Balkan Odyssey: Macedonia - Ohrid to Skopje

We left Ohrid and its lake for Skopje, the capital city of Macedonia. 

Our first stop was at the resort town where Lake Ohrid drains into its only outlet, the Drin (Black) River. The Drin flows northward into Albania and then into the Adriatic Sea. 

Our drive to Skopje took us through some rugged and beautiful mountains. At one point, the cloud formations were particularly striking.

Balkan Odyssey: Lake Ohrid Light

Lake Ohrid in Macedonia is a UNESCO natural heritage site, just as the city of Ohrid is a cultural heritage site. This is due to its geological and biological diversity. But its beauty, at all times of day, is also noteworthy.

A boat in an stream from Lake Ohrid, on the grounds of the St. Naum monastery.

Sunset over the lake and a hillside in Ohrid, seen from the city center.

Balkan Odyssey: Ohrid Churches, Macedonia

We drove  over the mountains from Albania to the Macedonian city of Ohrid, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (one of the oldest human settlements in Europe) on the shores of Lake Ohrid. This is a lively and attractive town for tourists (the next Dubrovnik?) with many old and interesting churches. We visited two of the most notable.

St. Sophia is one of the largest and most important churches in the area. Its medieval frescoes are outstanding.

The Church of Our Lady Perivlepta has some of the finest early Renaissance-era frescoes in the world. The paintings, which have been recently restored, have a vigor and dimensionality very different from traditional Byzantine painting, and some rival the contemporary works of Giotto in Italy. Unfortunately, photos of the interior are forbidden, but the exterior is itself worthy of a picture.

Balkan Odyssey: Durres and Berat, Albania

Our third day in Albania took us out of the capital, Tirana, to the cities of Durres and Berat among other interesting sites.

Durres is Albania's second largest city and an important port. But I was charmed by this scene that illustrates the strong Moslem influence.

Because of scenes like this, Berat is sometimes called "the town of one thousand windows".

Balkan Odyssey: Tirana, Albania

Albania has a dismal reputation, dating from the decades after WW2 when a Communist government under Enver Hoxha was in power. Therefore, we were surprised and delighted to find that its capital, Tirana, is lively, colorful, well organized, and increasingly prosperous.

This is one example of the surprising use of color, on a building in Skanderbeg Square, named after the ancient Albanian hero who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire.

In the afternoon, however, we saw a different aspect of the city: the huge (more than 100 rooms) underground Bunker 1 which Hoxha prepared in case of nuclear attack.

Balkan Odyssey: Montenegro to Albania

We took an early walk in Budva's Old Town, just behind our hotel, and came on this lovely scene of the old Citadela glowing in morning light.

Then on the bus and over the hills to Albania, where we spent most of the day in Kruja. The Ethnographic Museum held many interesting exhibits from olden days, including this one of a bride inspecting her new kitchen.

Balkan Odyssey: Montenegro

From Dubrovnik we drove to Montenegro, arriving first at Kotor on the Bay of Kotor. This is a beautiful, mountainous country with a striking history, but what we found most striking was the enormous cruise ship docked so as to dominate the city.

After lunch we drove up a steep, very winding road to some other small cities, but first stopped at a viewpoint to get an overview of the Bay of Kotor. One can see the cruise ship sailing out of the bay just below the center of the photo, and its dock in the lower center.

Balkan Odyssey: Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is a famously picturesque small Croation city on the Adriatic Sea. But its beauty can too readily lead to picture postcard photographs. I decided to choose a couple that are less predicatble.

Laundry drying outside an apartment in the small area of private homes inside the walls of Dubrovnik

Patio of the cafe outside the top of the cable car tramway in Dubrovnik. I was struck both by the contrast of the white umbrellas with the black shadows, and by the very hazy horizon between sea and sky.

Balkan Odyssey: Mostar

Mostar is the third stop on our Balkan Odyssey. It is an ancient city, the capital of the Herzegovina region of Bosnia-Herzegovina, largely but not entirely Moslem. Its famous medieval Stari Most (Old Bridge) was destroyed in the war with Serbia, but was rebuilt in 2004. The bridge, and the shiny stone-paved Ottoman market street, make it a huge tourist attraction. (So crowded as to be severely uncomfortable, to my taste.)

A view of the bridge along the Neretva River, emphasizing its natural beauty rather than its uncomfortable crowding.

Detail of exquisite carving of a door in one of the historic Ottoman houses open to tourists.

Balkan Odyssey: Sarajevo

The second stop on our Balkan Odyssey was Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, notorious for two violent events: as the place where Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was murdered by a Bosnian Serb, setting off WW1, and as the target of a murderous 1992-95 siege by Serbia. Now recovered and a favorite tourist destination, it is a most attractive city.

The Miljacka River flows through Sarajevo. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot on the corner of the pink and gray building, now a museum, at the left side of the bridge in this photo.

Two Moslem women, with a sleeping child, inspect bullet holes from the bombardment of Sarajevo during the siege.

Balkan Odyssey: Belgrade

We are on an extended trip to Europe, beginning with a MIR tour entitled "Balkan Odyssey", on which we will visit seven Balkan countries.  I will try to post one or two photos each day, but will postpone a comprehensive look until later.

We began in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. This was the capital of the former Yugoslavia, united under Marshall Tito. We visited an extensive memorial and museum to Tito, which had some striking sculptures on the grounds. Here is one, presumably depicting the rescue of wounded partisans.

The streets of Belgrade are lively, leading to good street photography opportunities.  This photo was part planning, part luck - like most street photography.

Sunriver Woods

Sunriver is a residential and resort community about 25 miles south of Bend, Oregon. In the section where we were visiting friends, houses are widely spaced in pine woods, so one can walk through mature forests.

Deschutes River Trail

From Baker City we drove to Sunriver, south of Bend, where we took a hike with friends along the Deschutes River Trail. The river is quite turbulent as it squeezes through a narrow gorge, and there are some interesting views of the extensive lava fields across the water.

Oregon Trail Interpretive Center

We drove east from Lake Wallowa through some of the Hells Canyon Wilderness area, and then west to Baker City, where we visited the impressive Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. We only had about an hour that afternoon, so we returned the next morning to see the rest of the panoramas and exhibits, and to attend an amusing and informative lecture by "Dr. Balthazar", a historian impersonating a 19th C patent medicine salesman.

Chief Joseph Trail

Our last hike before leaving the Lake Wallowa area was on the Chief Joseph Trail. The sign at the trail head says that it's not maintained, and indeed we weren't able to get past a largely-blocked bridge over the river; but there was plenty of good walking and the beginnings of fall color up to that point.

Lake Wallowa Tramway and Mount Howard

The Lake Wallowa Tramway rises 3700 feet from Lake Wallowa to the summit of Mount Howard. It's the steepest four-person gondola tram in North America. There are two miles of excellent hiking trails at the top, and we got to see paragliders sailing down over the farm fields to the lake.

Setting up for a wedding