It's 3am and we're homeless...

So after our experiences with Tiranese hospitals, footpaths, mad drivers and the like, it was time to think about moving on. However before we could do this, we had to figure out how to get out of there. Its one thing to get into Tirana, most buses in towns in Albania will go there, but getting out?

As I explained before, to get to the town of Kruja we had to find the Zogu i Zi roundabout. We had decided to go to Macedonia next, and we found the only way we could get there was a bus from the patch of mud in front of the train station - but you can't buy tickets there, no, you have to find some travel agent called Pollogu or something and buy them from there. And that agency works out of a little office on the first floor of a building with no name, but just look for "Peace" cafe, and you'll find it... seriously.

We found we could get tickets on the overnight bus to Struga, Macedonia, for 10 euros each. The bus left at 9.00pm and would arrive at 2.30am. So we still had a day to kill in Tirana, but nothing left to see. Well, not whilst there was electricity anyway. As I explained earlier, they turn the electricity off at different times and different points throughout the city - who wants to pay 300 leke to NOT see the National Museum? Anyway, we'd seen some nice pics of Albania in the guide book, found out they were from a town called Berat, so we decided to do a day trip there. But could we find the place where the bus goes from? You'd think it would be the bus station right, but no. That would make sense. We asked sooo many people, and kept getting different, conflicting information. One bloke told me to go straight ahead, where I would find the 'big Sahat' - what is a big sahat? Agata reckons he meant 'Pizza Hut' - but there wasn't even any of those here either...

Eventually we found someone who knew something, and we made it to some outlying little bus station somewhere, where we found buses to Berat. But by this point we were absolutely shattered - fortunately then that the bus ride (which we'd been told would take 1 1/2 hours) took, get this, THREE hours! Three hours of more kamikaze Albanian driving (fortunately on a proper coach, gunless driver - but again, you guessed it, no air-con)... this time it was mostly farmland we were passing, donkeys and the like pulling carts, a couple of roadside graves (seriously) and some concrete bunkers in the fields... oh and an overturned truck, a minivan stopped in the middle of the road, and an incompetent policeman (who was just standing by as the driver of the truck tried to brain the minivan guy for causing the accident).

Arrived in Berat more exhausted than when we left Tirana. And it was again sooo hot, we really didn't feel much like walking around - but we did anyway, and it was really nice. We saw this Ethnological museum which was based in an old Ottoman residence, with original furnishings, costumes and everything, very nice. Then we crossed the river and got the 'view of a thousand windows' (by the way if the computer I'm using now would recognise my camera, I'd include some pics, but hey. Not going to happen) - which is a whole hillside of Ottoman residences, very beautiful. By this point we'd seriously had it, so we had to stop off in a cafe for a frappe. After that it was time to get the bus back to Tirana, thank you very much, another 3 hours of madness - and this time I was stuck at the front of the bus and could see everything coming for us. But again, I survived to tell the tale.

Got back in time to have dinner then wait for the bus to Macedonia. The plan originally was to pre-book accommodation in Ohrid, which actually I did do, but then I got a text from the guy saying that they were full, sorry, there's a concert in Ohrid or something that night, no accommodation. Great. So we're arriving at 2.30am to what? A night in the bus station?

If only. No, when we finally got there (you have to go to Struga first then get a bus or taxi to Ohrid, the bus from Tirana doesn't go there direct) the bus station was, get this, the side of the road. Literally. The driver pulled over to the curb and let us off at 2.30am by the side of the road. With all our luggage. No city centre, bus station or even a bench to sleep on in sight.

Fortunately a young family got off at the same place as us and directed us to the nearest motel - phew. Oh no, not phew - it's full. So he phones up some hotel and sends us off looking for that. We get there and the price is a bit exxy - but I'm ready to take anything, I'm so tired. The girls however are keen to keep looking, so Agnieszka minds the luggage and Agata and I set off, 3am, looking for hotels. We find one but can't find the way in, and we ask one of the locals how to get in. It turns out he actually owns his own motel 1 km out of town, so we end up staying there. He tells us that the motel has its own taxi so we can make our way to Ohrid the next day, and that his Mum will make us a coffee in the morning. Perfect. It's clean, it's now very late - we crash for the night.

Next day this woman dishes us up what can only be described as mud in a cup. The spoon can stand upright unaided in this cup. And she's smiling at us, and encouraging us to drink it, nodding in the wrong way (by the way did I mention that in Albania and Macedonia if you nod your head it means 'no', not 'yes' - and if you mean 'yes' you half shake it like our 'no' - but in a figure of 8). So what can we do, close our eyes and pour this stuff down our necks. It was seriously vile. And all we really wanted was hot water so we could make our own drinks from the chai latte sachets Mum brought me from Oz...

Then she tried to charge us for it. What? Pay to drink mud? No thank you - so we told her that her son had said it was included and then basically hot-footed it out of there in search of the taxi. Uh-oh. Lie number 2. There is no taxi, we have to go stand out on the highway and try and hail one. Agata wanted to hitch-hike, and I might be stupid and drive in a minibus with a gunman, but I'm not dumb enough to hitch-hike, thank you very much. So we kept hailing every taxi that came past (of course they were already taken) and eventually one came back for us and took us to Ohrid.

At the bus station at Ohrid we met a funny old Macedonian bloke dressed in singlet vest, daggy shorts, thongs and wearing a green 'Bunnings' hat. So of course we simply had to talk to him - turns out his English name is Bob, and he spent some time (10 years) in Australia (actually his son lives there now with his wife and 2 kids). Bob and his wife Sophie rent out rooms in their house in the summer for tourists - so off we go, we now have accommodation for the night. Pretty good accommodation too, we have a kitchen we can cook in, a huge room for ourselves, and its not too far to the centre of town.
Struga and Ohrid are towns on Lake Ohrid, one of the oldest lakes in the world and the deepest in the Balkans. It is truly a very beautiful lake, and it alongside the town of Ohrid are UNESCO world heritage sites. We spent the rest of the afternoon (after a lengthy chat with Bob and Sophie about the benefits and disadvantages of having been part of Yugoslavia and now being a country on their own - seems to me anyone we ask about this preferred Yugoslavia) wandering about the town. This town is simply gorgeous, there's a load of 13th and 14th century churches with original frescoes and icons, and stunning views of the lake. Plus an amphitheatre built in the time of Christ which is just amazing. Oh and an ongoing archeological dig of an early Christian basilica.

We had dinner in a gorgeous restaurant by the edge of the lake, some lovely fish, then headed back to Bob and Sophie's to freshen up, as currently its the Ohrid Summer Festival, and this evening there's a concert in the Sophia church, a chamber orchestra from Skopje playing Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. So we head back for the concert, only we're a bit late and apparently the tickets are all sold out. We hang around outside anyway and Agata manages to sweet talk the bloke into letting us in - for free - and so we manage to catch the last couple of pieces. Excellent.

So all in all, we've pretty much well fallen on our feet here in Ohrid. Tomorrow we will farewell Agata as she heads back to work via Skopje, Belgrade and Budapest on the train, and we'll stay for a day at the lake. Nice.