Our first stop in Macedonia after another minibus ride and border crossing, was the picturesque Lake Ohrid. After eight months on the road and numerous travel destinations we were both feeling a little exhausted and in need of some R&R so we booked a nice apartment overlooking the lake. We didn’t really do anything while in Ohrid, we mostly enjoyed the balcony views, did some cooking and enjoyed catching up on some much needed life admin. After a relaxing time at the lake we said goodbye to our place and made our way to the capital, Skopje.  

Skopje was a really nice modern city with hundreds of statues, fountains and open spaces dotted throughout the city. The first thing we noticed was the “London style” red double decker buses that were everywhere, apparently Macedonia were given some busses after World War Two from the English to help with their transport system and they loved them that much that they now have many, the modern ones are from China of course.

We spent a few nights in Skopje where we jumped on a walking tour that was able to explaine the reason behind the hundreds of statues and replica monuments we had seen dotted throughout the city. Apparently the president is obsessed with statues he sees in his travels and decides Skopje needs that exact statue or monument too, many of the locals disapprove of the money spent on such things but it is a site to see. Of course in the main city square there is a huge statue of Alexander the Great, with a statue of his father Phillip just across the river. We also stopped off at the home of Mother Teresa, where she lived until age of 18 where she moved to India to start her missionary work. There is a nice museum in her honour that we were able to look through. We ventured into the old town built in Ottoman times similar to most seen throughout the Balkans. The fortress situated on the hill overlooking the city is definitely worth the walk up, the views are great.

On our last day in Skopje we made our way out to Matka Canyon home to many medieval monasteries and 10 huge caves found throughout the river. We took a small boat ride through the canyon to explore one of the caves they say is over 250m deep and 400m wide, divers have still to this day been unable to find the bottom. The boat ride was really nice with the autumn leaves on either side and the sun shining it was a beautiful site. After the canyon we made our way back to our hostel to board a bus to Kosovo for the night.