G’day all! Today I’ll be reviewing the sights of the capital of North Macedonia for you as part of my ongoing blog review of the trip I took a year ago from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Dakar, Senegal.

North Macedonia was once part of the former Yugoslavia and was for a while known as the ‘Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’. This makes it one of the newer countries in Europe not formally coming into existence until Yugoslavia split in the early 1990s. However it is a region that has sought and fought for its own existence of the last few centuries.

It sits north of Greece, east of Albania and also shares a border with Bulgaria, and in its north Serbia and Kosovo. The population today is just under 2 million (2021) and it boasts at least two well known world figures in history – more recently Mother Teresa and more historically, Alexander the Great and if you visit Skopje you will no doubt see statues erected to both.

The Vardar River runs through the capital with a fortress overlooking it on the northern side next to the Old City which is very much worth an explore. Crossing the famous ‘Stone Bridge’ (Famous – yes, imaginatively named – no) you hit Macedonia Square with the statue/monument to Alexander the Great, and not far away from the little museum and chapel dedicated to Mother Teresa. You are well within walking distance to any museums, galleries or features of the city you might want to visit. In addition though there is the funicular/gondola ride to the top of Mr Vodno where sits the Millenium Cross, the funicular is reached by bus and the views are magnificent of the city and surrounding mountains. Aside from this, I reached all my Skopje visits by foot. Buses however do run through the city, and although getting the travel card for the bus may be initially tricky (you need to find the correct booths, not sold on the actual buses) they cover a good portion of what isn’t a huge town.

So I think the easiest thing is to go through the different places I saw and visited one by one. I will start on the northern side of the Vardar with the old town and more!

North of the Vardar River

Old Town

The Old Town I found has been restored somewhat recently at best guess but it is still attractive, filled with hills and cobblestones and well worth exploring. There’s a bazaar in there that wasn’t really operating when I visited, although the odd shop around it was open. The Old Town also has a few mosques mixed in along the streets and a surprising number of gelaterias. There’s certainly a Turkish feel to this part of Skopje, the country was controlled for centuries by the Ottomans although today you will find over 70% of North Macedonia’s population practice some form of Christianity.

The National Gallery of Macedonia is worth popping your head inside and taking a look for maybe half an hour. It’s not big by any stretch of the imagination but it is housed in an old Hamman which makes its location historic and quite unique. If you can’t enjoy the local art, you can at least enjoy the building its housed in. To be fair there were a couple of interesting works of art to see.

Weave your way through and you will reach a couple of significant religious places. Firstly, we have the Macedonian Orthodox Church to the ‘Ascension of Jesus’, also known as the Sveta Spas Church which is a curious little church in a courtyard, built partly underground. The courtyard has buildings around it and all seems to be in operation. It dates back to the 16^th century but is built on the foundations of an older church. It’s got some beautiful frescoes and lattice work inside.

Then there is the historic mosque, Mustafa Pasa almost at the top of the hill. You get a bit of a view looking down on the old town from here, which is interesting to see the old houses and also that there really are a lot of mosques in this part of town. It dates back to 1492 and is a fairly simple, not overly big mosque but there is a bit of serenity there.

Skopje Fortress

The Skopje Fortress sits to one side of the old town overlooking the Vardar and the city on the other side of the river. It’s really in ruins today but appears to have a bit of restoration done to it but it’s a mostly open area. The ramparts/fortress walls though provide a chance to walk along and take in an impressive view. There was no entrance fee when I was there.

It was built in Roman times, back as far as the 6^th century AD and is a prominent symbol of Skopje. I timed my visit there to coincide with the sunset, and it’s a pretty good location to see this daily event!

The Museum of the Macedonian Struggle for Independence

So these days I am keeping museum visits to a minimum, however if I’m in a place for more than a couple of days I will try to visit at least one, usually the one that sounds the most interesting. And fot Skopje, reading up on this museum it clearly fitted the bill.

The country that today is North Macedonia has struggled to be independent for centuries, and this museum recounts battles as far back as the Ottoman Empire which ruled the Balkans for a long time. Here in the museum they have loads of wax figures of important people, on all sides, that have been involved over the centuries in the different struggles. It is a little bizarre to be fair and I was one of about three people visiting the museum. Photography and videography is not allowed, although I confess to being a bit sneaky at times but I got caught on camera straight away and someone came to me and told me off, after which I behaved myself. Really no idea why it’s banned in a place like this, but them’s the breaks.

Compared to everything else in Skopje, which these days is one of the few cheap places in Europe, it’s costly at 300 Dinar which is just under 5 Euro. So you know, not SUPER expensive. It is certainly a bit weird, and after visiting I might consider a different museum or gallery if I return to Skopje.

South of the River

You’ll find a number of monuments and statues south of the Vardar. Just walking around is interesting. You can also clearly see that there is less money in Skopje than cities in Bulgaria, Bulgaria is part of the EU and there is a difference there. But Skopje is definitely cheaper and curiously without McDonald’s, although there are at least two Burger Kings.

Memorial House of Mother Teresa

Yet another free place to visit in Skopje, Mother Teresa was born in Skopje and lived there until 1928. Inside there are a number of photos of Mother Teresa from various ages. There’s a nice chapel on the top floor. You can poke your head in, it won’t take that much time. They were building what looked like a grand cathedral next door when I was there.

Mount Vodno

Mt Vodno is a mountain overlooking Skopje. To get there you take bus number 25 from the main bus station. The buses are like hourly, so not super frequent, but they are red double-decker buses which I think is a bit cool at least. Once you get to the end of the bus you hop over to the cable car/gondola ride. It I think only runs for half an hour every hour in the off season, so I had a short wait for it to be open.

Only 120 Dinars/2 Euro to ride the cable car and you do get a magnificent view by the Millenium Cross at the top of the mountain and there were a couple of restaurants there too, only one open. Looked like there was a lift you can take up the cross, but it was definitely not open that day and I don’t know if it’s running at all. The cross is 66 metres tall which frankly, is a bloody tall cross! It was built in 2002 so it’s a somewhat newish monument. Worth the trip up there which isn’t really that long, 25 minutes in the bus and maybe ten in the cable car. Timing the buses is the main issue.

Also I took a half-day trip out to the Matka Gorge which is genuinely stunning, and I will be doing a post about that day next! Skopje on the whole was a nice place to spend nearly a week on my trip and a good chance to catch my breath as it were. Some days were glorious and sunny, but not hot (late March 2023), there was at least one day of solid rain but I was sick and stayed inside so that was decent timing to be fair.

Thanks for popping by today! Take care wherever you are in the world, and May the Journey Never End!