Biking through the Balkan: part 1.
North Macedonia: 4 days from northeast to southwest
Alright, alright, Bulgaria is also part of the Balkan, but we covered our tour through the Rhodope Mountains already here. So we start this off with North Macedonia. We crossed the border without any problems at Gueshevo and followed the A2 “highway”. It’s just a 2 lane road, a bit bumpy, but they are renewing as we speak. The main difference with Bulgaria became clear right on the first day: it seems that all arable land is actually in use, there are no convient shelters for wild camping and even water was not as abundant. Minus point for Macedonia. The first night we camped off the road in a field, as it was hard to find something more scenic. We left the A2 the next day and immediately had more fun; the road was quiet, in good condition and we cycled through small villages and endless fields of grain, dotted with cornflowers and poppies.
We headed south to Sveti Nikole and Veles and got ready for some serious action the next day; we had to go over our first pass in this tiny country. 900 high meters and sharing the road with Macedonians in weekend mood and truck drivers who got their license with a 6-pack of beer. We never thought we would say this, but we wished we had the Turkish truck drivers back. The climbing was easy but long and we rewarded ourselves with crappy Balkan pizza (smothered in mayonaise and ketchup) in Prilep afterward. We needed the calories, as the next day we would even do more high meters to get to Lake Ohrid. This part was the highlight of our 4 day trip through Macedonia; going over the pass from Lake Prespa to Lake Ohrid. The way up was challenging, but the views were amazing, although the road a bit bumpy. And the descent on the other side was a lot of fun! Zooming through the switchbacks, we reached the Lake of Ohrid, where we camped on the shores. We decided to go around the lake to the border crossing Kjafasan to get into Albania, and on our way through town we quickly visited the memorial for Aard den Dolaard. Please see this Wikipedia article about the curious case of a (now obscure) Dutch writer making Ohrid hugely popular with Dutch tourists in the last century. We spent our last dinars on snacks and coffee and got ready for country number 4: Albania.
Albania: stunning mountain roads, but also…boring
Let’s start with the positives, shall we? After crossing the border and cycling along the Albanian side of Lake Ohrid, we were happy that wild camping is easier in Albania than in Macedonia. Just pick a lake on the map and pitch your tent. We enjoyed the hipster old bazaar part of Korca and discovered to our delight that bad coffee simply does not exist in Albania. Espresso everywhere! For 50 leks! That’s 40 cents! No wonder that every village has a “bar kafe”, where the men sit around, chat, smoke and drink coffee. We have no idea where the women were, our guess is that they actually keep the country going.
Albania also seems to be a hotspot for bike tourers. As we entered the town of Ersekë to find some food, 4 bikes were already parked in front of the local fast food joint. A Swiss couple and 2 guys from Belgium, plus us… Let’s just say that the owners did not understand what was happening and could close up early that day, as they were sold out quickly.
So the first few days we cycled through the remote Albanian south. For us this was exactly what we like: small mountain villages, lakes with a view of snow-capped tops and pine forests. We passed by the town of Leskovik, hiding behind a cliff, before descending southwards to the Greek border, making a sharp turn back north and follow the Vjosë River. Simply stunning! Surrounded by mountains, the river wild to our left, completely alone for the first 50km. Then slowly back into civilization, we visited the thermal pools of Banjat e Benjës, together with every #vanlife tourist currently in Albania. We cycled through the canyon carved by the river, camped next to a church during a thunderstorm and slowly made our way to the coast.
The landscape became flatter and might we say… Uglier? Boring even? We are sorry to say that the middle part of Albania was not really our cup of tea. And after cycling almost 7000 km, there are also some parts where we just need to get through…so for a few days we dealt with the bad roads, the bad drivers, the uncountable Mercedes-Benz E Klasse cars. Where every second building is a gas station, a car wash or a bar kafe, or a combination of all three. The sun was getting stronger and so was the smell of the garbage next to the roads. The roadkill consisted of snakes and tortoises, a horrible sight.
On day 7 we were happy to see the mountains again, and at the moment we are in Shkoder for some much needed rest days. We are having more excellent espresso, cleaning our bikes and getting ready for soaring temperatures in the Balkan. In 2 days we leave for Montenegro, continuing our journey north through the Balkan.
