Ohrid - Days 96-98

I was just thinking how I had so little time in Ohrid when I missed my bus to Bulgaria tonight... 

Let's backtrack 3 days to my bus ride TO Ohrid. After searching high and low for a morning bus from Tirana, the earliest bus I found to Ohrid (not really, but a town nearby) was at 4pm. The bus company claimed it would arrive at 7:30pm but alas it was closer to 9pm when I was dropped off by the side of the road. The one thing that I try to avoid is arriving in a new town after dark. So I was really in an anxious and foul mood when I arrived in Struge, a town about 12 km from Ohrid. The travel gods must have sensed this because everything turned out to be smooth sailing. I walked to the gas station nearby and the girl just happened to be getting off work and taking the same local bus which goes to Ohrid. And then another woman on the bus helped me communicate the guest house address to the driver who dropped me off almost literally at the doorstep. This is the first time in a long time that I'm not Couchsurfing. Feels a little weird to be actually paying for accommodation haha but I must say the privacy is a nice change. Can't wait to go back to CSing though. 

Ohrid is a little resort town and quite popular with the Macedonians and neighboring countries as well. What more can you ask for than a pristine lake with snow-capped mountains in the background and narrow cobblestone alleyways in the city center. The city is built into the side of a hill so exploration comes with a lot of ups and downs, literally. Again, the theme of my time in Macedonia (much like Albania) is "Don't Rain on My Parade." I'm just complaining, it really wasn't too bad - mainly just passing rain clouds. 

I was meant to leave tonight on the 7pm overnight bus to Sofia, Bulgaria, but someone missed their bus. I even left myself plenty of time and casually strolled into the bus station at 6:30pm...or what I thought was 6:30pm. Turns out my cellphone clock was an hour off and I was 30 minutes late. I'm still mystified as to how that happened. Earlier in the day I even checked the time again the big "official" clock in the town center. *sigh* So it's back to the guest house for another night and another day in Ohrid tomorrow.