Last Day at Lake Ohrid

Friday, July 31, 2009--Ohrid and Struga

After thinking about it, I decided not to try to make a day trip to Bitola today. It is a 3-hour bus trip, so I would have been on buses for 6 hours just to spend maybe 4 hours there seeing sights. It just wasn't worth the effort. I'll miss seeing Bitola at all, since accommodations there are rather limited and there is a festival occurring this weekend. Instead, I will go directly to Skopje and skip Bitola.

For an outing, I decided to go back to Struga for the day. I took the book that I have finished reading in hopes of hearing people speak English again there. I wandered the beaches. I watched the young guys jumping into the flowing river from the bridge. I returned to the nice restaurant and had beans with meat which proved to be navy beans with a big chunk of roast beef. I stopped at a bakery and bought a pastry that was filled with caramel. Then I explored the beaches some more. I never found anyone to take the book, so I will carry it to Skopje and hope that someone at the hostel will be an English speaker/reader.

With my travels covering so many countries, it is interesting to notice what is provided in the bathrooms in various places and how consistent it is within any given country. For instance, here in Macedonia, there has been no toilet paper and no shampoo in either place. One of the two places, however, has had bar soap. In Albania, every bathroom had a huge bottle of shampoo in addition to bar soap and toilet tissue. In Malaysia, Korea, and China, the bathrooms always include disposable combs and toothbrushes. In some of those, a small tube of toothpaste is included in the package with the brush, yet in others there will be a large tube of toothpaste in the bathroom. Here in Macedonia, so far there have been no towels provided. I always carry supplies (including a thin towel that dries quickly and a plastic bag to put it in when I have to travel before it dries) so that I am ready for whatever I face.

Last night, I bought my bus ticket to take me to Skopje after getting an e-mail confirming that a single room is available at Hostel Hostel where I plan to stay. I'll leave at 10:45 rather than trying to rush out at 7:00. That should get me to Skopje around 14:30. The hostel is a 15 minute walk from the bus station. Skopje will be my last stop in Macedonia.