Godspeed to Olympos, Fri, 08 Sep 2023 | written by Simon
Simon at a Ruins/Excavation, Temple in Europe, North Macedonia

Last night I parked the Baron and was turned out being the back entrance to the archaeological site of the ancient and early medieval city of stubbing today I woke up and it turned out being another only lovely and quiet sleeping spot but also afraid ticket into the site the guy guarding the back gate just let me in saying I shouldn’t go to the ticket office and just enjoy the site and by is an amazing there was kind of Here by an exhibition I saw in the Scorpio archaeological Museum where they have many of the artifacts uncovered here but I didn’t expect to find really well-preserved ruins of an entire late Roman and early Christian City including two sets of baths episcopal policies a synagogue a couple basilica’s Christian basilicus and a preserved Roman temple of Isis not to mention a Theater and a whole bunch of lava’s houses lavish atrial houses the whole thing a surrounded by a wall and still in the process of being excavated it’s really well signed as well with plates explaining the purpose of each building and a website going into much more detail what an excellent way to start my dive into from middle ages and to antiquity.

My next stop was not what I expected. A blog I’m loosely following speaks about a ‘Marble Lake’ reachable by the adventurous by a ‘Safari road’. I’m adventurous, so bring it on! The safari Road turned out to be a very steep and super uneven path gravelled with marble stones. But the Baron bravely pressed on until about a kilometre from the lake I decided to give him a break. As I walked the last stretch, I saw a huge pile of marble. Must be it! And then I saw a lorry. And a digger. And pulled off nearly cut marble…

This is no marble lake! It’s a marble quarry! That is admittedly party filled with amazingly blue water. I was double overjoyed – amazing sights, marble, water AND heavy machinery? Yes! I took a couple pieces as souvenirs, of course.

I came to pay the price for pushing the Baron so hard though. As I got back into the asphalt, he started complaining about his front left tire and before I knew it was in shreds. Instead of speeding to my next destination, I had to get it changed.

Eventually, I made it to Prilep, a beautifully placed mountain town. Aaand then I had anot he er small van mishap this time work parking – nothing serious, but a waste of time again.

The town itself isn’t too interesting, but next to it is a bunch of very picturesquely placed monasteries. I was going to visit more, but ended up seeing only one – and the gates of another as it closed just before I got there. But the Treskavec Monastery made up for it all. Placed on one of the peaks of a stunning rocky mountain range, it offers stunning views of the area. It’s church is also amazing, covered in beautiful frescos and filled with a dark, mysterious atmosphere. I stayed here until another beautiful if slightly cloudy sunset.