3-5/11/2023

On our last night on Berat, neither of us slept. On top of a rock hard bed, one of the hosts chained dogs kept barking! I mentioned it to the son, saying other guests would not be happy. Later, I received an email from Booking.com. The host had claimed we had failed to show. Either, they were concerned that I’d leave negative comments in my review or they didn’t want to pay Booking.com their commission. I was concerned that my credit card would still be charged, so I filled in the form that we had stayed. Despite the noisy dog, the rigid bed, the lack of kitchen equipment (e.g. 1 knife), rubbish Internet, no freezer door (everything in the fridge froze,) and leaking toilet… I would have left a generous review as a) it was cheap and b) the mother and 2 teenage children were so sweet and we felt sorry for them. Ho hum.

Being shattered, we pretty much drove directly to Lake Ohrid.
Much poorer area, for instance, Chicken soup, bread and water for lunch was £2.50 ….. for both of us! Most people we’ve seen at lunch order soup and a big bowl of rice. And strip farming. I imagine this is a legacy of the communist years where people had a strip to grow their own veg. A bit like allotments on a larger scale.

For much of the drive, we followed a railway track. Neither of us thought the crumbling concrete viaducts looked safe. Google advised this line closed in 2007. Shame as it used to be a known panoramic trip. The whole of the Albanian railway line is now defunct. A small freight section is apparently under repair.

Just short of our Airbnb, we drove through Lin on Lake Ohrid to the spit at the end.

Having parked, I was scammed into buying a jar of fig jam by an insistent older lady. I was NO match for her. We both started the walk around the headland. A bit of a clamber over a steep drop. J’s vertigo kicked in, so he returned to the car.

Our Airbnb is a step up in quality. Gifts of food and the hosts mother delivered baked goods yesterday. Apparently, she would have bought pastries today, but we politely declined. as we knew we were going for a fish supper. But the apartment is cold! Oh so cold. A small electric heater thankfully in the kitchen / lounge. Our warm PJs are in the roofbox, and that is not being unlocked till Crete! Lots of heavy blankets on the bed and snuggling for warmth!

Yesterday we had a bitter wind and lots of rain. Max temperature was 13C. All our warmer clothes, hats etc are buried … in the roofbox! Not kind that friends on Crete were telling us it was 32C!

We attempted to drive to an ancient burial ground. But the road went from tarmac, to stones to mud. Didn’t fancy 11km of that in the rain.  So aborted, but not before passing a rubbish dump, including about 30 vehicles. People lived opposite!  We’ve been staggered by how much rubbish there is … everywhere. We have seen people throw sacks over the edge of the road. Drop things out of car windows. And we will stop using wet wipes … seen loads, and they just don’t disintegrate.

Pogradec is pleasant … cold having a coffee.  We stopped for a fried fish late lunch at a taverna recommended by the Airbnb host  So good we went back today and shared a large fish … Ohrid trout is deservedly highly regarded.

Day 2. The sun returned today so we set off on a walk. Up and up.  It became a sheep track.  Fab views. The summit (summit as it truly is a mountain) is crowned with phone masts. We decided to stop following the walk, as we didn’t fancy a steep descent on a path, similar to those we’d climbed up. We re-routed the slightly longer way along the easier the access track for the masts …   Leaving the masts, we saw all the Restricted Area signs. Oops. Then the police appeared. Language barrier. We were clearly hapless tourists walking, so they waved us on!

We went directly and hungrily to the fish taverna and shared a whole BBQ Ohrid trout. Being on a healthy eating kick, we started with salad. Being greedy and hungry, we also had chips! But we did manage to maintain our dry November!