Meanwhile, after more than a year on the roads across the Balkans and in Turkey within our project "A journey of Intimacy and Culture along the Roman Roads", we are pleased to present a walking tour package next to Lake Ohrid in Macedonia as part of our project work.
In Europe, you rarely encounter a public service provider who used to clean shoes to his customers: the shoeshine.
Again and again there are encounters that are neither expected in their form nor foreseeable in their effects for the future. So we had tried to establish contact with the Roman city of Trier many times before the project began, to involve a well-known entry point in our project activity for the development of camper and outdoor tourism route along Roman roads in the northwestern part of Germany. In short, it was not successful.
For every culturally interested visitor to the ancient Roman city of Ohrid on the Via Egnatia, the Sophia Church should be part of the visitors program, not just because of the structure of the building but especially because of the numerous sculptures and wall paintings inside. Ohrid has long been one of the cultural and religious centers of the Bulgarian Empire and one of the centers of Orthodox Christianity of the Slavs and of Southeastern Europe.
During our search for artifacts along the way of the ancient Via Egnatia in the area of Lake Ohrid, we received a reference to a small collection of artifacts, which a cultural-historically engaged teacher had gathered in the course of his activities from all over the region.
Several times already we had visited the mountain village of Vevčani and yet there are always interesting details to discover, which were simply overlooked so far.
A further stop at Rino campsite in Kallista at the Ohrid Lake had led to visits to Vevčani, the curious "Republic" with its own passport and a carnival top address on the Balkans, but the wonderful autumn weather with plenty of sunshine had also led us to further mountain tours.
"Hey and hello, we are Luisa from Freiburg and Kevin from Emmendingen on the way to "Tierra del Fuego", so our two camping neighbors at Lake Ohrid presented themselves after their arrival on a Honda Africa Twin and fixing their tent while enjoying the obligatory welcome coffee and the associated "brandy" at Camping Rino.
At the sunrise the following morning our first way led to the shore of Lake Ohrid, which always reflects the beautiful sunrise from over the Gilicica National Park.
After our trip passing Croatia during the last year in November we approached at the campsite Rino for the first time. Of course the weather was no longer warm enough for calling it "summer" because the temperatures only amounted between 10 ° and 18 ° degrees.
By bike we had traveled from the Campsite Rino into downtown Struga, had stopped at the bridge crossing the Black Drin to make a first walking tour through the city.
According to some rainy days, which unfortunately left our planned excursions on and next to Skadar Lake fell into the water, we are now swept back to Lake Ohrid, where during the week preliminary discussions relating to planned hikes and also in terms of a planned Paragliding Festival will take place.
Within the framework of our project "A journey of Intimacy and Culture along the Roman Roads", we want to explore possible Outdoor activities in different places to support local development structures by reporting online and to develop sustainable tourism in order to support the local community.