Macedonia 9

 

We met a Macedonian photographer, Biljana, in Ohrid. She had taken a lot of photos of people in Ethiopian tribes near the border with Sudan. It was great showing her my work of Albanian people in Macedonia. I hope somewhere there is an Ethiopian photographer taking shots of tribes in Hackney. Probably is.

We flew back from Ohrid, all went well. Saw Emilie and Alfie who had been kindly looking after the dog and the house for us. Good to be back after a great trip.

Macedonia 8

 

Our last day, and Danielle had booked us in for a wine tasting in an old monastry north of Ohrid. Great wines, great guide, great cheese. Long snooze when we got back.

Macedonia 7

We went to the old Vlach village of Malovishte in the Pelister National Park. This is the the old abbey. Another beautiful place, with quite a lot of renovation work going on, which was good to see. 

Macedonia 6

Next day was Danielle's choice of activity. We kayaked on Ohrid lake down the east side to a bbq on the beach. It was very loosely organized which suited us. No pictures of us in the kayak, but trust me we managed co-ordinated paddling most of the time. It was the clearest water you can imagine. 

 

Macedonia 5

 We slowly drove back down to the valley. A man on a motorbike, came alongside the car. "Si-mon, Si-mon" he shouted. I realised it was Shpendi, the 6 year old boy with the braces in the front of my original picture.

He is now a  48 year old coach driver in Switzerland. We shared a coffee with Shpendi and it was marvellous to meet for the first time in over 40 years.

Quite a day.

Macedonia 4

 Wednesday was the big day. I was returning to Lomnice, the village in the Sar Plannina mountains that I first visited in 1984 when I was on the Walk. I revisited two years ago, and was overwhelmed by people remembering my visit, and being typically kind and wonderful. Since then I had kept in touch with many new Albanian friends online.

Danielle had no idea what to expect, neither did I. I had been in contact with Enis, a young man from one of the families who were in my original photograph. We met up in the village and were soon in one of the few remaining inhabited houses. The house belonged to Enis's grandmother, whose late husband I met in 1984. Strands of her family (several of who now live and work in Switzerland) were all there. It was very emotional for all of us. Lovely children, Turkish coffee, water melon, just a great day.

Macedonia 3

 We hired a car for a few days, and drove up to the mountains between Ohrid lake (shared with Albania) and Prespa lake (shared with Albania and Greece). Lovely to walk up high with butterfly rich meadows for company.