Day 9 Intrepid: Off to North Macedonia

Sando had organised a minibus to take us to the local bus station which was a reasonable distance away from our hotel. Then it was local bus to Skopje at 9:00 a.m.: a big coach, clean, comfortable. 

Once we leave the urban environments behind, we climb up through verdant hills with views back over to the city areas below. 

Through a few small towns then we stop at a bus station before the border for 10 mins - WORST TOILETS (almost) EVER.

We ‘play tag’ with the impressive freeway we can see from our narrow roadway - and reach the border about 11:30 a.m. (about 15 mins to process the entire bus - not too bad really).

But we are not ‘on the ball’ and end up with a Kosovo exit stamp in our passport which we are hoping won’t cause a problem on re-entry to Serbia …

And so we arrive into Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia.

Massive lunch - great food at a restaurant in the oldest traditional house in Macedonia still functioning (apparently) - built 1836. Tried interesting things: the zucchini chips are nothing like you imagine and were my favourite, baked beans in a pot (no wonder my belly was uncomfortable later …), the house meat pot with mushrooms, stuffed (with cheese) green capsicum with bread coating. Yum. Then delicious pancake and apple strudel. No dinner tonight!!!

We are using Denars here (Euros sometimes accepted). Cost was very reasonable.

We had a city walking tour after lunch and then split up to do our own thing.  It's a vibrant city. However, until 1991 it was not a capital at all - just a large provincial city in what used to be Yugoslavia.

So then, in a project known as Skopje 2014, as Macedonia scrabbled around for identity in the wake of Yugoslavia's disintegration, a group of historians, architects and politicians decided that the country should remind itself - and the world - of its proud past.

This was the background to the staggering frenzy of building and sculpting which has consumed Skopje over the past few years. I have never seen so many sculptures, statues and monuments. And many are MASSIVE! Huge buildings that LOOK like they are from a past era but are not.

Not everyone is happy with it believing some of the construction lacks taste and is vulgar.

I have to say though, at night it is beautiful!!

We had a drink at a bar we found by the Vardar River which runs through the city and as the evening descended, the city lit up. We could see the fortress up high (we had walked up there earlier but it had closed) - lit up in the night sky.

We had earlier (in the late afternoon) also walked through the covered bazaar and up to the Mustafa Pasha mosque. All interesting and more comfortable as the heat of the day wore off.

Walked 10 kms.