Ohrid

Currently I enjoy Ohrid, Macedonia. It's delightful here, even with too many tourists. I have yet to fully explore. The young English, Welsh and Dutch ladies staying in this hostel are delightful looking, and charming to talk to. This was the case even before I dragged on some wacky baccy that an English youth offered me and became even more so subsequently. As is usual in such circumstances I then ate far more than I needed to, but had a feast of a time strolling languidly and wide eyed around the nightlife of Ohrid the unhorrid.

By the way, after Tirana I took a bus to Korca with an American who, no joke, had changed her name from Susan to Artemis. We almost went through with a booking to stay in a grubby, possibly flea ridden, historically protected builing for a stunning 2.5 euros a night. We had planned to escape as much as possible from our disconcerting room by eating, drinking and watching Mr Bean's holiday at the local cinema (delapidated but equipped with a functional-looking popcorn machine). But then we said "f**ck it" or something like that, booked into a nearby proper hotel for 10 euros each, skipped Mr Bean, and skillfully lied to the garrulous owner of the fleapit as to why we were withdrawing our bags from his beautiful dive before the hours of darkness. We must flee to the mountains tonight, we explained, where beauty untold lies, as he himself agreed (In Vospokoja). When he followed us after he saw us clearly walking past the taxi rank that should have taken us there, we reassured him it was to get water. We then sort of hoped he'd lose interest but were not sure he would. But TV, a real live hot shower and AC soon captured our attention.

Actually, to be a nerd, it may not actually have been the owner, but he was certainly associated with the hostel.

Anyway, I have not yet got to the bottom of the intriguing Alexander The Great question, regarding whether his memory should belong to this land or to Greece. Both countries claim to own him, and I can see both countries having the right. In Macedonia's favour Ancient Macedonia was more outside than inside the borders of modern Greece, whilst on the other hand the culture of ancient Macedonia was far more Greek than Slav (indeeed it wasn't slav at all). But given that Alexander III (as the Maccy's call him) invaded and crushed the Greek city states one might wonder why the Greeks want to be associated with him at all? Ah yes, because he then imperiously took Greek culture and values across the known world. Silly me, nothing like a bit of basking in imperial adventurism to reassure you to subjection