North Macedonia
#8 North Macedonia – October 2022. Age: 28
October 2022 was a bit of a wild one for trips. I went back to back Sofia, North Macedonia and Granada. It’s that end of summer sun that I crave.
Out of these North Macedonia was my favourite. It’s an absolute hidden gem, specifically Lake Ohrid; it’s the next Lake Bled – you heard it here first.
I went with the hobbits, this time Barn made it, just leaving big Marco out of the equation.
First couple of days we stayed in Skopje, the capital. To be blunt, apart from this delightful cocktail bar on an old pirate ship, and the old town which has a spectacular statue of Alexander the Great, it’s pretty underdeveloped post-Soviet occupation. A lot of decrepit blocks of flats, ugly government buildings and other than the rather beautiful town square and the beautiful bridge crossing into the Old Bazaar which hosts lots of quaint bars with cheap, good beers, there is not much going on. In our inebriated state, we opted for a fish-bowl style “blue drink”. This only led to further delight for us all apart from dear Cam, who threw up extensively in front of a bunch of kids. Moving swiftly on…
We quickly got chatting to some lovely locals who are all very friendly and managed to commission a “taxi” down to Lake Ohrid; it was a gamble but why not, eh? Big Elfat picked us up the following morning in an old school red sports car from the 90s. We drove the 2-3 hour trip to Lake Ohrid in the north, playing Crosswords while Elfat regaled us in broken English of how he was never actually a taxi driver and in fact had never even passed his driving test, but how he loved driving and got this little sporty number aged 16, razzing it about in the North Macedonian countryside; we felt safe enough.
When you cover over the precipice of the hill to Lake Ohrid, it’s like something out of the Lion King – the view of the lake below is breathtaking. Driving down the winding roads getting closer and closer to a microcosmic paradise. I’ve genuinely thought about investing in property here. We got an AirBnB on the day, sleeping 4, for about £20 a night. It was a beautiful lakeside villa and looking on the local property sale site, purchasable for about £75,000. Not kidding. If it goes the way of Como, £1.5million in 5 years. You’re welcome.
We were there in the off-season – tourism is picking up apparently (told you – 5 year timeline). First night, we still found some delightful jazz bar where we sat in the smokiness necking back old-fashioneds and solving all the world’s problems, as one does (apparently).
The next day, we had a delightful brunch/lunch in a restaurant literally right next to our apartment. Really high quality. From lakeside, outside our villa, we went paddle boarding around the edge of the lake, finding a spot to have afternoon drinks. Watching the sunset, glinting off the surface while people paddle board on the horizon is one of the more tranquil scenes I’ve ever experienced. It’s not without culture too – the Church of Saint John the Theologian is well worth a visit – we went on a nice long walk around the lake and discovered this beautiful spot – see below.
It's becoming a bit of a tradition now on these trips but our final adventure before returning to Skopje (again with Elfat) to fly home, we went on a little kayaking adventure in the mountains.
What a trip… if I don’t invest there, I can see myself going back in old age to enjoy that tranquillity again. A truly hidden gem – I hope it remains so.
