Greece is full of many dogs that roam freely. They are a mixed breed that all seem to look eerily similar. Maybe a Shepard/Chow sort of mix. One such dog decided to become our guard dog while we were in Sidichori. He wagged his tail every time he saw one of us, and if one of us wandered too far from the house he would follow us and protect us from the other wild dogs. When we returned to the place he thought we belonged he would wander off and lay down and wait for us to reappear. He was sweet and " take home-able".
After breakfast we used Athena to guide us straight to Florina where we were meeting our driver for Macedonia. The drive was flawless but once we reached Florina it took us quite a while to find someone who spoke enough English to help us locate the bus station. The further north in Greece we travel, the less English is spoken.
While we waited for our driver a man came up to us and tried to speak to us in Greek. He was just looking for someone to pass the time with so he tried German next. He and I proceeded to have a 10 minute conversation while Carrie made an attempt to translate our conversation into English for Annelle. Carrie understands slightly less German than I do which is not very much!
Our driver showed up right on time. He is the son of the owner of the stone house where we were going to stay in Macedonia. We hired Stefan to pick us up in Greece and take us across the border into Macedonia because our rental car company would not allow us to take the car from Greece into Macedonia.
Stefan was happy to answer all of our questions about Macedonia and entertained us with stories during the two hour drive. He's an attractive young man and he was recently stopped by a reportedly attractive policewoman who was about to write him a €300 speeding ticket. He said to her "you're very beautiful! Can't we all just be happy? " She let him go with a warning but we understood by the end of the drive why he was pulled over for exceeding the speed limit.
He told us about two local towns with funny names translated into English. One was called "Penis Ville" and the other one was called "the wrong underpants".
Once we made it to Ohrid, Macedonia we were faced with many stairs to walk down to get to our place, and then a steep walkway down into the town. You know what that means ...it's uphill the other direction. The amazing view of Lake Ohrid from our private terrace made up for any inconvenience of stairs. Pavel the owner, greeted us with a complementary bottle of red Macedonian wine.
After sharing the bottle of wine and lunch, the three of us headed down to the promenade in the town. We walked the promenade from end to end and then headed into the town for the Monday market.
On the way to the market we happened upon a Gelato store where we enjoyed delicious cool gelato (on a very warm day). Three scoops for 1 euro/60 Denar!!! Crazy! At home we would spend at least $4.50 (3.32 euro) for the same amount!
Our first stop at the market was a stand where the man was selling chains to hang your eyeglasses around your neck. Annelle needed one and when she tried to purchase it we discovered that the man only spoke Greek and German. They turned to me to speak to him so it was the second time in one day, in two different countries that I used my German! Both times with non native speakers! I really need to brush up on my language skills, but they both were able to understand me.
Our next mission was to buy vegetables for dinner.we weren't able to exchange US Dollars in to Denar before we left home because my bank doesn't deal in them so we arrived in Macedonia with no local currency. Fortunately, because of Ohrid's close proximity to the Greek border, and the fact that the Macedonians are trying to join the European Union, almost every vendor deals in either Denar or Euros. We gave them euros and accepted change back in Denar. We bought a huge amount of vegetables for 5 euro and spent another
Couple of euro for 15 eggs from the egg store. (They packaged them up with string and I walked out with an egg "purse")
After grocery shopping we headed back to our home for a dinner of grilled vegetables and Shopska salad. The grill we used was an electric grill with a pan below the coils that you fill with water..... Water and electricity, hmn...... Well, we survived the experience. Shopska salad is the Balkan version of Greek salad. Dinner on our terrace, overlooking the lake? As they say in the commercials..... Priceless!
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