The next 3 posts capture the busy and fun-packed long weekend I’ve just spent with my friend Bridget where we based ourselves for 3 nights in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia.
We spent one day crossing the border into Kosovo where we visited Pristina and Prezren which are captured in a separate post.
We also spent a day travelling to beautiful Lake Ohrid which is also covered separately.
North Macedonia is a small landlocked Balkan country which is one of the 6 nations of the former Yugoslavia. The Memorial Arch above commemorates 20 years of Macedonian independence.
Macedonia officially became North Macedonia in February 2019 after a long running dispute with Greece who have an adjacent Greek region also called Macedonia.
There has been a great deal of political turmoil in this part of Europe over the centuries…
Skopje has an attractive city centre choc full of huge statues. Most of these have been built since 2014 as part of a €600M development project. Before 2014 Skopje was one of the least visited capital cities of Europe.
Skopje is located on an earthquake zone and the last major earthquake happened in 1963. This catastrophic event destroyed about 80% of the buildings, killed over 1070 people and made 200,000 people homeless.
Mother Teresa was born in Skopje and we visited the Mother Teresa Memorial House Museum. This was free of charge and gave an interesting insight into the life of humanitarian Mother Teresa who spent most of her long life in Calcutta, India.
On display were artefacts and information about Mother Teresa. The ‘house’ is built on the exact location where Mother Teresa was baptised.
Services are held in the top floor of the house.
Many photos of the life of Mother Teresa and the world leaders she met are on display throughout the museum. The above photo of Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama was taken in England in April 1988.
Mother Teresa and Queen Elizabeth II taken in India in November 1983.
Next to the Mother Teresa House is the attractive Church of Saint Constantine with its golden domes. At Bridget’s suggestion I deliberately took the photo at this angle to avoid an ugly crane which seems to be a permanent feature next to the building.
The reason for this is the church isn’t yet finished having been under construction for 12 years. It was commissioned by former prime minister Nikola Gruevski who is now in exile in Hungary. Following contraversial political turmoil the build project is bankrupt.
We spent the third morning of our trip visiting the Vodno mountain and Matka Canyon. The highest peak of Vodno mountain is 1066 meters and the viewpoint we stopped at offered panoramic views of the city. Skopje isn’t a huge city and has a population of around 600,000.
We visited the Church of Saint Panteleimon which is dedicated to St Panteleimon, the patron saint of physicians. This was constructed in 1164 and is located on the Vodno mountain.
Next we were driven the short distance to Matka Canyon which is popular with hikers and kayakers. Matka Canyon is home to a wide range of plants and animals and around 20% of its plant life is endemic to Matka. We also saw thousands of small butterflies which were constantly flying around us as we walked through the canyon.
Having arrived by mini bus we were part of a small group of about 14. Our guide Alec took us to a ticket office where we purchased a 1 hour boat trip along the emerald waters of the Treska River.
After 20 minutes, the boat arrived at Vrelo Cave where it stopped for another 20 minutes. Vrelo Cave has two lakes at the end.
Vrelo Cave is one of 10 caves at Matka Canyon.
From the cave we spent 20 minutes back in the boat and back to the bar and restaurant area of Matka Canyon where we enjoyed a refreshing drink before being driven back to Skopye. This half day tour was pre-booked with Viator and was around £29 each.
The concrete dam at Matka was built in the 1930’s and this creates the artificial lake of the river Treska.
Back in Skopje…
With its relaxed atmosphere and small number of street entertainers, Skopje is a pleasant place to spend an evening.
The Vardar River runs through the centre of Skopje and separates the old town from the newer part of the city. Several pedestrian bridges span the river making it quick and easy to walk around between the two areas.
The lion is the official national animal of Macedonia and many of the huge statues are of lions.
As darkness falls, the bridges and ornate buildings of Skopje light up…
We didn’t visit but the Archaeological Museum is an impressive building in the centre of the city and next to Stone Bridge.
The original Stone Bridge was reconstructed in 1421 – 1451 and the latest renovation happened in 1994. This was the site of the execution of Karposh in 1689, he was a significant leader in Macedonian history.
My favourite bridge was the Bridge of Art which was built in 2012 to celebrate the recent Macedonian art history. This magnificent bridge contains 35 statues of some of the most significant artists, writers, composers and actors from Macedonia.
Food and drink
As now a tradition for every trip I take, I tried the local beer of Macedonia. Zlaten Dab is brewed by the Prilep Brewery and means ‘golden oak’. This tasted refreshing although rather rushed and gulped down during our short 20 minutes of free time at Matka Canyon!
During our drive to Ohrid, our driver Micky explained some of the traditional snack type food popular with Macedonians and recommended a restaurant to try. For our final lunch we decided to check it out…
And we had a feast with everything prepared in the traditional way 🙂
Our feast included: ‘kebap’ which are small traditional sausages which tasted like burgers; ajvar which is a local dish made with peppers; shopska which is fresh tomatoes and cucumber covered in graded local cheese and ‘backed-bean’, a bean dish.
All of these dishes and two drinks filled us up for 840 denars (£11.63) for us both.
Located along the river front we came across a Cuban bar! They served a wide range of delicious cocktails for under £5 each so it was necessary to try a few…
And Bahama Mama, Margarita, Mai Tai and others… across 2 nights and between us just to add…
To our delight this was a branch of the same Cuban bar that Bridget and I visited in Havana in 2018! Havana’s La Bodeguita del Medio was frequented by Ernest Hemmingway.
As in Havana the walls of La Bodeguita del Medio were covered in graffiti as a feature. We added our little scribble.
Summary
Skopje was a new and modern and attractive city with low prices and well worth a visit. We had an amazing time and the next two posts cover more of our long bank holiday weekend away 🙂
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