North Macedonia’s Ohrid and Skopje

I passed through Macedonia on an overnight train in July 1991, a couple of months before its referendum vote to gain independence from the former Yugoslavia. On my most recent visit this past July, five months after the country was officially renamed the Republic of North Macedonia after a lengthy dispute with Greece, I didn’t sleep through most of it.

After leaving the Albanian capital of Tirana and entering North Macedonia after traversing winding roads through beautiful mountain scenery for two-and-a-half hours, my bus dropped me off at the 74-room Hotel Aura on the shore of Lake Ohrid. While the country is landlocked, the lake — one of the deepest in Europe and with a surface area of 388 square kilometres — provides waterfront views that would be the envy of some nations with ocean ports.

I walked along the stony beach — which was full of bars, restaurants and hotels, though not all were open — for as far as I could go before turning around and stopping for a casual dinner at Grill and Pizza Boni. A basket of bread, a Macedonian salad (comprised of tomatoes, onions and peppers), a large bacon cheeseburger and French fries set me back 330 denars (approximately eight Canadian dollars).

After drinking a couple of beers while catching up with emails and social media in my hotel room, I went for another beach walk. I had one end of it all to myself so I was able to listen to the waves lap up against the shore and admire a very clear night sky full of stars. If I can’t be with someone special, I cherish moments like that by myself where I can appreciate the moment and the environment and how lucky I am to be experiencing them.

After a nightcap on the hotel terrace with some newfound friends, I went to bed at 1:30 a.m., anticipating getting up in five hours to experience more of the lake and the city that bears its name.

The first stop the next morning was the Monastery of Saint Naum, which is located on the lake and has a river running behind it. After 45 minutes of walking around the scenic grounds and admiring the architecture of a site that was first established as a monastery in 905, it was time to board the bus again for the drive into Ohrid.

The city of more than 40,000 people once was home to 365 churches — one for every day of the year — and was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. It’s also said to be where the Cyrillic alphabet has its origins. 

A local guide, who’s also a professor of tourism management and the environment at the local university, was entertaining and informative as he conducted a walking tour of Ohrid’s hilly old town. Stops included St. Sophia Church and the 13th century Church of St. Jovan at Kaneo, which sits on a point overlooking the lake.

I continued on my own from there up a trail that partially went through a forest to the hilltop Tsar Samuels Fortress. I climbed on top of its walls to get great views of the lake, the city, the mountains and what remains of the of the fortress that acted as the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire at the turn of the 10th century.

I walked back down into the old town via a different route and explored churches, an ancient theatre that originally dated back to 200 B.C., and several homes and other buildings that are hundreds of years old. 

I ended up on a lengthy all-pedestrian street in the newer part of the city and then turned back to walk along a lakefront promenade before it was time to board a bus to continue my journey.

There was more exquisite mountain scenery on the drive to Skopje, which included passing through an Albanian-dominated area where ethnic skirmishes early this century resulted in many deaths and almost led to a war between the two countries. 

We stopped at Matka Canyon and had three-and-a-half hours to spend in one of North Macedonia’s most popular outdoor destinations. A 20-minute boat ride up the Treska River passed by sheer cliffs that rose on both sides as well as more gradually inclined tree-covered areas.

We disembarked at Vrelo Cave, which some have speculated may be the deepest underwater cave in the world. The public is allowed to visit the most easily accessible parts of the cave, which is full of stalactites and interesting formations, and I spent 15 minutes taking it in before having to return to the boat to cruise back to the starting point.

Having seen things from the water, I hiked a trail along the river, the canyon walls and forested areas for 30 minutes before returning along the same route. That still gave me time for a pint at the riverside restaurant before boarding the bus for a 30-minute ride to the modern, four-star Panoramika Design Hotel in Skopje, the capital and largest city of North Macedonia with about one-quarter of the country’s 2.1 million people.

A group of people took taxis to the city centre for dinner and drinks at St. Patrick’s Irish Pub (not my choice). A chicken Caesar salad, calf’s liver and boiled potatoes set me back 400 denars (approximately $10 Canadian), while several half-litre mugs of beer cost 120 dinars (approximately three dollars Canadian) each. Four shots of rakia, a fruit brandy popular in the Balkans, also appeared in front of me and were quickly downed.

The pub was part of a vibrant night-time scene on one side of the Vardar River, which featured impressive government buildings on the other side reachable by bridges adorned with statues. They look more impressive while illuminated at night though, as I found out on a walking tour the next morning, Skopje’s architecture has a lot to offer.

The tour began at the former train station that was largely destroyed by a 1963 earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people. The earthquake happened at 5:17 a.m. and the clock on the wall of the station, which is now home to the Museum of the City of Skopje, still shows that time to memorialize those who perished in the quake.

A major rebuilding program began early in the last decade and is still ongoing, although fiscal restraint has stalled or cancelled some projects. There are several statues around the city centre, including one of Mother Teresa, who was born in Skopje. A fortress overlooks the city, as does a large cross on a hill farther out.

An inclined area in one of the oldest parts of Skopje features its bazaar, a cobblestoned street area of shops, restaurants, bars and a microbrewery that was unfortunately closed that morning.

It was time to continue my journey and move on to Greece, but I enjoyed the few days I spent in North Macedonia and recommend it to those looking for a relatively untouristed destination in eastern Europe.

If you’d like to get a taste of what several countries in this part of the world is like, I’d recommend TravelTalk’s All About Balkans tour. The regular price is $2,570, but tours from March through November are now on sale for $1,414.