Skopje: Day 3

I still felt kind of sick this morning, but we still went on our day trip, and I am so so glad we did. The Macedonian countryside is so beautiful, even in winter. It's a completely different world, and I could barely remember to blink.

We went into the mountains and our first stop was at the Bigorski monastery of St. John the Baptist. I had never been to a monastery before. Sandra's friend Martin, my personal translator/tour guide, had stayed there before. They will put up native travelers for free. I took lots of pictures, but was not allowed to take any of the amazing wood carving in their chapel. It is unique to the country, so I bought a postcard.

Next we stopped in Struger for some traditional Macedonian barbecue. Sandra explained it as 'pure' ground beef stuffed with a variety of foods. I chose cheese. It was delicious. I'm also a big fan of what the Macedonians consider a salad: a slab of sheep cheese grilled with spices and a few slices of tomato. I ate it all. I have found a new love for tomatos in Europe. I'm sure that will translate back home.

When we got to Ohrid, we did a walking tour of the old part of town. There is a church that was rebuilt four times between the 9th and 14th centuries. Unfortunately it is considered a museum and since it is Monday, closed. It's a beautiful city though and I enjoyed walking around and taking pictures. The next site we walked to was a Roman theatre. Yep yep. Not very big, but more in tact than I would have expected. Last we went to another church that had an amazing view of the lake. We watched the sun set over the mountains. Simply breathtaking. After that we went to a cafe. I like that coke is served in bottles in Macedonia. Then on the walk back to the car Sandra and I stopped in a famous little cake shop to see if there were any sweets that did not have nuts in them. Apparently very few desserts here are made without nuts. Luckily, there was chocolate cake that was just pure chocolate. Mmmm.

My luggage was waiting for me when we got back to Sandra's apartment. Hooray! Sandra and I are going out tonight for a little while to see her boyfriend Alek, who just arrived today. He studies in Atlanta. It is weird to think that today I was trekking around the Macedonia-Albania border, and tomorrow evening I'll be back in the Rockies. It doesn't even really feel like Christmas to me yet, but I'm sure that will change very very soon. I'm excited!