggest
statues I’ve seen, dedicated to Alexander and his horse. There are statues of baby Alexander, teenage
Alexander, even his mom breastfeeding him are on display. His father has a statue. It’s over the top and ridiculous all at the
same time, but I can’t help but like it.
I mean, at a time in America where we are dealing with our own schism
and symbols like flags, nationalism, and figures that are seen in both admiration
and abomination, you realize that most all of the world is dealing with the
same shit.
My time
in Skopje allowed me to see America’s divisive times and what does it mean to
be American through the lens of Macedonians and Greeks. And mixed in between these two groups are:
Albanians, Roma, Serbs, and Turks. The
world has always been mixing. Some say
like a salad bowl, others say a melting pot.
It’s really just a combination of both, but the speed and pace of that
mixing is happening at rapid pace and with that, some people want to hold on
and own their past. Modern Macedonians
are making a bold statement to the world that they are the rightful owners to
Alexander’s past and the glory of ancient Macedonia.
Come again:)
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