Today is the second day of outdoor adventure in Peja. I meet up with Joy and Donika, our guide (who had also been one of the guides on the PoB trail) at 12 to do a Via Ferrata. As apparently we only choose the highest peaks and biggest caves and other best-ofs, we are heading off to do the longest and most difficult via Ferrata of Kosovo, which is called Marimangat, about 1km and 3:30h long and very spectacular. For anyone not familiar with the concept of the via Ferrata: it’s an outdoor mountain activity that is basically half way between climbing and technical hiking. It can be as vertical…

Out of an instinct that had been growing in the last 30 hours or so, when I woke up I knew that I didn’t want to stay at my hostel. So I fled in a somewhat inglorious manner and not without fighting. I have never done that before and in retrospect I am not sure if the place justified such extreme measures. I could have stayed. But the big question is: Did I leave because I was following my guts and instinct, or am I getting old or becoming more German than I ever wanted to be? These questions have been bothering me ever since and once arrived to an…

The day starts early, around 5:45 am. After breakfast and leaving the room, I walk the 2km to the bus station and get there just in time for the bus to Skopje at 7:15. Ohrid has a real bus station with ticket office and everything works just perfectly. There is one hour between my connections in Skopje and I try to ignore my surroundings as much as possible in order not to let the terrible station destroy my enchantment for this city. Every time I have to spend time in a train station or bus station in the world, I ask myself how come these places are such hopeless, sad,…

As this is my last day in Ohrid, my plan is to explore the parts where I haven’t been until now. I take the bike after breakfast and drive through the center and out of Ohrid. First on the city roads and then on increasingly small roads I go straight forward to the outer, countryside parts of the small town. People live in nice houses that are very well comparable to housing in Saarland, many of them have some wine on their yards, hazel plants and small corn fields in the gardens (that’s where all the grilled corn comes from). Life seems quiet out here, I encounter few cars or…

After some planning during breakfast I have still not decided if I am leaving Ohrid tomorrow or the day after but I have decided to do a small hike from Trpejca, a small village at the lake to the monastery of Sv. Zaum. I walk towards the center, hoping to find some Tourist Information or anyone to tell me where and when the bus to Trpejca leaves. I find the bus stop after asking around but the bus had just left and the next one is in two hours. Another girl at the stop is in the same situation and we find ourselves a Taxi to share. The driver is…

As planned, I sleep in and wake with no stress nor great plans. Today I would have been sitting in the bus from Vlora all day so it’s basically an extra day that I think of spending in a very relaxed manner. After breakfast, I take the bike and ride along the Ohrid shore towards the left. The water is completely calm today, the sun is shining and everything is at least as calm as yesterday. There are some people walking, some biking, some sitting in the park and some in the water. As I drive further and further it gets warmer and I start looking for the best beaches.…

The night is relatively sleepless for me as I still don’t feel well. I’m in a half awake state and use the time making new plans for tomorrow because I don’t see myself going to a bus at 7 in the morning. Around 2, I take some drugs.Then loud thunder. Lightning. And total darkness. It starts raining outside, electricity returns after a while. This goes on until almost 6 and when my alarm rings at 6:30 I simply dismiss it and turn around for some more relaxing. I check some hotel options from the bed for Vuno where I am now (my priority is to leave the hostel and recover…

I first wake up at 6 because of the first light and a herd of sheep that walk through the front yard with their ringing bells. I decide not to get up and sleep until 8:30, which is later than I wanted. I have breakfast at the hostel with what I can still find in my backpack and head off to the Gjipe beach. The path is about 4 km long and leads first thought the olive plantations of the village and then into the coastal mountain terrain. Everything is full of very spiky bushes, mostly ilex, and my legs are completely scratched when I arrive. For so many scratches…

After packing up and leaving the nice appartment again, my mum’s and my ways split. She’s going back home tomorrow morning and takes the bus to Tirana, I take the bus towards the south. It’s hot again, no signs of the announced rain.My bus drives along the coast and up into the mountains, crossing the Llogona national park where the driver makes a short lunch break. The mountains are all green and full of different species of pine trees again and I read on a sign that (like where we hiked) there are still wolves and lynxes here. There are also many bunkers on the way that have been colourfully…

After hanging around some time for organization purposes, we take the shit-bikes again to head in the opposite direction as yesterday.Bones and muscles already hurt from yesterday and the bikes are even more uncomfortable today. We drive along the coast line through the city center again and further along the coast on a road that is neither safe nor beautiful nor comfortable. Our destination is Nimfa beach, a recommendation by our host. The day is cloudy and there is thunder and as we’re almost there also some light rain. At one slightly steeper part of the road, my mum’s bike looses its chain. Everything normal. We are honestly a little…