My flight was leaving before 6 a.m. in the morning. I took the first train to the airport but that wasn’t early enough. I missed the flight and there I was, at 6 a.m. at the airport but no flight to board.
I pulled out my iPhone, searched for the next flight to Skopje and found one that wasn’t too expensive a few hours later the same day. After a short layover in Belgrade, I arrived at my destination in early afternoon.
In Belgrade I saw a lone Chinese girl boarding the same flight to Skopje. She didn't look much like a tourist, but then did I? I certainly don't consider myself a tourist when I travel the world.
My first thought was that she is one of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) employees flying into North Macedonia. China has to date invested more than one billion US$ through its BRI into North Macedonia. The money has helped to finance infrastructure projects, but also fuel corruption. But I digress, I was not there to investigate China's growing influence in the Western Balkans.
Other than her I have seen almost no people from Asia, there was only that one obvious asian tourist group in Skopje. Other foreigners I came across blended well with the local population. Even I – a tall white boy with long blond hair – was not seen as a foreigner. Unless I indicated that I only speak English, people would speak to me in Macedonian.
Weather was nice and clear as we were climbing out of Belgrade. I knew North Macedonia had some decent mountains, but the landscape around us for the first minutes of flight was flat. The closer we were coming to Skopje the higher the hills were getting. Some even taller peaks were visible on the horizon to the south-east. Was that Mount Olympus in Greece?
The airport in Skopje is small, just one runway and a few gates. Our airplane was the only one on the tarmac at half past two in the afternoon. I felt like at a regional airport at best.
Already in Belgrade I subconsciously noticed labels written in Cyrillic script. But only in Skopje when waiting at the immigration queue I realised that I should practice reading that script once again. It’s been a while since I last was in a country that uses that script, and only a few characters remained in my memory.
During the ride into the city center the taxi driver complained about cars being parked on the side of the road, where they shouldn’t. Apparently when there is a two lane road the right lane is often used as parking space. After I picked up my own car I quickly learned to prefer driving in the left lane on such roads. I learned that, and also that orange lights at intersections mean «accelerate, and you might make it before the lights turn red».
In general though, I felt safe driving in North Macedonia. Most people drove under the posted speed limit, like if they weren’t in any rush to be anywhere. This made driving a pleasant experience.
Skopje city center is dominated by a large square and big statues all around. A stone bridge crosses the Vardar river, the Old Bazaar is a bit further on the other side. Skopje Fortress does not offer anything interesting, other than a slightly elevated view onto the city center.
Taking the cable car up to the Millennium Cross is a better way to get a view on the whole city. The hill on which it stands raises 700 meters above the city, during good weather you can even seen the mountains on the other side of the valley.
My first venture out of the city was to Canyon Matka, about half hour by taxi to the west of Skopje. It was Thursday, I left early morning and so was greeted by nobody but a few stray dogs.
I saw a lot of stray dogs, in all parts of the country. It was difficult for me to restrain myself and not take one home. Especially one of the cute just weeks old puppies in Mavrovo.
Upstream in the canyon is a famous cave – the Vrelo Cave. There are two options how to get to it: take a boat or rent a kayak and paddle there at your own pace. I took the boat. The cave is not extraordinary though, I can't recommend it on its own, unless you have money and time to spare. More rewarding than the cave is a walk along the canyon on foot. You can also climb the steep sides of the canyon to a ruin of an orthodox church or monastery to enjoy an elevated view on the canyon and surrounding National Park called Jesen.
After a short rest at a cafe I started walking back down. I was in no rush and was looking for a place to have lunch at. A taxi driver noticed me and offered me a ride down. He even offered to wait for me while I have lunch and take me back whenever I was ready. Even though I repeatedly denied, he was following me in his car with the hope that I change my mind.
Unfortunately for him, I noticed a trail map that showed a not too long hiking trail back to the city. Unfortunately for me, I only checked the distance and time, but did not realise that I did not have any water with me, nor that I’d arrive after sunset at the Millennium Cross and the cable car down to the city didn’t operate at that time anymore.
In hindsight, I trusted the information in Google Maps a bit too much.
The taxi driver tried very hard to convince me not to walk back, but not because of any of the previously mentioned reasons. He was telling me about wolves and bears in the hills and that I shouldn’t be walking alone. I dismissed his warnings as I didn’t believe him.
Throughout my stay in North Macedonia I received different responses from locals to my questions about bears. No there aren’t any, yes there are but they’ll run away, yes there are and they’ll eat you alive.
During that first hike I was prepared for a bear behind every corner, every sound that was coming from the bushes spiked my adrenaline level.
Nothing happened. I'm still alive.
I took the fact that I survived the first hike as a sign of the absence of dangerous animals. From then on my mind was more relaxed on my future hikes and was able to enjoy them much more.
After two days in Skopje I picked up a car and drove to the west, towards Tetovo. Highways were of decent quality, interrupted only be toll stations. It cost 40 to 60 denars to pass each, payable preferably in cash.
My goal that day was Titov Vrv, a mountain with an iconic watch tower at the top. I drove to Popova Shapka and continued from there on foot. The small winter resort still hadn’t seen a snowflake that winter season, so the trail was dry, as was the weather.
On my way up I met a group of young people who were heading in the same direction. They were in no rush as they had planned to spend the night in the watch tower and head back down the next day.
One of them was carrying a large axe. My first thought was for splitting fire wood. But we were above the tree line and they didn't carry any fire wood with them. He was visibly exhausted from carrying the axe and large backpack and so I asked why they put in all the effort to carry this clearly useless tool with them. Their answer: for protection from bears.
I didn't have enough time to go all the way to Titov Vrv and back, and had to turn back before reaching the top.
It was my first day with a car, I wasn’t used yet to the local driving style and didn’t want to drive after sunset. The same evening I had to get to the very southern part of Mavrovo Lake in the heart of Mavrovo National Park where I had an apartment for a few days.
October is the time in between the summer and winter season in Mavrovo. I saw less than a dozen tourists, most hotels were closed, empty, or renovating in preparation for the upcoming winter season. It was still warm during the day, but once the sun has set I had to put on layers to keep warm. And the sun set at 4 p.m. already, days were getting shorter.
The highest peak of North Macedonia – Mount Korab – is located inside the Mavrovo National Park. One early morning I set out to conquer it.
The last stretch of the road to the trail head is 13 km, but takes 45 minutes to drive due to the bad road condition. On the way I had to pass a border police checkpoint, as the same road continues into Albania in the west.
I thought I’d be alone that day. The trail head is hours from the closest major city, and while the weather was nice and warm during the day, the days were short and nights cold that it didn’t leave enough time for a leisurely hike. I definitely didn’t want to stay out after sunset.
While I was the first to set off on the trail, about half way up the mountain four trail runners passed me. Those were the only other people I met that day.
The last stretch of the trail to Mount Korab follows the border between North Macedonia and Albania. The relations between the two countries are relatively friendly so that I didn’t have to worry about stepping on land mines. There are countries I’ve been to where the danger of stepping on land mines near borders is a real, but not in that region of North Macedonia.
I climbed two more mountains in Mavrovo National Park. The last one was Velivar, like Mount Korab also on the border with Albania.
I was not alone roaming the withered mountain slopes that day. On my way down I met two older gentlemen. They were taking a break by a natural spring and invited me to join them.
My knowledge of east European languages was not quite enough to have a fluent conversation with them. North Macedonia has their own language, closely related to the language spoken in Bulgaria. Neither of which I've heard nor spoken before.
Many people have family and relatives studying and working in other countries. Germany, Austria, or Switzerland are very popular. German, next to English, was therefore a useful foreign language to know.
According to the two gentlemen, spring is the best time of year to visit the mountains of North Macedonia. During spring, flowers are blooming and the mountain slopes shine in all imaginable colors. In autumn though, most vegetation was somewhere between light yellow and dark brown. Only some trees were radiating a bright red color, as they were shedding their leaves.
I was almost back down at my car, a few hundred meters above Rostushe, when I walked through a clearing in the forest that had a fountain and a fireplace. I had passed that place on my way up and didn’t think much of it.
It was a place similar to so many that I had seen before and after. A fireplace, water source, bench and table, some trash littered around. Often in remote locations only reachable on foot. Clearly an outdoor picnic place that sees regular use during the summer days.
It was just after noon and a group of women were cooking something over an open fire. I didn’t really have much time to spare – it was a regular weekday and I had to work – but they offered me food and I couldn’t resist.
Two young boys were with them, one of whom was on school break visiting his family. He was studying in Germany so his German was decent. We talked about life in the village, his family, North Macedonian culture and much more.
I asked him why they were cooking so far from home. The place was a few hundred meters above the village and they had to carry all their cooking utensils and ingredients up there. His answer was simple and straightforward: it was nice weather so why not? They get to spend the day outside, in nature, with family and friends.
Out of all the cities I visited in North Macedonia, I enjoyed Ohrid the most. Maybe I was just lucky that it was sunny and warm during my couple days there. So warm in fact that I was walking in shorts on the shores of the lake, even got a sunburn. In early November.
I knew that Ohrid was a popular tourist destination during summer. And it was exactly what I had expected based on that. Clean, welcoming, with lots of food and shopping options.
I wouldn’t want to be there, in Ohrid, at the hight of the tourist season. But autumn provided a nice balance between still warm weather and lack of tourism rush.
From Ohrid I only did a few trips into the nearby Galičica National Park, but otherwise used my time there to slow down and enjoy the break.
Bitola was the last city I had on my itinerary. More than the city itself I wanted to visit the nearby National Park Pelister.
My first impressions of Bitola were disappointing. It was dark when I arrived in the city but it still felt dirty and chaotic. Could've also been the gloomy atmosphere, it was overcast and cold. A stark contrast to what I had experienced a day earlier in Ohrid.
The day I arrived in North Macedonia I got a local SIM card with 20 GB data for about 400 denars. That seemed enough for the amount of work I was planning to do during my time in the country. Signal strength and speed was good even in remote locations.
In two weeks I used up ~15 GB, and that included many times when I was working on my laptop tethered to the phone. Then in Bitola I had two meetings where the other participants turned on their video and within an hour the rest of my data allowance was used up.
My original plan in Bitola was to climb Baba Mountain but I almost decided not to, discouraged by the bad weather.
On Thursday my only item on my schedule was a meeting at 5 p.m. Despite the grim outlook I decided to get up early in the morning and drive up to the trail head near Hotel Molika. As I was turning the last corners before arriving at the hotel parking, I punched through the low clouds and was greeted by a clear blue sky. My mindset instantly changed and I was happy to spend the day in the mountains once again.
As I had done so many times, I spent my time between roughly 5 a.m. and 2 p.m. outside, in the mountains. That was the time when the sun was out and nobody from the office needed me urgently. I would then either go back down to the town to find a cafe to work from or drive to the next city.
The same evening I had to get back to Skopje, which was a three hour drive away, but still had that one meeting in late afternoon. I stopped in Prilep with the hope of finding a quiet place.
None of the cafes and restaurants I saw in North Macedonia were entirely smoke-free. Nor could I ever find any that were quiet. Finding a place where I could join a meeting from was therefore impossible. I picked my best option out of those that were available, luckily I didn't have to talk that much so the other participants didn't notice the noise around me as much.
I arrived in Skopje late in the night. After close to three weeks I was used to driving at night. I still didn’t like it though. The lack of road markings made driving at night a strenuous affair.
One backpack and one tiny duffle bag was all that I had with me for the three weeks. And not even that I was able to fill up, initially. I had some spare space so I took my climbing shoes with me.
Climbing shoes because I knew there was a boulder bar in Skopje. I went there in the first week once, and again just before leaving the country to meet the friends who I made during my first visit.
My flight back to Zurich was departing after noon, and I had a car so there was little chance that I’d be late.
I wasn’t.
While boarding the plane I overheard the flight attendant talking to the captain about how the coffee machine and other appliances in the kitchen don’t work. I couldn’t resist to ask about the state of engines and breaks. The captain reassured me that they are most certainly in working order, and seemed concerned about my apparent fear of flying.
I appreciate how he was concerned about the psychological well-being of his passengers, but flying is not what I fear.