Macedonia Nuts - Part 1

We didn’t exactly stick a pin in the map for this year’s “European” adventure, but our next destination raised a few confused looks when we told friends where we were heading.

After spending an enjoyable, but rather cold and wet weekend at the annual jazz and music in Breda, Netherlands, where my son Dan lives, we were hoping to find our “place in the sun”.  Ruling out my first choice of island hopping in Greece due to the high price of flights and accommodation there, we found a bargain fare to somewhere called “Skopje”.  I have to admit that I had to Google exactly where it was but the more I discovered about the little visited capital of Macedonia (or to give it its proper title “The Republic of North Macedonia”) the more I became intrigued.

This landlocked country in the Balkans, surrounded by Greece to the south, Albania to the west, and Kosovo and Serbia to the north, used to be part of the former Yugoslavia. Set at a crossroads of Eastern and Western civilizations, resulting in an interesting mixture of cultures, religions, and traditions.  It has been occupied by more empires that you can shake a spear at, from the Persians, to the Romans, the Byzantines and the Ottomans…thankfully, the British hadn’t conquered it (until now of course!).

The prospect of relatively small numbers of tourists, along with a fascinating history, well preserved archaeological sites, beautiful scenery, and delicious food and wine, made our visit a “no brainer”.

Flying over impressive snow-capped mountains, lush green hillsides and sparkling lakes, we touched down at Skopje airport.  The ill-fated capital had been hit by terrible floods in 1962 and then in 1963 a devastating earthquake in 1963 rocked the city, destroying 80% of the buildings and killing over 1000 people.  International emergency aid flooded in (‘scuse the pun), and the city was rapidly (but sadly rather unimaginatively) re-built in mostly modernist or brutalist style making it a bit of a concrete jungle.

Then, more recently came the highly contentious “Skopje 2014” project where a group of historians, architects and politicians (not a good combination when it comes to over-spending public money!) decided to completely “transform” the town.  This resulted in the place looking like it had been designed by Donald Trump and Walt Disney!  I have honestly never seen so many statues in one place…  It rivals the great European cities for Neoclassical buildings – and even has its own “Arch de Triomphe”!  Most of the locals hate it, but it does make it rather a unique and quirky place to visit.

The weather remained frustratingly wet for our first day, so other than a quick explore of the area and a tasty dinner at a local restaurant, we made ourselves comfortable in our rented apartment.

The sun finally made an appearance the next day as we walked though the city park, and along the riverbank into the centre.  Sadly, and like most cities these days, there was a lot of graffiti everywhere which always I think gives a place a slightly neglected look, despite the grand buildings.  I got the impression that once everything had been built, there was no money left, or effort put into the upkeep.  Skopje did have its charm however, and all of the many cafes and restaurants were lively and full of locals socialising, which was good to see.  We were immediately struck with the warmth and friendliness of the people here, most of whom spoke reasonable English and made us feel very welcome.

That afternoon we were greeted by our affable guide Zoran (we’ll let him off being an Arsenal supporter!) for a free walking tour.  We had noticed quite a lot of big stray dogs in the town which had been vaccinated and tagged by local charities.  They seemed friendly and well fed and obviously knew Zoran well, as a group of them joined our tour! They had a “thing” about black cars and would race after them barking ferociously whenever one passed us.  Zoran explained that this was because most of the cars had diplomatic plates and the dogs knew they were carrying local politicians!

He regaled us with a very interesting run-down of his country’s history including the true nationality of the famous warrior “Alexander the Great” whose absolutely GINORMOUS statue graced the central square. The Greeks had always claimed him as theirs, and the animosity between the two countries still remains – to the extent of trying to block Macedonia’s entry to the EU (but sadly not the Eurovision Song Contest!).  The route took us around the “new town” with its faux buildings, statues and monuments surrounded by Soviet bloc style apartments, and the poignant remains of the old railway station partly destroyed in the earthquake.

Finally, we walked over the stone bridge (a reconstruction of the original Roman bridge) into the Old Bazaar, a maze of cobbled streets containing shops and cafes.  Originally it contained traders and craftsmen selling a variety of goods from shoes, clothes, pots and pans to fine jewellery.  Now only a few tailors and gem shops remain, the rest converted to coffee or souvenir shops.  It was quite atmospheric however, and we were tempted to stop off at the raikija bar, which sold dozens of flavours of the strong Balkan brandy.

We decided to leave this for another night, and found our way back to the square to say our goodbyes to Zoran, making our way home via the trendy and lively Debar Maalo district for a bite to eat.

A trip to Skopje wouldn’t be compete without a visit to the Matka Canyon, a steep gorge filled with bright green water, just a short journey from the centre.  We called on our friendly taxi driver Boban to drive us here as we’d heard that the buses were unreliable.  He took us to the “Etno village” of Vodno on the way, which was another “Disney-fied” version of a traditional Macedonian mountain village.  It was quite pretty (and fortunately pretty empty of tourists when we were there) and the drive up through the forested hillsides was stunning. We missed out on the more exhilarating transport up the mountain, as the cable car up to the Millenium Cross which overlooked Skopje, was closed for safety reasons!

Arriving at Matka we were faced with a 20-minute walk along the ravine to the lake, created by the damming of the river Treska in 1938. We walked past an impressive kayaking course, to the entry of the canyon where we took a short boat ride.  We mistakenly took the wrong tour which didn’t include a visit to the Vrelo cave (apparently the deepest underwater cave in the world).  Having visited many an impressive cave system in Vietnam and Malaysia, we weren’t too disappointed. It was a pleasant enough outing, and it felt good to be out in nature again, but our trips to Asia had kind of spoilt us.

We treated ourselves to a final night out at the raikija bar, where a talented local duo played the hits … a good time was had by all.  We were even bought a round by one of the friendly “regulars”! A memorable (just about!) finale to our stay in this interesting and hospitable city.

Next stop: Far from “Ohrid”!