Macedonia Courts Bike Travel by Paul Lamarra

ith the increasing alti- Macedonia four days earlier in the moun- with red tile roofs. On the edge of town, an tude, the humid oak tain town of Kruševo with my guide for the ascent led us around ski slopes and to the woods gave way to the first part of the trip, Christine Moore, a U.S. resort’s only ski lodge, and to the other side smooth bare moun- Peace Corps volunteer from Los Angeles. of the mountain and a mammoth downhill taintops of the Galicica Christine had lived in Macedonia for three that would take us into the wooded valley National Park in south- years, advising start-up companies and of the Crna River. Wern Macedonia. learning the language. While we remained above 4,000 feet, The strain of the climb was over, and Along with other volunteers, Christine the temperature was pleasant for cycling. MacedoniaStory and photosCourts by Paul Bike Lamarra Travel the road rounded the final bend to reach was instrumental in encouraging a young However, the valley floor that lay far below the summit of the 5,250-foot pass between entrepreneur, Zoran Grozdanovski, in set- us was already hidden in a heat-dancing haze. Lake Prespa and Lake Ohrid. ting up Cycle Macedonia, the company The thrilling downhill made for an Now, above the treeline and in the cooler running my tour, and getting it to the excellent start, and the guilt that I felt air, I was pedaling freely. I had only a dim for not having earned it passed readily. memory of my sweaty struggle with the Besides, the easy start was only part of the eight miles of loosely coiled road that took reason we started from Kruševo. me from the shores of Lake Prespa and sev- To understand Kruševo, what went eral miles in each direction across wooded on there, and why it is so important to slopes before it made its final approach into Macedonians is to understand modern the neck of the pass. Macedonia and its predicament. Once in the narrow pass, I looked up Small and landlocked, the modern repub- to the crest for signs of Macedonia’s once- lic is but a small part of the all-conquering tense border with Albania — a country ancient kingdom of Macedonia that was that 20 years ago was a tightly controlled ruled in the 4th century BCE by the father hermit state in the North Korean mold. of Alexander the Great. The biggest part of On the way, I counted fewer than six cars the ancient kingdom now lies in Greece and and not one fellow cyclist. The handful of the rest in neighboring Bulgaria. people enjoying a barbecue dinner by the As a result, Greece regards the current CASEY GREENE side of the road looked at me with incredu- state of Macedonia as an anomaly and lity and made unintelligible comments that stage where it was ready to accept paying vociferously objects to its choice of name. nevertheless sounded encouraging. customers. Thanks to Greece, Macedonia has struggled Despite being late September, it had Perhaps the poorest country in Europe, for recognition since the 1991 break up of been a very hot day, and I had lingered Macedonia is still coming to terms with the the Yugoslav republic. over lunch in the shade of a closed bar by collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Using its veto, Greece has blocked a beach on Lake Prespa, hoping that the Yugoslavia, of which it was a constituent Macedonia’s membership in the European temperature, which was approaching 100 republic. Every idea to get the economy Union and NATO. Anxious to compromise, degrees, would subside. moving is a classic chicken-and-egg situa- Macedonia changed its flag and was admit- When I eventually set off alone late tion — that is, which comes first, the visi- ted under the provisional name of the in the afternoon, I was worried that I tors or the investment? former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or wouldn’t make the summit before dusk and Peace Corps volunteers aware of the FYROM for short. The U.S. is one of the few I’d miss the view. work of Adventure Cycling back home hit governments that recognizes Macedonia as Elated to arrive before nightfall, I dal- on the idea of introducing Macedonia to its offical name. lied at the summit. There I looked down on cycle touring as the best way of building To steer around such controversies, Lake Ohrid 3,000 feet below to watch a pas- on what was already there. Macedonia considers the relatively recent senger ferry heading out of the Albanian Progress has been made and several suc- Ilinden Uprising of 1903 that took place in port of Pogradec, creating a white wake in cessful tours have taken place, but when Kruševo against the long-ruling and often the deep blue water. we wheeled our bicycles out into the small brutal Ottoman Empire to be the pivotal On the hillsides around me, an alchemist square behind the church in Kruševo, it moment in its history. was at work as the short yellowish grass was clear that the sight of a bicycle loaded For 10 days, rebel fighters held out glowed golden in the fading sunlight. Only up with panniers still had the potential to against the Ottomans, and for 10 days, when the sinking sun grazed the moun- cause a stir. Kruševo was a free republic. Inevitably, tains on the Albanian side of the lake did The men drinking coffee in the café under however, the rebellion was crushed and the I remount and give in to the indulgence of the lime tree put down their cups and turned rebels martyred. the 12-mile glide downhill through the rap- to look, and the street sweeper stopped Every year on August 2, Macedonians idly cooling air to Trpejca — a traditional gathering up the fallen leaves to lean on his make a pilgrimage to Kruševo and its fishing village. broom and stare. Only the butcher, who was mountaintop memorial to celebrate their The perfect day ended within earshot adding up his sales on a stool outside his independence. More than that, it has been of the lapping waters and with a delicious store, remained engrossed in his task. decided that the town will remain in a meal, which included the lake’s renowned When we had loaded up with snacks 1903 time warp. Walking the streets of freshwater trout and a tall cool beer. and fruit, we set off downhill on a narrow Kruševo will reveal craftsmen working as I had begun my six-day tour of western street lined with bright white villas topped they would have done over a century ago. The blacksmith works between his anvil offered hospitality, we were often expected country?” He was, coincidentally, the only Despite being the only cyclists on the and his hearth, and the cooper shapes his to offer in return an opportunity for them other cyclist I encountered on the trip. road, we were, for the most part, given our wooden barrels by hand. to explain themselves and their country. For much of the first day, we were to space. Only one horn-tooting truck driver Equipped with my bluffer’s guide to the Such heartfelt discussion, however, was remain on the main road, level with the took exception to our presence. Ilinden Uprising and some understanding never conducted aggressively. river that flowed through the valley. In a Among the roofless and doorless cars, of Macedonia’s fraught relationship with its One man who had given us advice country with few roads, a certain amount the trucks of dubious roadworthiness, the neighbors, I was ready for the strong opin- and apples shouted after us as we cycled of doubling back was inevitable, and we donkeys laden with firewood, and men on ions that would be forcefully expressed away, “Macedonia is the most beautiful, headed north first to a famous trout restau- horseback towing a packhorse carrying all throughout my trip. Macedonia is mentioned in the Bible, rant by the babbling brook at Babino, then their worldly goods, it was hard to feel odd Traveling by bicycle, you are nothing Macedonia is the oldest country on earth, south to the 14th-century monastery in the even though we were the novelty. if not accessible. When the Macedonians how can the Greeks say Macedonia is not a hills above Slepče. Throughout the trip, our fellow travelers were a constant source of color. In villages heavily-panting dogs would force us to go Nuts & Bolts: Macedonia around, whereas horses running free would move off, let us pass, and then return to While I was in Macedonia, I was monastery is patrolled by pea- When to ride: Summer is very guidebooks to Macedonia. I block the road. the guest of Cycle Macedonia, cocks – a Macedonian national hot and winter can be very cold. used the Lonely Planet Western A family of Roma gypsies traveling in the company set up by Zoran symbol. The ideal times are in June and Balkans guidebook (ISBN 978- the opposite direction made good time Plenty of carbs. If you run out of fuel in Macedonia, it won’t be because of the local fare. Grozdanovski with the assis- September when the tempera- 1-74104-729-5; 2009; $24.99) on a flatbed wagon pulled by a piebald. tance of volunteers from the U.S. Ohrid Bazaar – A colorful daily tures are pleasant and there are which contains one chapter on At the center of the wagon, the matriarch of a bee sting to my lip, we were invited proved maddening to the eye.

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