Cycling – Two lakes, two pearls

Welcome to Macedonia and the Balkans! You’re met by a driver/guide at Skopje Airport and then you have a transfer to Ohrid. Meet Our staff in the afternoon to receive materials, like: maps, GPS & SIM card, get a walk-through of the trip and all your questions answered. Arriving early, go for a short walk near the oldest lake in the Balkan and visit Ohrid – a natural and cultural UNESCO protected town to learn about the local legends and enjoy the fabulous views of Galicica N.Park. Immerse in the buzz of the bazaar in the town’s past or enjoy a coffee with the locals. In the evening bars bust with locals flocking for the evening stroll into the pedestrian zone. Lined with bourgeoisie townhouses, a reminder of the city’s rich past. When daylight fades you can choose between restaurants that offer carefully crafted traditional meals or Turkish kitchen in the old bazaar. We wish you a good night after an interesting first day in Macedonia. Tomorrow you start early cycling (departure 7:00 AM).

An early start will allow us quiet panoramic sightseeing of Ohrid with our bikes. The perfect combination of tales is a great opportunity to find out a bit more about history, how people lived, and developed here. Ridding in direction to the villages Lakocerej, Vapila, Trebenista, and later to the neighboring town Struga. In Struga, we are going to visit the museum of Nezlobinski, the Bazar and the famous river of Black Drim. From there we continue to Kalista where we can stop for a short break in the monastery complex, we can visit the church with the famous icon of Black Madonna and from there we head towards our accommodation place in v.Radozda near the border with Albania.

Today we cross the border and we enter in Albania. When we enter, great panoramas will open in front of our eyes, over lake Ohrid, over the towns Struga and Ohrid and Galichica National Park. We will descend in direction to the small fishing village of Lin and from there we head towards the town of Pogradec. On the way there, we will ride a nice bike trail and we will cross small settlements, you can see the daily lives of the locals, take pictures and drink something to refresh in the small shops near the road. In Pogradec, we will go to visit the Erven Hoxha old residence, near the springs of the Drim river. The rest of the day we can spend near the lakeshore, walking, drinking nice Albanian wines or simply enjoying under the stars and lights from Ohrid and Struga.

It’s a challenging day with some climbing from the beginning but the views and the scenery are excellent. We will see a lot of farms through the villages Gurras, Alarup, Podgorie, Orman before we get to Korca. Constantly on our way, we will see people working on their farms using traditional tools, not modern mechanization, we will stop and speak with some of them and taste their products. When we arrive in Korca we take a short rest in our hotel and later we will go for walk in the old town of Korca, learn something about their rich history and finally we can sit for a nice traditional Albanian dinner. We will not forget to taste some good Albanian or Italian wines.

After breakfast, we will continue our way to the village of Zrnovsko in the area called Pustec. Pustec is the most rural area, probably in the whole of Europe. We will enjoy the untouched nature and beautiful sceneries around Lake Prespa. We will end the day in the village of Zrnovsko and have dinner and overnight in a warming guesthouse.

A new day, a new morning and our new adventure is in front of us. Today is the longest day of Cycling but maybe the most beautiful one. We will go through the most famous Ohrid – Prespa Transboundary Biosphere Reserve. On our road, we will enjoy the views over Big island, small rural villages, and N.P. Pelister from the other side of the lake. Today we have 70 km till we get to our destination v.Brajcino, but before we need to cross the border to Macedonia and pass in the region well known by its farms with apples. When we get to Brajcino we have short rest, have a nice easy walk, and finally deserved dinner.

This day will be spent in a relaxed and not overcrowded program. This morning we have a 1-hour transfer to the Baba pass and this way, we skip 12km climbing, but for those who like to challenge themself, there is an option for them to start early so we can meet them on the top In the same time. From this point of 1600m.a.s.l. we start going down in direction to Ohrid. First, we have 17km of descending till we get to the village of Trpejca. From there we have 21 km of combined ups and downs till we arrive in Ohrid. Since we get to the city we will go to our hotel, take good rest and later we go for a short walking in the city to spend some time shopping before dinner. Overnight in Ohrid.

A day in which you have complete freedom to do whatever you want before transferring to the airport and the meeting will be arranged in advance at the exact time and place.