it was not only the flag of north mazedonia that showed the sun to us but the whole country that welcomed us on the sunny side !! we had been followed by the rain in bulgaria & it seemed like the moment we crossed the border to north mazedonia the sun began to shine. we soaked up as much sun as we could drove along the hilly landscape & passed surprisingly many street signs either pointing towards a waterfall or a vineyard. of course we had to check out both of them !! first we climed up a little waterfall & my boyfriend went swimming in the ice cold water lol & then we treated us with amazing white wine & some north mazedonian specialities in a wonderful vineyard called `popova kula´ where you could sit for hours just enjoying food view & wine. eventually we had to move on to find a place to stay for the night & as we were really looking forward to a shower we searched on airbnb & got extremely lucky !! just in the next town on th way called `kavadarci´ we checked into the `wine cellar popovi´ where we got an amazing room a hot shower & a private winetasting in the evening .. well too bad !! we really enjoyed our time there & the winetasting was a huge highlight & probably also the reason why we had to take 8 bottles home with us in our polo where actually no free place was left anymore. but a few bottles of wine would always fit inside of course :)) we drove on towards the west of north mazedonia to visit the famous `ohrid lake´ which already adjoins to albania. we strolled around `ohrid´ walked along the promenade had an aperol spritz & enjoyed the good lake views. the city right on the lake side was especially charming & full of life & lots of small streets through the old houses towards hidden spots by the lake. we loved it there !! however we went down further south always along the lake to find a wild camp spot to stay. what we found was the most beautiful lonely bay with the clearest water & a white stone beach all for ourselves: it was purely magical & we spent the whole afternoon swimming & sun bathing there !! in the evening & just in time for sunset we drove up into the `galicica nationalpark´ from where we got an epic view all over the `ohrid lake´ as well as over the `prespa lake´ on the other side where we set up our little camp for that night. the next day we went hiking in the `baba mountains´ & had a quite challenging but beautiful ascent towards a little lake on top of the mountain called `Golemo Ezero´ where we had a little picnic a great view & a whole flock of sheep behind us lol. it was such a great day full of the feeling of freedom of joy & the certainty that we were exactly where we needed to be.
