When I saw North Macedonia next door to Serbia on the map I knew I had to go there. When else was I going to visit?! A glutton for punishment, I booked a 7 hour bus from Belgrade to Macedonia’s capital city of Skopje (pronounced Skopia), prepared for an uncomfortable ride and long delays. When a huge coach pulled up on time, the driver had an envelope with my name on containing my printed ticket and I found wifi, reclining seats and only a handful of other passengers I wasn’t sure I was even on the right bus. We made a stop for coffee and I enjoyed the mountain scenery, and a smooth border crossing where the customs officer was too busy on a video call to take much notice.
I checked out of my budget hotel early the next morning to bus it a few more hours south to the tranquility of Lake Ohrid, close to the border with Albania (Albanians make up a minority of around 25% in North Macedonia). The man at reception asked me ‘Did you see the statues?’ – I hadn’t -‘Go and look, they cost so much money someone has to see them!’. I put “statues” on my list of things see on my way back through Skopje.
As soon as I arrived in Lake Ohrid I loved it. It gave me a feeling of South East Asia in the Balkans. I booked into Villa Jovan, a traditional style guest house and still only €20 for a room with bathroom, albeit an absolutely tiny room. But I loved the old features and atmosphere.
With perfect, random timing that occurs when travelling, I got chatting to Nadica who had just returned to her hometown and started helping out at the Villa. She introduced me to Laure from Paris, who by another coincidence I had been sitting at the table next to at lunch. The three of us spent a wonderful evening together having food and drinks and a midnight wander along the wooden bridges to the Fortress. The final piece of the puzzle was that Laure had reserved one extra spot on her boat trip the following day just in case she met anyone at the guesthouse who wanted to go – me, as I had enquired earlier but been told I needed a bigger group!
Ohrid by day is beautiful. You could easily think you’re at the beach rather than the shores of one of the deepest lakes in Europe. A lovely feature is the set of wooden bridges that take you around the lake past a few restaurants and up to the Fortress, and hiking trails provide access through the woodlands, just right for sunset walks.
There are 365 churches in Ohrid, one for everyday of the year. A couple of days here is perfect for strolling throughout the old town drinking proper coffee and sampling Macedonian wine which is really good!
The boat trip turned out to be a beautiful day, with comfy lounger style seats and music playing as we cruised all day, stopping at various monasteries and swimming spots.
One of the more bizarre sights was the ‘Bay of Bones’. This is described as a ‘Reconstructed village of stilt houses displaying Bronze & Iron Age items recovered from Lake Ohrid’. The original settlement is considered to be over 3000 years old, with excavation of mainly animal bones taking place between 1997 and 2005. Nowadays the replica huts are filled with animal skins and pieces of furniture that I couldn’t identify.
I finally saw a tortoise wandering around and a peacock – apparently very dangerous! A sign further along emphasised they can harm not only you but also your children…
Instead of taking the bus back, Nadica introduced me to Macedonian car sharing where you post in a local Facebook group where you want to go and split the cost with others driving that way. I ended up with Harry who seemed to actually be a taxi driver who makes the journey a few times a week and another passenger on her way to gig rehearsals. It made for an interesting journey even though it actually took longer than the bus as Harry drove round for an hour looking for someone he had to drop off a pair of shoes to.
North Macedonia, formally know as simply Macedonia, gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. It’s another country I had very little knowledge of and unfortunately I didn’t find any history tours to learn more.
Back in Skopje, it didn’t take long to find the famous statues. Constructed as part of the “Skopje 2004” redevelopment in an effort to attract tourism, these things are huge, they are everywhere and there is a joke that there are more of them than people in this city of 600,000. What is clear is that the locals hate them. The biggest is Alexander the Great on a horse and it’s taller than the next door buildings, which is hard to capture in a photo so here is a video.
Even the bridges over the Vardar river, the Art Bridge and the Stone Bridge, are covered in statues, as is the entrance to the largest old bazaar outside of Turkey.
Mother Teresa lived in her hometown of Skopje from 1910 to 1928 so there is a small house dedicated to her, mostly containing photographs. There isn’t much else to do here other than see the statues but I liked Skopje, it is maybe a bit weird but in a good way!
One good thing about Skopje is that it has direct bus connections, that are NOT cancelled due to Covid, into neighbouring Kosovo. Now that’s a travel opportunity too good to miss…
Maz On The Road 