piece

SITTING between two eastern European countries is a place nicknamed the ‘Galapagos of Europe’.

Despite being thousands of miles from the Galapagos Islands, Lake Ohrid is often compared to the region famous for its wildlife.

Follow The Sun’s award-winning travel team on Instagram and Tiktok for top holiday tips and inspiration @thesuntravel.

It has incredible deep blue waters and can be accessed from both parts of both North Macedonia and Albania.

The lake is considered one of the oldest in Europe with historians tracing its roots back to as far as five million years ago.

As for what you’ll find lurking in its waters, the lake is considered the ‘Galapagos of Europe’ due to the high number of species – some of which are unique to the lake.

SUN SPOT

Travel experts’ guide to lesser-known holiday spots that are quieter AND cheaper

BARGAIN HOL

Travel companies reveal their CHEAPEST spots this summer, with hols from £189pp

Lake Ohrid has even been described by scientists as “a museum of living fossils.”

One of the rare creatures that you’ll only find in the lake is the Ohrid trout, otherwise known as ‘koran’.

Fishermen are often up early to catch the trout which is a delicacy in the surrounding cities, towns and villages.

Other rare animals living in and around the lake include the Balkan whip snake.

There are also eels, various endemic snails, and birds like Dalmatian pelicans.

Despite the wildlife, Lake Ohrid is safe for swimming and is very popular during the summer months.

The water can be chilly though, ranging from between 14C to 24C depending on the season.

There’s plenty of room to explore as the lake is around 19 miles long and nine miles wide, with a shoreline that stretches on for around 54 miles.

It’s also one of the deepest lakes on the continent with a maximum depth of nearly 300 metres.

Visitors can explore the lake by hiking or biking along the shoreline, or get on the water on a boat cruise.

On Tripadvisor, one visitor described Lake Ohrid as a “piece of paradise”.

Another added: “This is a beautiful part of the world that once seen, is never forgotten.”

Back on shore, Lake Ohrid is surrounded by three main towns – Ohrid and Struga in North Macedonia, and Pogradec in Albania.

Other must-visit spots around the lake include some of the pretty villages.

In North Macedonia, Trpejca is considered one of the most charming and traditional villages.

It’s even been referred to as the ‘Saint-Tropez‘ of the lake thanks to its white shingle shoreline and beautiful waterfront houses.

Other top spots include the Albanian fishing village of Lin which has stone houses, narrow cobbled streets, and incredible views across the lake.

One convenient route for Brits to explore the lake is by flying into Tirana which can be done in under 30-minutes and as little as £13 with Wizz Air.

From there, Lake Ohrid is a 90-minute drive away.

Most Angelenos know Frank Gehry as the rebel architect whose deconstructivist buildings reinvigorated L.A. amid its late-century identity crisis.

Fewer know him as the sentimental sculptor celebrated in Gagosian Beverly Hills’ upcoming “Frank Gehry” exhibition, the first to showcase Gehry’s work since his death in December. Curated by those who worked with and loved the famous architect, the show, scheduled to open May 14 and run through June 27, is equal parts tribute and art presentation. It will feature several of Gehry’s animal-themed sculptures, including a rarely seen stainless steel bear figure, on loan from the artist’s family.

The exhibition will also include the first public screening of Gehry’s entry in Gagosian Premieres, a series of videos by the gallery showcasing new art exhibitions through a mix of intimate artist interviews, studio visits and specialized musical performances.

By spotlighting Gehry’s artistic practice rather than his design ouevre — which includes Walt Disney Concert Hall, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Fondation Louis Vuitton — the exhibition reveals a different side of the late visionary, said Deborah McLeod, senior director at Gagosian Beverly Hills.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a retrospective, but it is a chance to stand in the room and be with him,” McLeod said, adding that she “wouldn’t have the hubris to say this is going to offer anybody closure,” but that she hopes it will help people — especially those who worked closest with Gehry — to process his loss.

“Everybody is kind of raw and missing Frank, and it’s just a chance to come together and do this again as his team,” she said.

McLeod curated the exhibition alongside Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff and partner at Gehry Partners, whom the director said “really speaks for Frank.” Gehry‘s studio will design the show, which was realized in collaboration with the artist’s family.

“We didn’t get a chance to put one in the gallery proper. Every time we’d make one, it would get sold,” Deborah McLeod said about Frank Gehry’s bear sculptures.

(© Frank O. Gehry. Photo: Benjamin Lee Ritchie Handler / Courtesy Gogosian)

The highlight of the Gagosian exhibition is an artist proof of “Bear with Us” (2014), which the gallery lifted out of Gehry’s wife Berta Aguilera’s garden with a crane. Another edition of the bear sculpture is on view at the New Orleans Museum of Art, but at Gagosian, the work for the first time will be on view as part of an exhibition.

The stainless steel figure has a crumpled appearance that many believe is the result of Gehry balling up a piece of paper and seeing the bear in the crumple, although McLeod said Gehry told her himself that wasn’t true. The director added that the bear’s form gives the illusion of something “coming into being or dissolving.” The sculpture will likely have the Gagosian’s north gallery completely to itself.

“We’re really going to give him his due,” McLeod said. It was only right for a piece that, to her, reads as Gehry’s “self-portrait.”

A handful of other animal-themed sculptures will populate the south gallery, including a glowing black crocodile, gouache-painted papier-mâché snake lamps, and “Fish on Fire” (2023), the last of Gehry’s fish sculptures to be rendered in copper. Illuminated within the darkened gallery, the pieces will have a “magical” flair, McLeod said.

The first fish sculptures Gehry made in the ’80s were contained, even still. But when he returned to the fish form 30 years later, Mcleod said, “they started to become actually Baroque, so that’s kind of neat to see that evolution.”

Rounding out the exhibition are a series of ink, watercolor and acrylic works on paper that “express the energetic motion of fish in networks of black line and clouds of color,” a news release said.

A portion of the pieces in the exhibition will be available for purchase, with a detailed checklist to come.

The first Frank Gehry Fish Lamps were exhibited in 1984 at Gagosian in Los Angeles.

(© Frank O. Gehry. Photo: Robert McKeever / Courtesy Gagosian)

Gehry’s designs breathed life into the city’s core, but he didn’t get to finish a number of his most exciting plans, including one to transform the 51-mile-long L.A. River.

And while his architecture was his great gift to his adoptive hometown — his art was his gift to himself.

“As one of the busiest architects in the world, imagine the math and the minutiae that you have to go through,” McLeod said, noting the enormous pressure from clients that Gehry must have felt in his daily practice.

“For him, just to make something the shape he wants to make it, plug it in … I know it was a huge relief for him,” she said. “I know how much he loved doing it, and I loved being a part of that part of his life.”

MOLLY-Mae Hague was left speechless after boyfriend Tommy Fury called her a “piece of a***” in front of their daughter Bambi.

The Love Island icon, 26, is currently pregnant with their second baby after the couple got back together last year.

The couple are getting ready to welcome baby number two, after their daughter Bambi, three, was born in 2023.

Molly-Mae and Tommy often keep fans up-to-date with their family life at home, since reuniting after their split.

Today they shared a hilarious moment in the boxer’s latest YouTube vlog called: “Spend a weekend with me.”

In the video the couple were seen in the car with Bambi in the backseat.

BALM GOOD

Molly Mae’s go-to cleanser is slashed on Amazon — it left my skin glowing

PERRIE EXCITING

Perrie Sian reveals four property empire with £1.1 mansion & Spanish villa

The conversation then turned to Molly saying that she “never looked worse”.

Tommy then quickly said that he “disagreed”.

“I think you look very beautiful. All of your luscious long blonde locks.” the boxer told Molly.

“And it’s very nice to have a piece as good as you in the front seat of the car.”

Molly then quickly asked; “A piece? What do you mean a piece?

To which Tommy replied with a grin: “One piece of a**!”

Molly then chuckled: “Babe, I’m your pregnant missus!”

She then added: “Terrible!”

It comes as Molly-Mae and Tommy quietly broke their baby news to family and close pals months ago, but shared a surprise video with fans in February.

The mum posted a sweet black and white clip on Instagram filmed on January 23, captioning it: “Soon to be four.”

It included Bambi who was wearing a “big sister” jumper.

Molly had previously expressed her desire to expand her family with Tommy in scenes aired on her Amazon Prime documentary in January.

Opening up about the future, she revealed: “All I want in this life is to be with him, and to have another baby with him, and to grow old as a family.

“And to live in a nice house together and have a nice life together. That’s all I want.”

Molly also dropped various clues about her pregnancy before announcing her joyous news, which is said to have strengthened her relationship with boxer Tommy.

A source told The Sun: “Finding out Molly is pregnant has really helped bring them close together again.

“Tommy is determined to do things right this time he has cancelled all of his summer trips with his friends, as he wants to stand by Molly every step of the way.

“Their new home is in a better place for both of them and has more than enough space for two children.”

The couple co-parented Bambi following their messy split in August 2024 – following reports Tommy cheated on her during a lads’ holiday.

Molly-Mae and Tommy Fury’s relationship timeline

From Love Island to a diamond ring and baby – we look at how Molly and Tommy have got to where they are today.

A FOUNDING member of the indie rock band The Zutons has been badly hurt in an “abhorrent” racist attack.

Guitarist Boyan Chowdhury, 46, suffered a serious head injury needing hospital treatment when he was struck by a man with a piece of wood in the Wavertree area of Liverpool just after 2pm on Saturday.

Merseyside Police said Chowdhury, who left the band in 2007, had been “racially abused” after an “altercation” with a gang of men near Fieldway.

Chowdhury said they then struck him on the head with a piece of wood while he was out.

The Zutons star, known for singles like ‘Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?’, shared photos of his injuries on social media.

The guitarist wrote on Instagram: “If I hadn’t of turned around I believe I would’ve been struck on the back of the head and dead right now.”

VILE ATTACK

Drug dealer, 23, who stamped mum to death after flipping BMW guilty of murder

TAXI HORROR

Toddler, 1, snatched from back of taxi by stranger as girl left ‘traumatised’

Cops said the ex-Zutons star sustained a serious head injury and required hospital treatment, following the altercation.

Detective Inspector Debra Morley of Merseyside Police said: “This was a shocking assault that has absolutely no place in our communities.

“To racially abuse someone and then attack him with a weapon is abhorrent and I’m sure the public in Merseyside will be just as appalled as we are about what happened.

“An investigation is ongoing into this incident and we are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

“If you saw this group of males near Fieldway or witnessed the incident, then please come forward.

“Violence and hate crime will simply never be tolerated in our communities.

“We have specially trained officers who respond to reports of hate crime with compassion and sensitivity, ensuring that every piece of information is acted upon to bring offenders to justice.”

Anybody with information can contact police on their social media desk, or call 101 quoting reference 26000226633.

Anonymous information can be given to independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously, on 0800 555 111 or via the online form.

The Zutons released three studio albums between 2004 and 2008, and celebrated nine UK Top 40 singles.

They included two Top 10 singles – Valerie (covered by Amy Winehouse) and Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?