Summer in Struga
When we left Struga the second time, we thought for sure that was it for this trip. When our host told us he’d see us again soon, we said definitely not this trip. We fly to Iceland in three weeks so we won’t be back again until a future trip. This is a great reminder that you should never say never!
After leaving early from Valira, we headed straight back to Struga. We couldn’t rent the same place, as we were trying to book accommodations a day before returning to Struga during peak tourism season. But, we found a lovely hotel in the heart of Struga that was perfect for a week. It was handy being right in Struga for the nighttime strolls and adventures. And, we still walked out towards the university area where we stayed in the past for coffee and out the opposite way to Kalishta for coffee.
We decided that this last week in Struga would just be about staying local in this area. No trips to Ohrid, St Naum’s, Vivchani, or further afield. We wanted to relax, bask in the sun, spend time with friends, read, do lots of walks, and swim every day. We swam in the lake a lot, but also the river. I jumped into the river to give it a test and make sure the current wasn’t too strong for the girls. I then took each of them alone for one trip in the river with me. As I figured, they both were very strong swimmers and had no problems at all handling the river or the current in the river.
Swimming in the river quickly became the family favourite! We could sit at a café along the side of the river and sip a coffee, beer, or sparkling water while the girls jumped in the water and swam. We would also jump in plenty of times ourselves, especially me. I loved floating down the river, letting the current take me down. When you jumped back out, you’d just head back to your table at the café and resume your relaxing and enjoying your drink! It wasn’t just us doing this. The entire east side of the river bank was pretty much set up for this purpose and there were constantly people jumping in and swimming past from their nearby tables! The other side of the river was more set up for restaurants where people would hang out, eat, socialize, have drinks, etc., but who didn’t want to swim and get wet!
The highlight of the river swimming was jumping off a bridge into the river. There are three main bridges people jump off of. We let the girls jump off the lower bridge a couple of times each towards the end of the week. They were amazing and loved doing it so much! Next summer, they want to tackle jumping from the bigger bridge!
We felt so at home here. We went back to the library to catch up with our favourite library ladies, Ardita and Dijana, and each read some books while relaxing in the sun. We caught up with our favourite person in Struga, Valentina. We went out to see Alaedin’s work site and relax with him for a bit. We walked to the university area for coffee a few times. I took a nice, long, solo walk out to Kalishta for coffee. We had tons of café experiences in Struga, as well! We relaxed at our favourite bakery with some Burek, getting to know the owners Kiki and Uncle Burek a bit more over coffee. We had brief chats with Kiki many times, but never got to sit and chat with them more in-depth like this time. We went to our favourite restaurants, like Happy Street Restaurant, where we enjoyed amazing food, drinks, and company. We also asked all our favourite locals for their restaurant recommendations and went and tried those, too! While in past trips we have done a bit of eating out, we mostly cooked at home. This time, staying in a hotel room, we almost exclusively ate out. We enjoyed all the socializing we did this time and were in awe of how quickly we have made our own little community here in Struga.
We enjoyed being right downtown Struga this time to experience the nightlife, as well. While we did in past, as well, it meant driving into Struga or catching a cab home so we could stay out later at night in Struga. We went multiple times to the amusement park, including once with Valentina and her daughter Ksenija. We walked along the river, eating more popcorn and cotton candy than a person should! We spent nights enjoying drinks along the river with friends at a café or on our own as a family. We would go enjoy Trileche cake at Sharm. We even got to join in on Valentina’s informal birthday festivities one evening on the side of the river. The city really seems to come alive at night in the summer here in Struga, and we enjoyed every moment of it we could! We love that the nightlife here includes tons of kids, families, teens, the elderly, and couples. It’s just such a nice mix of everyone. We really do love how family-friendly Struga is. And most of Europe, really.
While our week was relaxing, it was also packed very full of fun and memories. We were all so grateful for this last bonus week in Struga before needing to begin our road trip to Milan to drop off our car and fly to Iceland to begin our return journey to Canada. We have already decided that next summer we will be returning to Struga for three weeks from mid-August to early September to celebrate the girls’ 10th birthday here. We are definitely leaving a part of our hearts in Struga that will remain there always, and are already counting down the days until our return. See you again soon, Struga!
