Day 13 10 Sep - Road trip south to cross border into North Macedonia

Photo above - in the fortress overlooking central Skopje, North Macedonia.

Road south to North Macedonia

Set off at 9am to travel 130 miles by road, to Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, our 6th different country on this trip.

The journey should take around three hours, but we have allowed for flexibility due to the border crossing. The traffic leaving the city was light, and after about 10 minutes we had joined a fast dual carriageway toll road. The road continued on through a wide flat plain of farmland for some time. Eventually the hills that had been visible in the far distance started closing in, and the road started languidly winding it's way through them. The road was joined by rail and river, as all three wound up through the mountains, the road sometimes through tunnels and across bridges. The road eventually topped out at about 400m. There were a couple of small towns visible on the forested slopes. It was then back to wide flat parched valley.

Into North Macedonia

We reached the border with North Macedonia at about 11.00am, unfortunately there was quite a lot of traffic waiting to get across. We eventually got away at 11.30am.

Officially called the Republic of North Macedonia, this landlocked country has borders with Serbia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Albania and Greece. The country has a population of about 2 million, in an area approximately one fifth that of England. The predominant religions practiced are Christianity and Islam. Again, it was part of Yugoslavia until gaining independence in 1991. It only changed it's name from Macedonia to North Macedonia in 2019.

The greater ‘Macedonia Region’ is considered to span northern Greece, SW Bulgaria, and small parts of Albania, Serbia and Kosovo, as well as the area now called North Macedonia. Road signs are in Greek, then Albanian, then English.

Off to Skopje

The first road sign we saw declared that it was 722km to Athens, but that is for another time! The road was good quality dual carriageway toll road, and the scenery was primarily undulating and partched farmland, with mountains in the distance. Incidentally we learned today, that the trip we did on day 7, the rail trip from Sarajevo to Mostar in Bosnia, is not currently possible due to wildfires by the railway line, so we narrowly missed that.

Once into North Macedonia, we noticed quite a few wild/stray dogs wandering at the side of the road. Not sure what the story is behind this.

We finally arrived at Skopje at about 1pm. This appears to be a busy city with lots of traffic, and perhaps not as well off as previous cities we have seen. There are beggars at the traffic lights and people wanting to clean your windscreen. Lots of building going on though.

Skopje city

We checked into our hotel, and then I went for a wander around the immediate area, across the Vardar river which is so low that fisherman stand in the middle to fish, to the old 12th century bazaar area, up to the old fortress with views over the city, past Ottoman era mosques and churches. There are statues of every kind in this city - I have never seen so many. Finally I headed back to the hotel.

Skopje (population nearly 600,000) has long been at the crossroads of empires shaped by Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Yugoslav rule, and was heavily affected during both World Wars. Its architecture, religious life, and traditions reflect this diverse and often turbulent past. Today, Skopje is a peaceful, multicultural city where residents freely practise their faiths with Macedonian Orthodoxy and Islam the most prominent. Also apparently Moter Theresa was born here!

Later we went out to a traditional Macedonian restaurant for food. Tomorrow we drive south west across Macedonia to the town of Ohrid, right on the Albanian border and not far from Greece.