About 6:30am I was just relaxing in bed when JB texted me that they were all outside. I jumped up and ran outside because I had forgotten that the grapes were being picked this morning between 6 and 8 before the grapes warmed up and attracted the wasps. Today was the day - the grapes were being picked to make Rakia - the national drink of Macedonia. Tina's father and JB had started at the end of the grapevine closest to the garden - when I came out Tina, JB and Violeta were having coffee - her father was up on a board held up by 2 milk crates - it reminded me of how I used to trim my hedges.
Tina's father had spread a large sheet of plastic under the grapevine where he was plucking the grapes. He had a couple of plastic bins - the red and white one above - where he dropped the grapes - when the bins were full, he emptied them into a barrel in the new building in the part with the timber. When I came out, he gave me my last bunch of his grapes - they were delicious.
When the first half of the vine had been picked, he moved the table where we had been sitting and set up shop under the other end of the grape vine above.
As they picked the bunches of grapes, some grapes would fall onto the ground. When each section was done, Tina's father would roll up the plastic then Tina grabbed one end and put it in the bucket so the grapes flowed into it when her father lifted up the sheet of plastic.
This is the barrel holding all the grapes - later today the grapes would all be smashed and squished with a paddle - not with their feet like Lucille Ball and Ethel. Then the liquid sits for a certain amount of time. When it is ready, it is taken to someone with the equipment to separate the stems and seeds then turn it into Rakia.
When all the grapes were picked and the table and chairs back in place, we all had breakfast - Tina, Violeta and I had gone to a local store for a couple of bareks plus other fresh pastry both sweet and savory. There was the yogurt drink both plain and flavored plus coffee. After eating, JB and Tina headed into Bitola again for JB's dental check up this morning. Everything looked okay so he doesn't have to go back for about a week.
Tina's mother said she was too busy to take a drive today - she will be coming with us to Greece and Istanbul on the way home. I thought her father might like to go and he did! He had been a professional soccer player until his early 30s so he had done some traveling during those days.
We headed to Krusevo which is the highest mountain town in Macedonia. It took an hour and a half to get there. I got such a shock when we got there - I thought it was a small village set in the mountain - but it is huge and all the buildings are so close together - they look like they are stacked on top of each other - and it is so very high up!
There is a narrow street starting at the bottom of the town that twists its way up past some gorgeous houses and some that are not so gorgeous - up, up, up we went.
Krusevo is know for the Ilinden Uprising against the Ottoman Turks in 1903. On August 2 - the feast day of St Iluja/St Elijah - rebels all over Macedonia rose up in rebellion against the Ottomans. Here in Krusevo the rebels won a fierce battle and declared a Krusevo Republic with Nikola Karev as president. Their victory was short-lived - the Ottomans crushed them 10 days later.
We had to climb several sets of steps like the ones on the upper left above. It was a humid day so I had to pause several times to get my breath - everyone was very patient about it. The monument commemorating the Ilinden Uprising is on the hill where Nikola Karev declared the republic and where many revolutionaries were executed by the Ottomans after they put down the rebellion.
I thought the monument was rather modernistic - You walk up the hill to these 2 curved walls that have those round things sticking out of them.
Each round piece has the name of a rebel who was killed during the uprising and the date 1903.
You then walk up another hill to this monument with a courtyard in front of it with those stools. That is Tina's father standing above.
Nikola Karev's tomb is inside that monument.
On either side of the barrels/stools are these colorful walls but we couldn't find out if they have any significance.
JB was taking a picture of Tina and her father. It was quite interesting having Tina's father with us - he was telling us about the uprising which made it more personal. He said he had been here about 10 times because Krusevo has a football team and he used to come here to play in soccer games.
JB told me that these white objects represent chains of bondage - the one on the right represents a chain broken by the Ilinden Uprising.
Tina's father is still very lively - he ran part way up the stairs when we arrived in this parking lot.
Right in the center of the above picture is a glass building shaped like a cross. This is a memorial to Tose Proeski - a young Macedonian singer killed in a car crash - he was called "the Elvis of the Balkans" - he was a UNICEF ambassador - he donated money from his concerts to Macedonian poor and to improve education. We did not go in - it was closing when we came down from the Ilindan Monument.
Driving down from the monument - look how compact the village is.
Down ...
Down ...
Down ...
Down some more ...
We drove so far down the twisty winding hill that we drove right out of the village! We had to turn around and go back up - we were trying to find a coffee shop or restaurant for a drink. We found one on a busy narrow side road but there was no parking so JB let me and Tina out to get a table, and he and her father drove down a block or so to park and then walked back up.
I love this Schweppes Bitter Lemon - it is really refreshing on a hot day.
We were sitting right across from this church -St Nicholas - the roadway was so narrow and cramped that I couldn't get back far enough to get the whole church in. There was a fountain out front and a bell tower to the right side.
During the uprising in Ilinden, the church, built in 1832, and a large part of the town centre were burnt and destroyed. The church was rebuilt between 1905 and 1907. The oldest icons on display in the church date from 1884.
I went inside and poked around - it was a beautiful old church with old paintings, frescoes, icons and an old iconostasis ( a screen with paintings and icons that separates the main church from the sanctuary. I love these old churches with all the old frescoes, murals, paintings, and icons. I remember when the Second Vatican Council decided to remove the statues and the railings around the altar - to put in new altars so the priest could face the people. When I see how people here visit and pray at the icons of different saints - how they light candles for special intentions - it makes me miss those rituals in the Catholic Church. And I was devastated when the Council decided to have Mass said in the vernacular instead of Latin! I was learning and loving Latin - I had a missal with the Mass in Latin - I could finally follow along with the priest when the Pope announced that Mass could be said in English - I was crushed.
Fountain outside the Church.
We walked up the hill to this square. We are going to visit Tina's uncle - Violeta's brother - in Struga when we get to Lake Ohrid - so Tina wanted to bring him something from Krusevo and he loves a certain kind of candy that they make here. Tina's father asked someone local who made the best kind of the candy that Tina wanted. So they went to that shop while JB and I looked around the square. I was looking at some homemade souvenirs outside an empty shop when the sales woman come back and talked me into buying an orthodox style crucifix. The others got a laugh at what an easy target I am!
Tina mentioned that there was a statue of a man throwing a rock to honor the men who fought for liberty - she had visited it on school trips. Her father knew it as well. So we set off to find that - up yet another mountain where there was a very modern parking area for buses and cars, but a small dirt road to the monument.
This is a commemoration of the resistance fighters who took part in the Ilinden Uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1903 and also remembering the Partisan fighters of WWII. Tina said there was a saying connected to the statue similar to Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death.'
I was thinking afterwards that the modern parking area might be for the paragliders.
This is where the paragliders run and jump off the mountain - I couldn't even get out of the car to get close to the edge because we were up so high! Someone jumped off and because it was windy, they landed in someone's yard in Bitola - 33 miles away!
We headed home after this - it was almost dark by the time we got home. Of course Violeta had my laundry done! She is too good.
I almost forgot that Tina and Violeta were going to meet Tina's friend who just had a baby. We dropped them off then JB and I headed back to the parking lot where we parked the day we went to the history museum. There was a little park there with a couple of vendors selling mostly ice cream. We crossed the street back over to the main drag - we passed a few cafes, a hotel, a couple of shops - JB finally found the pizza place he was looking for. We sat at a table outside. It was 8 o'clock and there were so many people including families with young children out walking. It was fascinating. There were also a couple of loose dogs walking around. I had read that the Balkans are noted for loose dogs and cats in the main cities - and indeed that is true. Tonight a white dog ran in and out of the pizza place several times. At one point a man was walking a dog on a leash - one loose dog started barking, then another - finally about 4 or 5 loose dogs surrounded the man and the dog who was barking back. The man pulled the dog away and they all calmed down. But this was in the middle of a crowded street - a small child was terrified of the barking.
We got a Shopska salad to split and we each got a pizza.
My vegetarian pizza - it was fabulous - I ate all but 1 slice.
You can't see him but there is a man at a table behind the shrubs above. We were waiting for the check when this fellow got his pizza. The white dog that was inside earlier came back and went inside. When he came out he was standing beside this man looking at him. The man called the waiter to have him get rid of the dog - the waiter just shooed the dog away. But the dog came back and brought 4 or 5 friends - all settled around this man looking at him. The man said that he was afraid of these dogs because he had been bitten twice already.
Container of beers for sale outside the shop. I could just reach inside and grab one.
We headed back down the street and stopped here for a coffee and a tea. We sat inside this time because it was getting cold.
Tina texted shortly after that they were ready. We got the car and picked them up. Time to make sure our bags are packed. We are heading to Sophia in Bulgaria tomorrow!
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