NORTH MACEDONIA — Indiana Giorgious

I travelled around North Macedonia for about 10 days, using public transport and entering from Albania. I was so relieved to leave that horrible country (Albania) and luckily I found a super friendly and welcoming place. You can read more about Albania here on my previous blog.

First thing first, let's start with getting to North Macedonia from Tirana.

My first stop in North Macedonia was Struga and there is a direct bus from Tirana ( or at least it was advertised as that! The bus never took me to Struga, but I will get to that in a moment).

The bus departed from the main bus station, the ticket was 15 Euro and departed at 8 AM, the company I used was called Drita. Don't expect anything fancy at the bus terminal, it is a dump full of rubbish everywhere!

If you have an online ticket you MUST exchange that for a paper one, another Albanian nonsense!

As with all the buses in the Balkans, expect constant stops for smoking and eating so the journey will take that extra 2 hours that nobody needs!

The interesting part is the border crossing, since Albania is a VERY corrupt country do expect the border police to ask for bribes...but of course, don't give anything to them! They searched every single pocket of my rucksack, looking for cigarettes ( yes they are that desperate)...but luckily it was just a huge waste of time for me and for them!

So once entered North Macedonia the bus didn't stop in Struga. As usual Albanian hospitality, they left me on the highway 15KMs or so from Struga. At that point, I had enough of Albania and Albanians and I was just happy to leave them behind. I also love walking so 15 Kms are nothing and with the old Google map I reached Struga!

Immediately I found a super welcoming staff at the hotel I was staying and I couldn't believe it! This will be the constant in North Macedonia a place full of welcoming and friendly people happy to help you and happy to have visitors!

STRUGA

Struga is a very small town on Lake Ohrid. There is not much to do there except enjoy the lake and the many restaurants. It is a good stop if you are coming from Albania and for me was a great place to reset and re-energise for the rest of the trip. There is a canal that flows in the lake and you can swim there and it is super nice, especially during a hot July day. I spent 2 days there before going to Ohrid.

OHRID
Ohrid is the main city on the Lake and so the most touristy especially during the months of July and August. But still very beautiful and very pleasant to visit. To get to Ohrid there is definitely a bus from Struga which I strongly recommend...but I walked there and took me around 2.5 hours. The walk sounds like a nice idea but the walking path will stop after 1 hour of walking and I was walking on the side of a main road with many cars speeding by so I don't recommend it. Also, this walk will show that in the country there is a huge problem with trash and you can see it everywhere on the coast of the lake which is not a nice view!

Ohrid is a pretty little city and I spent there 2 full days, one exploring the city sights and one doing a boat trip. These are the places I enjoyed in Ohrid:

CHURCH OF SAINT JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN
This is possibly one of the main sites to visit. When I arrived from the walk it was packed with tourists so I decided to come back in the late afternoon and was almost empty and more enjoyable!

CITY CENTRE

The city is small so everything is within walking distance. The area of the port is a nice place for eating and there is a walkway on the coast of the lake that is really nice in the evenings. Here is also where you can find many people selling tickets for boat tours, but you can literally buy the ticket 2 minutes before the boat departure, you don't have to buy it in advance.

BAY OF BONES / SAINT NAUM

On my second day in Ohrid, I did a boat trip to the Bay of Bones and Saint Naum monastery. There are many boats departing every so often and you can find many people selling the tickets around the port, you cannot miss them! You can buy the ticket literally a few minutes before departing. The boat trip started at 11 AM and we came back around 5 PM. The cost was 15 Euros, you can use Euro and get change back in Macedonian Dinars.

This doesn't include the entrance to The Bay of Bones which is 150 Macedonian.

The Bay of Bones was a very interesting archaeological complex and I wished the boat stopped for longer. We stopped for about 45 minutes here.

Saint Naum was overcrowded for my liking and felt extremely touristy with many restaurants and gift shops around it. The boat stopped here for a couple of hours (TOO LONG!) and I wished I packed a picnic and towel with me as the restaurants were overpacked and not the best in all honesty.

BITOLA

I didn't plan to go to stay in Bitola as there is not much there to see. The reason I decided to stop for the night was the bus schedule and from Bitola there is a direct bus going to Krushevo ( the reason why I came to North Macedonia). But How to get to Bitola from Ohrid:

I took a bus from the Ohrid main bus terminal. The bus time that was advertised online of course didn't exist and instead of leaving at 1024, I was forced to leave on the 1224 one. One recommendation is to never trust the North Macedonian online timetable, ask your hotel to call the bus terminal to confirm the timing before going to the terminal. The bus took 1 hour and 45 minutes and it was around 400 Dinars.

Ohrid Bus terminal is located on the map:

Bitola is very small but pleasant for a 24h stop.

KRUSHEVO
This city, or better the Ilinden (MAKEDONIUM) was the reason for my trip to North Macedonia. Opened in 1974, this is a really unusual architecture to visit.

But how to get to Krushevo from Bitola? All the online options I saw were untrue. So as soon as I arrived at Bitola bus station I asked the ticket office the timing for Krushevo's departures for the following day. There is only one bus from Bitola to Krushevo and it leaves at 1220. The cost of the bus is 240 Macedonian Dinars, it is a mini-van rather than a full bus. Bitola bus terminal is extremely small with a tiny coffee shop, so just show up 15 minutes before departures. The journey was just over 1 hour and it was a very bumpy ride getting closer to Krushevo.
Bitola bus terminal:

In krushevo I stayed at the Hotel Montana Palace which has a super nice view of the whole city. Location on the map.

MAKEDONIUM

From the hotel I walked to the Makedonium, it is a very steep walk as Krushevo is on the mountains, but managed to get there in around 30 minutes. Check to time as it is only open until 4 PM and closed on Sundays. When I got there I was the only person visiting and they had to open the doors of the museum for me....or better I opened it because the lady with the keys wasn't able to unlock the lock!

This architecture is so unusual and so cool, it feels to be inside a spaceship with all the oval windows looking outside. Krushevo is not the easiest place to reach but definitely worth the trip for the Makedonium

There is not much to do in the actual city but you can find some restaurants (not many!) and it is a nice way to end the visit to the Makedonium.

SKOPJE

How to go to Skopje from Krushevo? First, don't trust the timetables online as they are not true! So according to the hotel I stayed there is only one direct bus to Skopje at 7 AM (the one I took), the other options required a change of bus in Prilep ( there are 4-5 buses to Prilep during the day). The bus station in Krushevo looks abandoned...but it is not! A man will come, open the station 10 minutes before departures to sell tickets, close it and drive home. Goes without saying that there is nothing at this bus station that is more like an abandoned dusty shop. The ticket cost was 600 Dinars, the journey took around 3 hours with a 10-minute coffee break halfway.

Skopje is a very interesting city. It is full of amazing concrete brutalist architectures ( I will list my favourites below) and FULL OF STATUES! I have never seen a city centre full of so many statues! But there is a reason why there are so many statues in Skopje. Skopje 2014 re-development project aimed to get more tourists to visit the city...so why not add 100s and 100s of statues!! after all, tourists love statues! The result unfortunately is kitch and makes the city looks extremely fake. It gives a Disneyland effect to the city, add then the red London buses to the mix and you have a theme park!

Apart from this I really enjoyed Skopje and all the brutalist places I got to visit. These are the places I enjoyed the most

SKOPJE CENTRAL STATION

NATIONAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

POST OFFICE OF MACEDONIA HQ

NATIONAL OPERA AND BALLET

MACEDONIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS

SS. CYRILl AND METHODIUS UNIVERSITY OF SKOPJE

SKOPJE CITY CENTRE

MEMORIAL HOUSE OF MOTHER THERESA

This is a bit of Madame Tussaud's situation. Mother Theresa was a horrible person and did so many horrible things that I do not think is right to even give her so much visibility but it is what it is and still an interesting place to visit. Again Mother Theresa's statues and monuments are all over this region of the world as this is where she was from. It is also ever more important to highlight and understand all the damage she did in poor countries instead of considering her a saint!