wildpiggyphotoadventures

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It was going to rain that night, so we decided not to camp in the mountains but go look for a hostel in Ohrid. We walked back to the car as night fell. Some men who were collecting juniper berries struck up a conversation with us.

These horses had gathered near the car. A couple of days earlier we had come across lots of apples at the side of the road, in the area near Lake Prespa with apple orchards all over the place. Apparently part of an apple load had fallen off a truck. We had collected some of them that were not smashed. And now we had something to give these nice horses. The black horse in the background was beautiful, but sadly ignored us. Only these two white and brown horsies came to get some apples. The white horse was the most curious and outgoing, and had a bell around her neck. 

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There were little tufts of “surprise woods” in sheltered spots on the arid hillsides. 

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Giant puffball mushrooms, with my Swiss army knife and my hand for scale. 

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Galičica national park - looking back, the mountains looked like the winding back of a sleeping dragon. Views on the town Ohrid.

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Galičica national park - some views towards Albania on the other side of Lake Ohrid, and blazing autumn colours.

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Galičica national park - we found ripe Cornelian cherry dogwood fruit on the western slopes. 

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We went to check out Samotska Dupka cave, but it was closed for visitors now in the off-season (or in the bat season? in any case there was a locked gate at the entrance). For me with my claustrophobia, the entrance did look a bit daunting, but apparently the main parts of the cave are 2-7 m high, so it may have been a very nice experience even for me. Here are some photos from inside, including residing bats ...

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We drove as far as the road was good, up to a (former?) ski lift, then continued on foot as far as we could. We camped in a sheltered spot near a small lodge. The night was freezing cold, and the stars in the clear sky really incredible. In the morning we got on our way as quickly as possible to get warm, before stopping for breakfast in a sunny spot. 

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We’d had enough of melancholy abandoned buildings, and headed for the wilderness of the Galičica national park, the mountain range between Lake Prespa and Lake Ohrid on the other side. These are views on Lake Prespa from a stop halfway up. It was getting very cold.

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Hotel Evropa part 12 (the end) - the amphitheatre (in the first photo), one of the smaller, more private terraces, and the way down to the lake. Some friendly old men greeted us on the way back up. The pier is used by locals to go fishing on the lake. The water level has shrunk in recent years - when it was built, you could of course access the water directly from the pier, but not anymore. 

Exploring Hotel Evropa left us with a deep melancholia. Both for the beautiful hotel that was once full of life and people enjoying themselves, but now reduced to a crumbling shell, that will probably never be restored. And in general for recent European history and where it has left us. The countries on the edge of the EU like Macedonia are economically exploited by the EU - businesses from the central EU countries expand into them and knock out local businesses, and whole industries have been dismantled in the shift to market economy. There are much less jobs, so people go work in the central EU countries, where they are exploited more than local workers - expected to be okay with less pay and less rights, which maximizes the profits of the companies they work for. And as well these countries are used a buffer zone protecting the EU borders. They have the task of making it very difficult for people to get inside and further into the EU - especially for the people fleeing from the wars which in fact central EU countries benefit from economically. The EU is selling weapons used in the wars now, and later EU companies will also be making profits off rebuilding infrastructure destroyed in the wars. 

Of course living in East Germany we know this and struggle against it, but being in Macedonia and seeing it from another perspective (of a periphery country), it struck us quite deeply and emotionally. 

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To end this part on a lighter note: Author Kapka Kassabova has written a delightful article and a whole book - To the Lake: A Balkan Journey through War and Peace - about the lakes in southwest Macedonia. Though the preview of the book on google books unfortunately does not include the chapter ‘How to Heal the Insane and the Melancholy’ ...

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Hotel Evropa part 11 - the entrance area, and the subterranean garage that is now a furniture storage (probably at first meant to be only temporary). With a 2004 calendar, from the hotel’s final year.

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Hotel Evropa part 10 - in one room facing the mountains we encountered an art installation, made from found trash. (My picture of it is stitched together from two photos.)

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Hotel Evropa part 9 - corridors, rooms and the rooftop terrace.

And a comment by a late visitor (photo by Roman):

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Hotel Evropa part 8 - the burnt out restaurant and its views on the lake

(this photo was taken by Roman obviously :)

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Hotel Evropa part 7

The balconies all have large planting troughs - it must have been so lush and beautiful. They overlook the courtyard, with a kind of amphitheatre, where plays were performed (that you could watch from your own balcony).

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Hotel Evropa part 6 - the famous bowling alley and the lobby area with some remains of wooden panelling.

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Hotel Evropa part 5 

It’s clear that the bar used to look really elegant and flashy. The hotel was built in the early 1980s, and Macedonians who came there as teenagers for their schools’ summer camps remember the disco fondly (source here way down in the comments section).  Now swallows have built their nests in the eaves ...