Day 10 – Friday, August 15, 2025

In the morning, I bid farewell to the kitten, then to my somewhat unfriendly host, and wished him a nice vacation in Albania. He was complaining about the long wait at the border. Ah yes, life can be tough for car drivers.

I rode to the shore of the lake – it reminded me of Lake Balaton. I took a nice swim at a deserted beach. Formed by tectonic rifting over two million years ago, this is the oldest lake in Europe. The deepest point reaches 288 meters – I did not bother to test it.

A bit like Lake Balaton

Following the shore, I quickly made it to the town of Ohrid. In the non-touristy part, I saw a big commotion in front of a bakery and decided to stand in line. There were delicious items, and I packed my food bag with goodies. Then I got to the touristy part of town, which was, surprise, surprise, touristy. I found a nice park bench close to the lake and enjoyed some of the things I had acquired at the bakery.

Ohrid proper

Well-fed, I now had the strength to roll up the hill to the castle crowning the city. It was quite a steep climb; I took a wrong turn or two but was happy to have made it. From there, I enjoyed beautiful views of the town, the lake, and the surrounding hills.

The castle

The view from the castle

I then visited the monastery of Saints Clement and Panteleimon, with some wonderful mosaics in and around the church. Other highlights were an ancient Roman theatre and an old city gate.

Here the monastery

I spent another 30 minutes finding a suitable eSIM card for the remaining Balkan countries. Oh, I almost forgot – thinking I would no longer need my Albanian leks, I converted them to Macedonian denars at a rather poor rate – but it was just a couple dozen euros’ worth. This proved not to be the best decision.

It was only around 1:30 in the afternoon that I left, heading south along the eastern shore. It was quite busy, lots of cars driving my way, and the shore was full of restaurants, hotels, and beaches. It was by no means an easy ride – twice the builders of the road decided to build it on the side of the mountains, so there were quite a few switchbacks – however, with wonderful views.

Looking down at the lake after an ascent

At around 4 pm, I reached a junction: the road either continued south or offered a mega climb into a national park, leading to the next lake, called Prespa. With the first option, I would head back into Albania; the latter one would have meant more sightseeing in North Macedonia. As it was rather late, with at least 3–4 hours of climbing ahead of me – and really windy – I decided not to do the big climb, but to continue towards the south. Had I reached there an hour earlier, I probably would have chosen the national park – so this also gives me a reason to return.

Soon, I arrived at a place called “Sveti Naum” – not really a town or a village but a monastery, though a rather big one, with a huge garden right on the lake, amidst a myriad of small shops selling all sorts of religious artifacts, and even a long, beautiful beach with sunbeds, umbrellas, and multiple restaurants. Cars have to park outside the gates, and a long walk to the monastery awaits the visitor through the “commercial” part. I was able to ride in, no problem there. I rode to the monastery, which was established in 905 by none other than Sveti Naum (would you have guessed?), who is also buried there. Inside the church are wonderful wall frescoes, probably hundreds of years old. There is also a gate said to be multiple centuries old.

Sveti Naum – outside

Sveti Naum – inside

Biking-wise it was a bit of a slacker day – and by the time I was done with my visit to the monastery, 5:30 pm, it was no time to cover dozens more miles – so I called it a day. I dined at a restaurant by the shore and had a pretty good Greek salad, köfte (or ćevapi, whatever you want to call it), and French fries – then it was time for a nice swim. Interestingly, while the northern shore of the lake was calm like Balaton, the southern side very much resembled a seashore, with proper waves and a sandy beach – just that the water was not salty.

Dinner at the North Macedonian "seashore"

Around sunset, I did not yet have a place to stay. I did see a campground, but it turned out it belonged to the North Macedonian army – no exceptions or fooling around there. The monastery also had a hotel, and they even had vacancy, but a room would have cost €70. I had an idea – I rode back to the restaurant, where there was a nice lawn with green grass next to it, and asked if I might stay for the night. To my pleasant surprise, the owner agreed and even talked to the security guy, for him not to bother me.

When it got dark, I pitched my tent, really excited to be able to stay at this swell place. I slept quite well until 5:44 am. Let me tell you what happened then.

A short day, just 45 kilometers, with 439 meters of ascent.