Day 82 - Sopotnica, Macedonia

1. On the boat at Galicica National Park
2. Can anyone pronounce these names please?

3. A Basilica we visited
4. Vele, Sneza, and us at Prelip

5. Kids up the cherry tree
6. Boris, Sophie, me, Tilly and Finn on the verandah as Boris makes some whistles

7. The kids with Snezana-Vele Golovodovski uncle, the tobacco grower

8. At Zelezneo

Macedonia was the birthplace of Alexander the Great and has a wealth of history. Unfortunately, people are leaving the villages for a better life elsewhere. In some cases there are several villages where only a couple of people remain. 

We have had a change of plans again. To get to Samos it will take a 7 hour drive and an overnight ferry. We have therefore decided that this is too much for us at this stage and given we are loving Macadonia we will stay here a few extra days and travel directly to Istanbul. K's mum Pam is keeping us up to date on the protests in Istanbul. Therefore we are currently living day by day so plans may change again. 

Sneza and Vele has graciously offered us to stay longer which we will relish. We went to Zelezneo, a small village that is a step back in time. Vele met his cousin there that he hasn't seen for more than thirty years. The houses were amazingly old and rickety and even included a donkey resting from its work.

We then visited a fish farm with not only fish but lots of animals. Tilly took a liking to Bambi - a small deer that loved the bread she fed it but suddenly started to attack her by butting her legs. Tilly was in tears and ended up with some cuts and bruises. 

From here we spent some time in Bitola going through the markets. We stopped to buy a chicken in the supermarket and met up with a man claiming to be a professor despite his occupation being a mechanic. Vele's car is not idling well so took the opportunity to get the professor's number to organise a repair.

Upon returning to the house the neighbour chatted through the use of Vele as an interpreter. He told us that he has no hot water so places bottles of water in the sun to heat them up. He and his wife use a concrete drain to stand on whilst each other pours water over the other. During the conversation he excused himself and explained he had to move the ladder for there was a priest up the cherry tree. There was in fact a priest picking cherries who we were introduced too. It was a crazy, funny time.

Then another neighbour from down the road visited and insisted we come to his place to watch how he dries mushrooms. We will see him on Thursday. Later, Vladko, his wife Ana and their kids came over where they insisted we stay the weekend with them. What a lovely gesture but we need to keep moving so had to decline. It has been another amazing day that has been truly magical.