WhyNot: Arriving to Macedonia

I’ve been queuing in Mc Donald’s drive-in line for several times on foot but I guess this was the first time that I crossed borderline between two countries by foot.

First an unofficial taxi from Pogradec to the border from and then just the apostles ride to Macedonia. After a 20 minutes or so there’s a monastery and a ferry ride to Ohrid, Macedonia.

It was a culture shock to arrive in Ohdid. In three weeks I spent in Albania I got so used to the standards there that it was really weird to be in Macedonia without the donkeys and having a actual bus terminal and so on. Funny.

Macedonia. Happy days!

"I just don't care!"

Had a nice stroll around Ohrid with this Greek.

I know at least one person in Finland who would love to
posses this car.

Ohrid, Macedonia and a lonely boat.

Sunset in Ohrid.

I didn’t have any booking whatsoever for a hostel In Ohrid but knew that there’s two of them. This really enthusiastic buy trying to rent me his apartment finally understood that I’m not gonna pay 20€ for his room when I can stay for 10€ in a hostel dorm and even meet some other people. So after I said no for god knows how many times he even showed me where one of the hostels are. *pheeew*

I do love the Balkans but I need my daily doze of heavy metal and it's quite hard to find a place where they play heavy metal In Balkans. I heard that there used to be an underground club in an apartment in Tirana but it's gone. I walked by this bar called Hard Rock cafe in Bitola and heard some ZZ-Top playing. It's not my favourite one but it was a good start. Let myself in and asked if they got beer and a toilet. Luckily they had both so we were in business.

Founds out that this guy lives for heavy metal and it's basically his whole life. The guy even has got his own tv-show in Macedonia!? Name one other country in Europe that has got a show only for heavy music. I know, there is none I reckon. After changing the basic complements the guy of course gives me a list of all the Finnish bands he listens to, Nightwish being one of his favourites especially now that they got the new singer. At this point I ordered second beer some Pelinkovac and Pantera's Cemetery Gates :D We listened some more classic tracks from bands like Symphony X, Megadeth, Nevermore and Type O Negative with our heads banging and fists in the air. Some serious air drumming was also provided from the only other customer. One of my happiest moments. In this little clip I'm just being happy =)

Had a few hours till my bus was leaving Bitola so I just started wandering around like I usually do. I found interesting looking neighbourhood with fences and gates but saw that there's definitely been other people also. It turned out to be a abandoned military training area with two old jet fighters on a top of a hill. I also found this weird looking village like compound which after having a chat with the security guard proved to be a set for a Turkish tv-show that was shoot there. I gladly took couple of pictures.