So, last night was an early night.   I was literally sitting in my bed at 8:30 and sat and watched stuff on my computer until about midnight.

This hostel definitely has a younger party vibe to it as you could still hear the crowds down below on the terrace well after midnight.

No worries though, that’s what the heavy duty silicone earplugs are for.   I swear by these and anybody who travels should get them.

And you know I’m serious about them because I actually looked up a link for them which I normally don’t do and I certainly don’t make any money from it either.   So, you’re welcome.

This morning I was up at 9am with no plans for the day.

My throat was still a little bit sore but I was feeling pretty good otherwise.

I headed out to see where the day would bring me…

Chilling at breakfast

I popped by a restaurant by the water front and sat down at a table.

English breakfast for one please.   Hold the bread.

I just sat there without a care in the world watching people walk by.   I was in no hurry to get breakfast.   It would come when it would come.

And after breakfast, yup, I was in no hurry to get the bill and pay either.

When it would come, it would come.

Amazing how easy and relaxing a day can be when you have nothing planned.

A sorta, kinda, plan

Now, to say I didn’t have any plans was a bit disingenuous.   I had a bit of a plan – walking through the city and seeing whatever I had marked on my map.

There were a couple of churches, a city wall, and a fortress high atop the city.

I mean, it still wasn’t really a plan.   More of a “walk through the city and see what’s what” kind of thing.

So, I started walking…

The best souvenir

One of the first things I stumbled upon on my travels was a little table set up by a couple of kids who couldn’t have been more than 10 years old.

They were selling hand drawn artwork and painted rocks.

This was bringing back huge flashbacks to my time in Montenegro years ago when I bought a bunch of hand painted rocks from a kid with a similar setup.

I love when I stumble upon kids selling stuff.

I’m not a huge souvenir guy but I will always stop at a little stand run by kids and buy something.

This time I decided on the hand drawn artwork.   It was 300mkd ($7.50) but I didn’t care.   Honestly, she could have charged me 1000mkd ($25) and I would have paid.

So, I now have my most prized souvenir for this trip.

A great way to start the day…

Up to the fortress

I continued down the street past the different tour groups roaming the city til I reached a little church at the end of the path about 20 minutes away.

From there, there was an ominous climb through a forested area awaiting me.

I was all of a sudden having flashbacks to that treacherous hike in Matka Canyon a couple of days ago.

This one was way simpler though.   There were stairs in place and the incline wasn’t as demonstrative as the one in Matka.

And soon, I was at the top of the hill with an amazing view of the city below.

You can walk on the fortress walls for 120mkd ($3) and it was eerily reminiscent of walking on the old walls in Dubrovnik.

Of course, nothing compares to the walls in Dubrovnik but, even still, it was pretty cool to see the city down below from this vantage point.

So many photos…

Time for ice cream

Yup, I deserved it.

I had a good little walk and it was hot out.   Plus my throat was still a bit sore and, ya know, ice cream is soothing.

Of course I couldn’t just get a scoop of ice cream…

Nope.

I got a banana split.

And it was enormous!

And I smiled from ear to ear.

What a great day!

And it was only just past noon.

I had to figure out what to do with the rest of the day.

And then I saw something…

Paragliding

On the main street was a poster for paragliding in Ohrid.

Hmmm…

I mean, I’ve been bungy jumping and skydiving but never gone paragliding.

Hmmm…

There were four packages – 69€, 79€, 89€, and 110€ with the most expensive one being double the amount of time in the air at 40 minutes.

So, naturally, I chose the most expensive one at 110€ ($170).

I mean, I’m only probably gonna do this once in my life.   May as well do it right.

After contacting the company, we set a pickup point at 5pm.

I met the diver along with 2 others and we were off to the starting point, a mountain top about 45 minutes away close to the Albanian border.

It was here where I had my “what the hell am I doing?” moment.

Looking at the cliff edge as my tandem partner Vladick explained that I will just start running towards the edge and we’ll lift off was when it got real for me.

I was going to run off the edge of a mountain.

Voluntarily!

We suited up in a tight jacket, vest, and harness and Vladick strapped himself to me and then I started running.

And then…

We were flying!

It was amazing!

Just slowly gliding through the air 2000m above the ground below.

About halfway through, however, my stomach was starting to turn.   It was probably the combination of having all the tight clothing pressing into my stomach and the wind rustling past my ears.

It was at this point that I wished I had only opted for the shorter glide down.

So, I just closed my eyes and tried to think of happy thoughts.

Please land soon.

Please.

Well, I’m happy to report that despite my queasiness, my stomach held out and we landed safely.

Afterwards, the tour operator said that most first time paragliders only go for about 20 minutes because any longer takes its’ toll.

Oh sure!   Now you tell me!

Anyway, excluding that last little part, it was an amazing adventure and it all got recorded on go-pro.

You can find some screenshots of the video in the “Paragliding” image gallery down below.   I’ll chop up the video into clips soon and upload them there as well.

An amazing dinner

We got back into town at around 7:30 and, by then, my stomach was feeling better.

Time for dinner.

There was a little restaurant about 20 minutes away along the lake side path that had come highly recommended so that’s where I headed.

If it hadn’t been marked on my map, I’d never be able to find it.

There was no signage and you had to take a small path off the main path to find the patio at the back of a building.

The restaurant probably had a total of 8 tables between the inside and patio.

My server was amazing and that’s saying something considering the service I’ve found on my travels in Europe.

She was telling me that the restaurant was family owned and that her and her sister served while mom cooked the fish that dad had caught in the lake earlier in the day.

She was describing the menu and told me freshest fish to try.   The belvica, which is native to only Lake Ohrid, was caught just a couple of hours earlier.

Sold!

The fish came out whole with vegetables and fries.

It was easily the best fish dish I’ve ever had.

I can’t even describe it.   I literally wanted to order another portion after I was finished.   It was that good!

Instead, I told the server that I’d come back again tomorrow night and have it again.

I asked for the bill and told her I’d be paying with a card however she told me it was only cash.

My heart sank a bit.

I didn’t have enough cash to cover the bill.

So embarrassed.

I told her I’d leave my stuff here and just pop to the closest ATM about 10 minutes away and come back and pay.

To my shock she said that it was no problem and that she trusted me to just bring the money tomorrow.

I was literally in shock.

This server was amazing.   She recommended my dish, cleared my plates, brought the bill without me having to wait around, and now was trusting me to just come back tomorrow and pay off my tab.

Of course I declined and walked to the ATM anyway but her service did get a 20% tip out of me, which for the Balkans, is humungous.

What a great way to end the day.

I mean I did so much today from walking around the city to buying a souvenir from kids to paragliding and an amazing dinner.

Such a great day.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings…