Balkans Cycle Tour Vienna to Istanbul 2011

Balkans Cycle Tour, Vienna to Istanbul

April - June 2011


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Stage 6 - Kosovo

A little country surrounded by mountains, 15-16 May 2011

My route through Kosovo described an arc across the south of the country, beneath the mountains that border Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia. My route passed through the cities of Peć, Dakovica and Prizren. I found Kosovo to be a very friendly and welcoming country, keen to put behind it the ravages of war. It is certainly a poor country, yet the simple agricultural life in the countryside and smaller towns contrasts starkly with the pedesrtianized city squares and cafes of the larger cities like Peć and Prizren. I enjoyed Kosovo, yet my ride across this tiny country took only 2 days.

Map of Stages 6 and 7 - Kosovo and Macedonia

	[Previous stage - Montenegro] The mountain pass between Rožaje in Montenegro and Peć in Kosovo was the highest pass on this entire cycle tour at 1800m. On the Kosovo side it descended steeply into a fertile agricultural plain. In fact, most of Kosovo comprises this fertile agricultural plain, with mountains along the borders with Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia. Views while descending from the Montenegran border towards Peć. 15 May 2011
	The Kosovar city of Peć. 15 May 2011.
	The central plaza of Peć.
	Typical Kosovo countryside. An agricultural plain surrounded by mountains.
	Typical Kosovo countryside. 15 May 2011. That night I stayed in a motel near the town of Zrze.
	The city of Prizren is Kosovo's second largest city. This is the historic part of town along the river. 16 May 2011.
	The city of Prizren. 16 May 2011.
	Immediately outside Prizren is a national park and the road to Brezovica passes through this steep limestone gorge. The limestone gorge soon widened out into a broader valley. 16 May 2011.
	A small Kosovar village in the Sara National Park, a protected area in the south of the country. 16 May 2011.
	It was a long arduous climb up this winding road to the pass ahead at altitude 1515m. The village in this photo is Mušnikovo. The weather worsened considerably during this afternoon and I reached the top of this pass in cold rain and low cloud. 16 May 2011. The journey continued beyond this pass, and late on 16 May I rode into Macedonia, where the story continues in Stage 7 - Macedonia.

Stage 7 - Macedonia

Mavrovo National Park and Lake Ohrid, 16-20 May 2011

Macedonia was in some ways the most difficult and uninviting of all the countries I visited on this trip, at least in the north. This might be partly due to the cold wet weather that I experienced on my first few days there. By contrast, southern and western Macedonia was much more amenable, inviting and interesting, and the southern city of Bitola near the border with Greece was modern and attractive. Lake Ohrid in the southwest, near the Albanian border is a beautiful tectonic lake, and I spent a pleasant evening camped there.

In northern Macedonia I was chased by dogs, stared at by everyone, hooted at by young men as if I was their local soccer team, chased by children, and generally treated like some kind of very unusual spectacle.

But when I reached the high alpine lake of Mavrovo in dense forest on my second day in Macedonia, I found a lodge to stay in. A group of Macedonian hunters were staying there and they invited me to join them for dinner. Even though there was a formidable language barrier, these men were very welcoming, friendly and generous, and their hospitality was the start of some very positive experiences of this little and less visited countries.

	From the high pass in Kosovo's Sara National Park it was a long downhill run in very cold and wet conditions before climbing up yet again through dense forest towards the Macedonian border north of Tetovo. Eventually, quite late in the day on 16 May I crossed the border into Macedonia and here the dense forest gave way to rural countryside. Macedonia was not particularly inviting in these northern parts, and I was lucky to find a roadside motel somewhere near Tearce. On the 17th of May I proceeded through the busy city of Tetovo. The weather was still cold and wet and my ride into Tetovo was a wet muddy ride on poor roads through a string of dull villages. From Tetovo I pressed on to the Mavrovo National Park in the hope that I might find countryside and accommodation suitable for a cycle tourer. It was cold wet riding uphill through dense forest until I eventually arrived at this lake, the central feature of this national park. Along its shores were houses, ski lodges and motels, and I found a place to stay. A group of Macedonian hunters invited me to their table for dinner and showed me photos of the animals they had hunted. Grinning from ear to ear they showed my photo after photo of dead wolves, dead pigs, dead deer, dead fish, all lying dead beside very alive humans wielding their rifles. As I looked around the restaurant I saw more dead animals, stuffed trophies with beady little eyes and gaping mouths. Needless to say we ate a meal of meat. It was a very interesting evening.
	18 May 2011. The view downstream from the dam on Lake Mavrovo.
	On 18 May I rode south from Lake Mavrovo. The weather was a bit better and it was fast downhill riding. Whilst I remained in the national park, the scenery was pleasant, a deep densely forested gorge. Here are views of a little hillside village, looking up into the forested hills of the Mavrovo National Park.


	On 18 May 2011 I reached the town of Struga on Lake Ohrid. There was a nice quiet campsite here.
	Lake Ohrid is a large natural tectonic lake in southern Macedonia, on the border with Albania.
	After the previous 2 days of riding in cold wet weather, it was pleasant to spend an afternoon in relative sunshine by Lake Ohrid. 18 May 2011.
	Lake Ohrid.
	The town of Ohrid. This town is located on Lake Ohrid and has a historic centre. I cycled through this town on the morning of 19 May 2011.
	The town of Ohrid.
	On 19 May 2011 I rode from Lake Ohrid to the pleasant town of Bitola, not far from the border with Greece. I stayed at a nice hostel near the centre of this lovely town. Bitola is a modern city with a modern European pedestrianised street in the centre.
	A mosque in the centre of Bitola, Macedonia. 19 May 2011. From Bitola I cycled south into Greece, and the story thus continues in Stage 8 - Greece.

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This web page created on 29 Jun 2011, last updated 29 Jun 2011.


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