North Macedonia

Monday (29th May)

We went to the bus station to buy tickets for tomorrow’s trip to Skopje, North Macedonia.

Then we investigated the local market, bought some strawberries, which turned out not to be great, very disappointing.

We visit Nis Fortress, built in the 18th century.

Tuesday, headed back to the bus station for the bus to Skopje in North Macedonia, an interesting journey, through the centre of some towns we would otherwise not have seen. Another easy border crossing, they even put the two passport control booths next to each other, rather than 100m apart.

In Skopje we had a 20 minute walk to our hotel in the old Bazaar area of the city. Went for a walk to find a drink and dinner, ended up in the Brewery tap!

Wednesday, we headed to the south of the river, through Macedonia Square. Skopje had suffered major damage in an earthquake in 1963, after which the city was rebuilt in a predominantly modern style. However in the square and along the river there are buildings, built in the past 10 years, which look very grand, and copied from different architectural styles/eras, together with a lot of very large statues and fountains, giving it a slightly surreal feel.

We walked via St Clement of Ohrid’s church, toward the city park and the national stadium.

We returned to the hotel along the river, via the Fortress, which has not been restored, so it is overgrown with wildflowers. It also has smashing views over the city from the top of the walls.

Headed out for dinner to find a restaurant called “An” on the map. It looked like it was in the middle of a large block, we had to walk around the block before finding an entrance, but still no signs for the restaurant, we finally found it and was worth the hunt. A lovely local restaurant, Nic had courgette moussaka, Rog had veal meatballs in an onion and rice sauce!

Thursday, we walked around the old bazaar, then via a couple of small parks, containing lots more statues, then along the river in the other direction.

Lunch sitting watching the world go by on Macedonia Square.

Friday Skopje to Bitola train, one of our busier trains, there are only three trains a day, and it looked like lots of people were using it to do their shopping. According to the interrail app there should have only been 5 stops, but there were lots more than that. At nearly every stop someone stepped off (or just hung out of the door) to smoke, even for just a few seconds!!

From where we were sitting we could see the on board toilet, before we even left Skopje a teenager had used it, and had to call his friends, because they arrived and prised the door open, as he obviously could get the door open from the inside. For the rest for the journey people (including the conductors) either couldn’t open it from the outside, or couldn’t lock it from the inside. Hours of fun watching families guard the door, and stand poised in case the door suddenly popped open when in use.

It never actually rained whilst we on the train, but we watched a very impressive lightning storm over the Mountains in the distance.

We also saw whole fields of poppies and storks in the fields, another journey with lots to see.

As we were only in Bitola overnight, we booked a private room in a hostel near the rail and bus stations. It had mixed reviews!! It was very old and a bit odd, the chap who ran it was really welcoming, the beds were clean and the shower was hot, we only paid £19 for the night! So can’t really complain.

After grabbing a burger at a roadside cafe, we walked into the town centre. We were surprised by the number of people walking around and the number of bars and restaurants, all doing a brisk trade.

Saturday, to the bus station for a bus to Ohrid, the bus left 10mins late but the driver took up the challenge and arrived 20mins early in Ohrid, it was only supposed to be an 1hr 48m journey anyway!

On the outskirts of Ohrid there were lots of cars packed on both sides for the road, everyone was at the cemetery, but it was not a funeral, it was just lots of people visiting lots of different graves. Maybe a traditional thing for a Saturday, or maybe a special date? We never solved the mystery.

We checked in to our “booking.com” apartment, a grand total of £61 for 4 nights, so £15 per night, our cheapest so far. It is a great little place, a bedroom upstairs, a kitchenette and shower room downstairs.

Did some shopping, at the supermarket and the local market.

And an early night, as Rog had not slept well in the hostel!

Sunday, we were rudely awoken at 7:20 by what we first thought was a Heavy Metal Band practice, we later discovered that today is the Ohrid half marathon, which started at 8am and the Band was the warm up act! The loud music continued until 12:30, supporting the runners. We headed down to see some of the action.

In the afternoon, we walked along “The Bridge of Wishes” a slight dodgy boardwalk along the edge of the lake.

Went to the Church of St John, around the outside of the fortress, passed the ancient theatre, the Church of St Sophia and back to the flat.

This week’s trains, or should we say train!

1 train

178kms

Total

47 Trains

9,073 Kms