Galichica – Ohrid, Macedonia

Galichica is the big mountain and National Park overlooking Lake Ohrid in Macedonia. In fact the lake is shared with Albania and surrounded by high mountains all around. The City Ohrid is a bit like the Riviera of the land locked Macedonia. In my view a gem of the Balkans.

I’ve been here before but not with the bike. This time only travelling through on a road trip with the family but time enough to get a morning ride in the rain. I of course aim for the Galichica mountain through the empty morning streets. Yes, it’s drizzling, but far away beyond the Yugo-cars the sun is shining on the mountains in Albania. Gives me hope.

I get going again and gain some elevation to enjoy the view even better.

The rain stops and there’s even a bit of sunshine. Down there it is – the city of Ohrid. It’s been called the Jerusalem of Balkan because of all the old churches – once upon a time more than 300 hundred! Some 35 years ago Ohrid and Lake Ohrid were accepted as Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Another interesting fact is that the two guys that finalized and spread the Cyrillic letters originate from here. Anyway, the city:

And the joy of seeing it…

A big climb done. I wanted to go to the top but it was covered in clouds on and off and made it look less tempting being on my own.

So at approx 1300 meters elevation I started to follow this awesome trail.

The only thing was that the combination of rain and slippery lime stone made it quite dangerous. …but still fun :-). Some 600 meters of vertical meters climbed. Some 600 meters of vertical meters to enjoy going down!