Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.) – A. Perez Voyages

In the Balkans, I’ve had some incredible encounters with many incredible and friendly drivers. But the hours long journey across western Macedonia will forever remain one of my favorite journeys in my heart. I started off taking a bus to the end of Skopje with an OHRID sign right at the start of the highway. At almost the 2 hour mark, I found myself with a friendly Macedonian guy who also picked up two more Macedonian guys other than me. Although he was not headed south to Ohrid, he did bring me west to the off ramp outside of the city of Tetovo.

There on the side of the road, I waited another 30 minutes before a nice older Albanian man picked me up en route to Tirana. He asked where I was going, I decided to tell him Mavrovo, a national park on the western most part of the country along Albania. Not sure if he was taking that route or not, but he did decide to take me through dropping me off at the lake where a beautiful orthodox church sits above the lake. After about 20 minutes of photos, I walked to a local grocery store to buy fruit and a day snack to munch on for the rest of the journey.

In front of me at the counter was a lovely Dutch couple who I ended up hitching a ride with outside of the store by asking them if they were going to Ohrid. While they accepted me as a new passenger, they did mentioned that they were hunting for a hiking trail up to a waterfalls. Like this was such a problem. Of course I wanted in on the excursion. We spent an hour hunting for this village and when we did find the village, we asked dozens of people where the trailhead was. This led us to an incredible older Albanian woman who brough us not only to the trailhead, but ALL the way to the waterfalls. This woman was celebrating Ramadan, which meant she was fasting. SAY WHAT?! Incredible.

The falls were gorgeous as was the rest of the 40 minute hike. On the way back we were randomly greeted by some of the people from the village who spoke with us with so much warmth. They lost it when they found out an American was in their small village. The best part and also the sad one, was the goodbyes. a 10 minute conversation felt like days long and saying goodbye was incredibly emotional as we waved goodbye every couple of footsteps until waving out the backwindow of the couples rental car. It’s little moments like these that remain in your memory forever.

Hitchhiking Macedonia Mavrovo waterfalls — Duf Falls in Mavrovo Nat’l Park

The rest of the journey was many stops along the highway in and outside of the park. It was filled with many lakes within the valley and beautiful hillside towns with tiny mosques dotting them. It was near sunset where we finally reach Ohrid town and we hugged and said our goodbyes, as if we had known each other for days. After getting settled in my Airbnb, I managed to catch the sunset over the infamous St John Church on Ohrid. At the end of the day, I realized that If I had succumbed to taking the easy route avoiding the sun and caught a bus, I not only would have missed out on this incredible journey, but I probably would have had zero interaction with anyone. Oh, and I really hate buses. Cheers to hitchhiking, Macedonia, and the incredible people whom I made amazing connections with. 🙂

Hitchhiking Macedonia Sunset Ohrid — Sunset over Ohrid & St John Church

Skopje: A City with Two Sides

Skopje split by Vardar river — Skopje split by Vardar

Skopje is certainly an interesting city. A city that actually became more interesting to me as I was there and since I hitchhiked my way out of it. From Prishtina, Kosovo, I arrived by bus passing by the city’s fortress overlooking the city center gazing at some of the massive statues that dominate the city. These statues along are half of the reason why this city has become interesting, at least for me. Locals will have a different attitude.

Skopje 2014, is the title for the infamous makeover of much of the city center. In 2014, the entire city was dotted with seemingly endless amounts of statues of native Macedonians, some of which flared up the noses of Greeks in the northern region of the same name. The statues range in size from smaller ones on some of the newly built bridges to the two massive ones that depict Phillip the Macedon and Alexander the Great (Greek noses begin to flare), although the titles of them are called “Warrior” and “Warrior on Horse”.

When you walk around Skopje, you notice that there are two distinct and opposite sides. The side I mentioned is what I called the “new” side. With new museums, a new arch, massive open center with an active fountain and lights surrounding the massive “warrior on horse”. But when you cross the old Stone Bridge crossing over the Vardar, the river that separates the city, you find yourself walking around the old side, or better yet, the historic side.

On the east side of the river you can walk up and into the historic Kale fortress, home to what once was the Serbian Kingdom. Below the fortress is the Old Bazaar, a maze of walkways that resemble a little Istanbul. Without researching too much of Skopje, this side of Skopje was a surprise and a treat, especially since Istanbul was my first city on my 5 and a half month Balkan voyage. And yes, the call to prayer is heard several times a day from the Mosque megaphones. I love it!

All in all, Skopje is a city that should not be missed on a trip in the Balkans, if you are passing from Belgrade to Thessaloniki/Athens or vise versa. Oh yea, there are oddly and surpisingly tons of double decker buses all over the city. 🙂

Become a Patron!

or donate via PayPal