Southern France Map



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September 1st - Lake Ohrid

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  Out on a boat trip on Lake Ohrid this morning to visit some of the sights along the coastline.   Straddling the border between Albania and North Macedonia and with a surface area of 138 2 miles (358 2  kms), larger than the island of Malta, the lake itself is enormous.   It also happens to be one of Europe’s deepest with a maximum depth of around 300 metres.   First visit for the day was for a swim just off the shore at Villa Biljana, a complex of villas formerly owned by ex-president and dictator Josip Tito.  Due to the security (the buildings and beach are now owned by the government) landing was a no no which is a shame as a beach-side elevator apparently takes you right into the middle of the villa.  Our next stop was to the Church of St John at Kaneo, a Macedonian Orthodox Church dedicated to John of Patmos, author of ‘Revelations’ (and apparently the same person as John the Apostle!).  Built in the 14th century, this little picturesque...
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Jun 9th - Avignon (DT to Arles)

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Our last day-trip of the week and this time to Arles, famous for its Roman ruins and its association with Van Gogh.   It was a positive start to our visit as walking along the Rhône River, and then through town, we got that ‘this is a nice place’ feeling as we headed off from the station to the tourist office.  Our first cab off the rank was a visit to the Cryptoportiques.  Built nearly 2000 years ago, these were the foundation cellars for the Roman Forum which was then built on top.  About 10 metres wide, and running several hundred metres in length, these parallel galleries are separated by pillars in a large U shape and are a fantastic example of well preserved ancient Roman architecture.   Moving on from the dark and damp cellars we took off to the Roman ‘Théâtre Antique’.  Built around 12 BC during the reign of Caesar Augustus, it originally held about 8-10,000 spectators.  Unfortunately though little of substance remains as the site was sadl...
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September 5th - Bitola to Kastoria, Greece

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  Heading further south again today to the town of Kastoria in Greece.   Situated on a hill on a peninsula on the shores of Lake Kastoria, this picturesque town is bit ‘down at heel’.  With many, what would have once been quite upmarket, empty waterside properties Kastoria has obviously seen better days.  It’s a shame as basically the town’s quite nice and is in a great location but there really is not a lot to do here.  Apparently most young people here are leaving for the bigger cities, leaving their family homes vacant, which is just adding to the town’s decline.  On our wander around it was interesting to note the large number of churches and religious memorials, far more than we’d seen in previous towns.  However, we not sure if this means Greece is more devout than the other countries on this trip as most of them were closed!
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