Just come back from Macedonia after the recent Wales game. Brilliant place, super friendly people and prices so low, it’s like the 1970’s all over again.
Travelled by coach from Tirana in Albania, to Ohrid in Macedonia. Spent a few days there. Think Windermere on steroids, surrounded by snow capped mountains, with an old, historic town centre.
Travelling onwards to Skopje, the capital, through the mountains, was like entering a kind of soviet version of Switzerland. With houses designed by someone who had once been to the Swiss Alps, but was on an acid trip at the time. Tyson Fury would probably find them aesthetically pleasing.
Then a week in Skopje, the capital. The chaotic old town bazaar sits on one side of the river, with the modern bit opposite. Known as the City of Statues, at first sight it all looks grand and historic. Then you learn that they are all recent additions, with many made of fibreglass.
They have brutal versions of old London buses. Apparently, when they decided that’s exactly what they needed, we’d stopped building them over here. So they ordered them from China instead. Close, but no cigar Temu.
But it all kind of fits. The people, bars and restaurants are super friendly and cheap. Our first meal on arrival, in a decent restaurant, was a feast, as we were starving after the long coach trip. Including 4 large beers and a healthy tip, it came to just under £22. That was for 2 of us !
A country that genuinely has baked beans as their national dish, has to be worth a visit. Not your Heinz, tinned version, but a gourmet concoction that looks the same, but that’s where the similarity ends.
The only time the friendly demeanour slips a bit, is if you call their country “North” Macedonia. It’s deffo worth a trip, for a super cheap city break in Skopje, or a longer tour of the country, Just avoid creating a diplomatic incident, by not using the word North in public.
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