History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days. ~Winston Churchill
I love going to museums - probably because I love learning. There is always something new to learn and experience. My favorite parts about Macedonia have all taken place in the last few weeks while I was experiencing something new or learning something new. Yesterday (Sunday), I was able to add a few more new experiences and some more knowledge to my Macedonian favorites.
Above is a picture of our first stop on Sunday. We left Ohrid and drove to the Bay of the Bones where there is a museum on water, recreating the pile-dwelling peoples who live on Lake Ohrid in ancient times. The museum is new because the remnants of this people group was only discovered a few years ago. They had a room inside the main building with the actual artifacts discovered on the lake bottom and then you could tour the reconstructed huts built over the lake. I found it funny that each hut had the same animal skins and baskets, and each hut was rather bare. Not much is known about this civilization, but I give Macedonia points for trying. I personally liked wandering the huts and letting my thoughts rest in each hut, wondering how I would have survived such a lifestyle (again, I prefer the comforts of a posh hotel in contrast to the bare essentials found in those huts).
The day was also beautiful and I'm pretty sure I used up almost all my battery taking pictures of the huts, of the surrounding mountains, of the lake, of the reflection of the clouds in the water, etc. The other girls took a bunch of pictures too... so many that I think the stunning scenery was more the reason for the visit than the actual museum.
About two in the afternoon we decided to continue on with our day so we left the museum and drove to Sv. Naum monastery. I can't say too much about this monastery because we didn't go inside the church and the grounds were filled with tourists. The other monastery we visited on Saturday was filled with tourists as well, but I didn't notice them because there was a peace that transcended the grounds. This monastery wasn't as peaceful and the road leading to the monastery was filled with vendors selling Ohrid pearls, food, and other souvenirs. There were also peacocks - beautiful to look at, but as annoying as roosters!
One of my favorite parts of the trip was driving to the mountain pass where you can see both Prespa Lake and Ohrid Lake at the same time. I didn't have the right shoes on to actually hike up the ridge, but a few members of our group did. I enjoyed the drive up (and was very glad to not be the driver! Some of the turns took my breath away!). Again, I don't think it is possible to overstate how much I love the scenery here in Macedonia; the mountains are simply beautiful!
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