The sun was up before 05:00, and it was hard for us to get back to sleep once the light came in.  Justin went for a walk along the river (Lumi I Osumit) and then in the Mangalema neighborhood, a picturesque area with cobblestone streets on steep hillsides of the eastern slope of the hill where Berat Castle resides.  Along the way he saw Bill and later Peter both out walking.  Bill, Joyce, and Peter were out most mornings getting some exercise.  It was a great morning to be outside, as it was a very good temperature and it was a quiet Sunday morning.  There were more dogs and birds outside than people, including some yellow bird that was quite striking.  There also were as many donkeys out on the streets as cars.  There was yet another Skanderbeg statue around, this time a statue of just his helmet.  Many of the classic cars were still out, and it was surprising that there was enough trust that nothing would happen to the cars.  Justin got back around 07:30, and we got ready to head out at 08:00.

Downstairs we wished both Cheryl and Joyce a Happy Mother’s Day.  The Hotel Colombo was the first hotel to offer coffee to go, and Crystal took advantage of that before we hopped on the van.  Once in the van Martin told us a bit about Northern Macedonia, the country we were going to travel to this morning.  One of the items that caught our attention was that Macedonia has the best wine of the former Yugoslavian countries.  Martin recommended Tikves wine.  The drive towards the border was very scenic, like going through Tuscany, especially around Belsh.  Most all of the roads we were taking on this trip were smaller country roads, not large highways, and some of the best views on the whole trip were just out the window as we drove from one spot to another.

We stopped around 10:00 a little east of Elbasan for a rest break.  The place had free internet, and we looked up some additional spots for lunch in Ohrid.  We came up with two different places, depending on how much time we’d have.  Shortly before we hopped in the vehicle, however, Martin pulled Crystal aside for a minute.  He told her that while we often went off on our own for these “independent” meals, we should join the group today, as he’d ordered a birthday cake for Justin, and everyone else knew that’s what was going to happen.  So then Crystal had to convince Justin to go to the same place as everyone else for lunch.  She mentioned something about not having a ton of time, and that the menu looked good, and Justin didn’t have strong feelings to the contrary, so that was that.

As we continued on from Elbasan, we were right next to (and over) the same river, Lumi Shkumbin.  The gorge on either side of the river was deep green and full of wildflowers.  We went right by some sort of bridge (maybe for trains to move materials) over the gorge that really stood out and got everyone’s attention.  There was a steep climb shortly before the border, and the scenery got even better, resembling Switzerland in the summer or something along those lines.  We saw a bunch of bunkers and cows immediately before the border.

At the border Martin asked the group for some small Euro bills in case Drago needed to help the agents “expedite the process” of processing our passports.  We had realized this was a common practice at nearly all of the borders, and while not every agent was as brash as the woman in Serbia that took all of our chocolates, it seemed like there was a sure-fire way to help expedite processing all the paperwork for all of us as well for Drago’s vehicle.  We got to the border just after 11:00, and “needed a second fiver” to get through ASAP.  We were happy to oblige.  Hopefully that won’t go down on our permanent record.  On the North Macedonian side of the river we met Lyubtcho, our local guide.  Martin had told us that Lyubtcho was renowned for being loquacious, and that Drago had suggested we tell Lyubtcho the microphone was broken.  We think Drago did actually tell him that, as he tried to talk for a bit before Drago hit whatever button he needed to in order for the microphone to work correctly. 

Lyubtcho told us a bit about North Macedonia.  Unlike some of the other countries that had disagreements that turned (very) violent during the break-up of Yugoslavia, Northern Macedonia’s departure was bloodless, and more of a war of words.  And the words were with Greece, not any of the former Yugoslav republics.  In a nutshell, Greece didn’t want Northern Macedonia to use merely the name “Macedonia” since Greece had a region, and a ton of history, relating to Macedonia.  But at the same time, North Macedonia had that same history.  For a while there was back and forth, and in the middle of the dispute North Macedonia came up with its flag design, a yellow sun in a red sky, the flag of Alexander The Great.  This was a giant middle finger to Greece, and exacerbated the problem. 

Eventually things were solved by adding “North” to Macedonia, which is perhaps a bit mis-descriptive, but if it averted a war, fine.  But everyone in North Macedonia just calls it Macedonia.  Adrian mentioned that about 1/4 of the country is Ethnic Albanian, and also that Macedonia has specific language in its constitution about inclusivity regarding ethnic minorities.  For example, if a municipality has at least 20% of an ethnicity within its borders, the municipality must have that language on the signs as well.  So if you and 20 of your friends moved from Kyrgyzstan to a Macedonian town of 80 people, the municipality would need to update its street signs to include Kyrgyz.

We got to our hotel (Unique Resort & Spa) right around noon, dropped our bags, and then continued on to the center of town.  It was a gorgeous day, with blue skies, some scattered white clouds, and comfortable temperatures.  Lake Ohrid was very blue and the hills were very green.  We took a short walk through town to lunch at Leonardo Pizza.  Justin got a Mexicana Pizza, and Crystal got greek salad with side of hot peppers.  Justin got a couple rum and Coke Zeros, and Crystal got a couple of vodka sodas.  As lunch was wrapping up, Martin surprised Justin with a birthday cake and everyone sang.  Apparently the rest of the group knew this was going to happen.  Peter had almost inadvertently given away the secret at the bar the evening before when he bought Justin’s drinks.  It was a nice surprise, and Justin hoped this time around he wouldn’t catch Covid on his birthday.

After lunch we went walking around downtown Ohrid, making our way slightly uphill.  We went to a paper making store that was interesting, but only vaguely.  We went to the Church of Saint Sophia, an Orthodox Church built in the Middle Ages.  It had a bunch of fresco-type art, a lot of it with a blue background, which is notable because the blue ink back in the day was very pricey.  We made our way uphill to the Ancient Macedonian Theatre, which was built in 200 BC and is the only Hellenistic-type theatre in the country.  It disappeared for centuries, and was accidentally uncovered only in the 1980s.  From there we saw another church, the Church of Holy Mary Peryvleptos.  When we finished looking around there, Martin said we were about to head back towards the hotel to end the day.

Peter asked if we could just split up at the top of the hill, such that he and whomever else could go to the fortress this afternoon.  The two of us and Joyce both thought this was a good idea, but then Joyce went downill with the others anyway.  We and Peter got fixated on getting a photo of the giant flag above the fortress when it was fully horizontal, and kept getting close but not perfect shots.  Justin, after briefly seeing one each in Serbia and Bosnia, finally got to see some Yugos up close - several, actually.  We saw multiple different models, which we didn’t recall, but then again it’s been several decades now.

We and Peter split up at the Church of Saints Clements and Panteleimon, as Peter went there, but we went to the fortress.  But it was closed for the afternoon when we arrived.  So we walked back downhill, and saw Peter as he was leaving the church.  From his description, we didn’t get the impression we missed much.  The three of us walked downhill, then along the promenade.  The wind was blowing pretty well now, and there was both the flag on the fortress as well as another giant one on the promenade, so we tried to get both fully horizontal simultaneously.  We kept trying, and then eventually gave up and figured we got something halfway decent.

The three of us got to the Irish Bar Dublin a bit after 17:00 to watch the Arsenal match against Manchester United.  If Arsenal had any hope of winning the Premier League, they needed to win this match.  Justin hoped they wouldn’t ruin his birthday.  We thought the match started at 16:30, but it was actually at 17:30.  So we got situated and ordered some beverages.  Arsenal scored after 20 minutes and calmed nerves, but then there were several close calls by Man U after that.  Peter left at halftime to go to the hotel, and we watched the second half by ourselves.  Whilst there were several more close calls, Arsenal, thankfully, did not ruin Justin’s birthday, winning 1-0.  They were top of the table with one week to go, but Man City had two matches remaining and Arsenal only one, so Man City was still in the driver’s seat.

There was another excellent sunset in progress as we were exiting the bar.  We were rushing back to the hotel in order to call our respective mothers, but we kept stopping to look at the pink clouds with the city, not to mention the pink reflection in the water.  We called our respective parents at 20:00 (Justin) and 20:30 (Crystal).  After wrapping up our calls, which didn’t take long since there were wi-fi issues that made talking a bit difficult, we had a nightcap at 21:00 with Peter in the lobby.  Amongst other topics we discussed dumb dogs, smart dogs, Halloween parties, Cinco de Mayo parties, pranks, stag parties, and drunken escapade horror stories.  We came back and did a bit of laundry, then crashed.  As far as birthdays abroad go, this was Justin’s best (out of 2).