The Landscape, the view:

Young rugged mountains throughout the small country. Monasteries hide just out of view. In the winter the fog sometimes made the mountains invisible.

Macedonia is landlocked: sharing borders with Albania, Serbia (including Kosovo), Bulgaria, and Greece. Throughout history each neighbor has had designs on Macedonia. And it seems that the situation hasn't changed much...

Albania and Macedonia share Lakes Ohrid and Prespa crystal clear and beautiful. There is a large ethnic Albanian population within Macedonia... and she heard that there are some ethnic Albanians who envision a "Greater Albania" which would annex about one third of Macedonia, along with Kosovo and other parts of Serbia, and parts of Montenegro.

In the north, the city of Skopje is nestled in the valley of the river Vardar surrounded by mountain peaks. While climbing steep Mt. Vodno she couldn't help thinking about the people - the refugees - across the border, in the mountains outside of Kosovo only 20 or so miles away. Vodno was already covered with snow in early November - winter came early that year. Lele

In the south, there is a giant mountain gate - She felt the climate change as she passed through the gate.

The Greeks closed the border to Macedonia, because of a dispute over the name "Macedonia." That action cut Macedonia's access to the sea.

She visited the beautiful Lake Dojran along the border with Greece. For centuries there was a special healthy algae harvested from the lake. It doesn't grow there anymore.
The lake is getting shallow and salty. It is drying up - It has lost 15 feet in 10 years because the Greek farms are diverting the water for irrigation. It is a great tragedy.

She didn't know first hand, but she had heard that the general view of Macedonia in Bulgaria is that Macedonia is really a part of Bulgaria and the Macedonian language is a dialect of Bulgarian.

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