North Macedonia

Now then, I’m sure the Republic of North Macedonia is high on your holiday bucket list. But don’t worry, I’ve taken one for the team again, so you can cross it off and go to somewhere you’ve actually heard of instead 😉

The capital Skopje looks a little bit like someone dropped it and didn’t put it back together again properly.  There’s old & new, good & bad, and generally it’s a little bit bonkers, but in a rather endearing kind of way.  Look over the road to see people collecting cardboard on a horse and cart.

Since a peaceful secession from Yugoslavia in 1991, there has been a bit of a spat with Greece over the name of Macedonia, which Greece thinks might make people think that the country of Macedonia had claims to the heritage of Greece’s historic northern region of the same name. So in February this year, there was a change of name to the Republic of North Macedonia. No one I spoke to really agrees with the change, but it’s at least meant that Greece is no longer standing in the way of their entry to NATO or the EU.

Happy Greeks though, because as you’ll all know from your classical education, Macedonia is famously where Alexander the Great and his father Philip of Macedon came from, and they’ve been somewhat wound up by the Republic of Macedonia and their giant statues of Philip, and by the fact that they’ve renamed so many things after Alexander from the airport to the highway, squares, hotels and other buildings 😜

Boat trip on Lake Matka, and a visit to some underground caves.

Very fresh trout caught from the lake that morning and a cheeky bottle of local wine. This was considerably more fun than the boat ride and caves 😜

Fish Restaurant – does what it says on the tin.

It was the presidential Election Day while we were there, so I was fully expecting everything to be closed. But although they hadn’t opened the curtains, turned on the lights, or had any staff on duty, they’d very kindly left the door of the Ethnographic Museum unlocked, so we nipped in with torches for a look around! We asked the guide if they were worried that someone might go in and steal something, but he just looked as us completely baffled and said “why would anyone do that?” ☺️

The Archeological Museum was properly open though, and there was a really excellent visiting exhibition – 100 Years of Trebenishte – with a century’s worth of pieces excavated from an archeological site near Ohrid, including some amazing gold death masks from the necropolis dating back to the 6th century BCE. The permanent exhibition was also a very fine collection. Here’s a statue from ancient times when there was a peaceful matriarchal society. I can’t remember exactly what this piece was called, but I think it might’ve been Lady with Pointy Armpit Boobs.

Statue of the Warrior. NOT a statue of Alexander the Great. (Shh, it IS Alexander; don’t tell the Greeks.)

There’s a pretty good night life in Skopje. The bars universally played great music, including from a good live band in one bar, and there’s a delightful local beer and rakija combo.

I had the same expression on my face as the Macedonian woman in this photo every time I had a drink, having been told off on my first day that it wasn’t ladylike to order a pint of beer in a jug 🍺🤣

The Republic of North Macedonia may not be my favourite of the former Yugoslav republics, but as I hope you can see, it was a great weekend; everyone was lovely and it was a really fun experience all round.