Day four: Kičevo

 

Not much has happened today. Spent most of the day in Kičevo where Iza and Igor dealt with some formalities and bureaucracy related to their wedding. After what seemed like several hours, Igor went back to his village and we sat in a coffee shop were Iza had what she called ‘the best coffee in the world’. Once Igor had re-joined us, we headed for a small bakery where I tried burek for the first time in my life. 

 

Back home, I spent some time with Igor’s father. I think I’m slowly beginning to understand Macedonian because, unlike at the beginning, tonight we almost had a normal conversation.

I would almost forget to add that wedding rings have finally been chosen; I won’t be modest and I’ll say that I played a small part in making the choice. They’re very Balkan: bought in Macedonia, from an Albanian jeweller’s on Marshal Tito street.

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Day three: Ohrid

 

Lake Ohrid is situated in western Macedonia on the border with Albania (Jebi zemlju kojoj je Albania zapad :P) It is the deepest lake in Europe (I didn’t know that until today) and, apparently, one of the oldest in the world. Iza, Igor and I drove there in an ancient car but any inconveniences were dimmed by the natural beauty of this country. On the spot, it turned out that the town (which bears the name of the lake) resembles more a Mediterranean resort than a lakeside town. For the third day in a row we were blessed with lovely weather and temperatures well into twenties. Of course we took the opportunity and went for a swim.

Ohrid was like no other lake I had ever seen: the water was crystal clear like in the Med and the waves were certainly bigger than the ones we had on Kashubian lakes.

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I cut my toe as I was trying to get out of water which resulted in there being lots of blood on land and in the water (where those little fish were killing each other to taste it) – so, well, nothing new there.

After relaxing on the shore for what must have a few hours, we first headed for the old part of town and then tried to do all the churches. I’m not even going to try and write anything about them ‘cause the pictures say it all.

 

St. Jovan Kaneo Church

Crkva Sv. Bogorodica Perivlepta

Amphitheatre

 

 

 

Once we were back down, we went to a restaurant where Iza and I shared a very good pizza frutti di mare.

The last thing we did before returning to the car was going for a walk along the promenade (which was paved with marble! (I think)).

Towards the end of this long and tiring day in Ohrid all that was left was to go back home and sleep.

Day two: Bigor Dolenci

 

 

 

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Part 2: A day in Warsaw

 

I stayed in Warsaw at my friends Joanna and Marcin’s. The city was gray and ugly and the communist buildings made it even worse. I took the opportunity and played StarCraft II at their flat for quite some time and then, even though I was tired after a night on the coach, Joanna and I went to town to see the cross in front of the Presidential Palace. We were lucky ‘cause as it turned out the next morning, it was the last day the cross was there.

Despite the depressing weather and thanks to my friends’ hospitality, I spent a nice day in the capital of Poland.

 

 

 

 
I The Presidential Palace, the cross and the barricades

 

‘Poland fights’ (normality?)

 

Wet, gray and communist