I decided that after going to Rijeka last year, I wanted to make 2024 the year that I visited all the Balkan capitals (except for seeing the second city of Kosovo). You can read about my trips to these cities by clicking on the following links:
Zagreb
Podgorica
Ljubljana
Belgrade
Prizren
Skopje was the last capital on the list to visit. I started to look for flights to Tirana (since this is the closest airport to Skopje that Ryanair flies to) and then for buses to Skopje from the airport.
I found some cheap flights for November to Tirana so I booked them and then looked for buses. The bus journey would take me from the airport to Prishtina, Kosovo and then change there for a bus to Skopje.
I got them all booked and just waited patiently for the day to arrive. It wasn’t going to be so bad as the flight was scheduled for mid-morning so I wouldn’t have to go to the airport on Sunday night – or so I thought. A month or so after booking I got an email from Ryanair to say that the Tirana flight was cancelled because of “commercial reasons” and I had to decide whether I should fly on the Sunday or get the early morning flight and stay at the airport on Sunday night. I opted for the latter as I didn’t have any more annual leave left to go on Sunday. I was wishing that National Express hadn’t stopped service to Stansted. It was annoying that I was going to have to go overnight – especially as I finished work about 3 hours before the train was due to leave.
The day came to leave and I was super tired because of work. I was also concerned that the flight wouldn’t happen because of the current storm. Thankfully we only had very light rain so it wasn’t so much of a bad walk to the station. The train was 15 minutes late leaving Peterborough. I didn’t care though as I was staying overnight at the airport. I got to the airport and it was a bit windy so I wasn’t confident that the flight was going to happen but I still held out hope and waited.
It came time to go through security and at 02:55 the queue was quite massive. I’d say a few hundred people waiting to get through. They finally opened all the gates and I decided to use some gates that I wouldn’t usually. I managed to go through the lanes that had the updated scanners so I didn’t have to take my liquids out. It was a breeze. I think I will use those going forward.
I went to the departure lounge and sat for 30 minutes and waited for WHSmith to open so I could get a couple of meal deals (as is my tradition). I got those and went to check the gates closest to departures to see if the flight was going from there. It wasn’t so I decided to go to the gates furthest away and I saw that the flight was leaving from there. It was so I found a seat next to a socket, juiced up the phone and patiently waited for the gate to be displayed. As soon as it was displayed I went to the gate and just waited for boarding to start.
The gate agents were pretty militant. One was a stickler for the bags being the right size and she made several people put them in the sizer to make sure they were the right size. I was weary of mine as they recently changed the sizing of the bags allowed. This gate agent caught a couple of people out and one had to pay €75 and another couple had to pay £120. You could see everyone in non-priority looking nervous – me included. Thankfully I was allowed through without having my bags put in the sizer. I also game the system when I bring my tote bag. I have an airport duty-free bag that I put my tote in so it’s allowed through without issue. Once I was on the apron I took the tote out of the carrier bag and just carried that.
We boarded and the flight attendant made us get off as they didn’t gesture for us to board. Several people in the queue were not happy waiting on the apron in the cold. I didn’t care. We finally boarded and I went to my aisle seat hoping that nobody else would get on. I was lucky. I had the row to myself so I went and sat in the window seat and I had the row to myself the entire flight. The captain did say to us that the flight might be a little bumpy because of the weather. It was pretty bumpy for most of the flight. I think I managed to sleep for about half of the flight and I was happy that the turbulence didn’t keep me awake.
We landed in Tirana and the weather was nice. Still a little on the cold side but I didn’t care. The sun was out so it helped it stay a little warm. I had 5 hours to wait until the bus so I decided to just sit in the airport for a few hours and then about an hour before the bus was due I went to walk to the roundabout to wait for the bus.
The bus was scheduled to leave for Prishtina at 14:50 and it got to the time and there was still no bus. I messaged the company I bought the ticket from as I was concerned I wouldn’t make the connection in Prishtina for the bus to Skopje. The bus finally showed up 35 minutes late and someone asked the driver what time we were expecting to be in Prishtina and he said 18:30. I was relieved as the schedule said 19:30.
I got a message back from the company that sold the ticket and they said they would ask the driver in Prishtina to wait until our bus arrived. I was relieved as it meant I would get to Skopje tonight.
As we were halfway to Prishtina the bus had broken down and we had a police car in front as we were stuck on the fast road. After about 15 minutes the engine started again and we carried on our way. We got to the Kosovo border and had to show our passports and then we got to customs and had to get off so they could check our passports again and make sure nothing untoward was coming through. The bus broke down again and it took another 15 minutes to get the engine started.
We finally got to Prishtina at about 19:25 and I had enough time to use the bathroom and get something to drink and then I headed to the bus for Skopje. On the way into Prishtina, it reminded me of an American strip mall: tons of lights, fast food places, car showrooms, hotels.
I got on the bus for Skopje and we left at 20:00 and then made our way there. We had to stop at the border of Kosovo and then a short while away was the border for North Macedonia. We had to get out and have our passports checked. I saw them stamp a couple of passports and I was hoping mine would be stamped too. Sadly it wasn’t. The rest of the bus ride to Skopje was uneventful. On the way to the bus station, I saw that Skopje had Routemasters. It was really strange to see them. Skopje is the only city in Europe that I’ve seen that has double-decker buses as normal public transport. Usually, they are used for tourist buses.
I got to the hostel and checked in. Thankfully they were still there so I didn’t have to find everything by myself. I asked how much I needed for the booking. I thought they used Euros here and it turns out they have their own currency called the Denar. I felt embarrassed that I didn’t know this. I asked if it was ok that I get money the next day and pay once I had come back for the day. They said that was fine. I was a little happy they used their own currency though as it meant another note for the currency board.
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Today I got up at about 08:30 so I could shower and get ready and go to the mall to get some cash and some food and drink. I did that and then went to head to the meeting point for the walking tour guide. I got sidetracked on the way and there was so much to look at and so many pictures to take. I still had enough time before I had to meet the guide. The centre was pretty cool with all the statues. They have a few bridges and a couple of them were adorned with statues on either side.
I walked across the stone bridge and went to the meeting point. The guide came out and asked if I was for the walking tour and I said I was and she said I must be Chris. It turns out I was the only one on the tour. She said I could stay with her or join a tour that had a few more people. I told her I was happy to stay with her. We waited a few more minutes and then started the tour. She started off by talking about the change of name of the country from Macedonia to North Macedonia. She said it was partly because Greece cried and partly a requirement to join NATO.
We walked towards the Old Bazaar and she was talking about how it was started in the Ottoman period and as a place for the caravans to stop on the Silk Road and on the way to the sea. She said Skopje was an east/west, north/south crossroads and they needed such places. The Old Bazaar was pretty cool to walk around. It had 3 main streets and they were all pretty cool and had different aspects of it. One street was selling local cuisine and local arts and crafts. Another street was filled with cafes and outside dining. She said that North Macedonians like to sit with company and enjoy coffee – it seems that’s a Balkan thing too.
We carried on through the bazaar and then onto one of the most used mosques in the city. We weren’t able to go into the grounds as they hadn’t opened for the day yet. I was able to get some pics from outside the fence though. After we were done here, we headed to the fortress. Up there we got some views towards the mountains and they were snow-capped and looked pretty cool. We then went into the fortress and you were able to see the original stone walls and then the reconstructed walls that were put there after one of the earthquakes.
We walked a little further in and looked out onto the mountains on the other side of the city. You couldn’t really see much though because it was so polluted. It was a shame as the views would have been great. I decided I wanted to go back to the fortress and walk further into it as we left to head back towards the centre after that.
We went to a church in the centre that was not able to be seen from the street. The guide was saying that the Ottomans took over the majority of the churches and those that wanted to keep churches or build new ones had to build them so they wouldn’t be on public display. We went into the ground and they were pretty cool. They had a fresco on one of the walls. They also had the tomb of Gotse Delchev who was a Macedonian revolutionary during Ottoman rule.
We left here and then headed back to the statue of Philip II who was the father of Alexander the Great. He is a controversial figure as Greece also lays claim to Alexander. We also saw a statue of his mother. She said that the city centre has around 300 statues. They really went overboard with them. It’s a photographers dream though.
We crossed the Stone Bridge and she said that the bridge used to be used by the Routemaster buses. It didn’t seem strong enough to be able to carry vehicles. We then went to Macedonia Square and had a look around here. It was pretty awkward as part of the ground was frozen because of the temperatures and we had to move as we didn’t like seeing people slip and/or fall on the ice.
We then walked towards the Triumph Arch and there was a memorial to the house that Mother Teresa lived in. She was born in Skopje and then when she was 18 went to Tirana and then went on to Calcutta (Kolkata now).
We then walked up Macedonia Street. The guide said this was the longest street in the city and went from the Stone Bridge to the old train station. We walked past the Mother Teresa memorial house that is now a free museum and then walked past the “Holy Equal-to-the-Apostels Emperor Constantine and Empress Elena” church. The guide talked that Skopje suffered from 3 earthquakes and the last one in 1963 had destroyed 80% of the city. She said it was a magnitued 6.1 on the Richter scale.
The tour ended here and we went our separate ways. I went to BK to go get some food and sit for an hour or so and just relax. My feet were killing me. I finished here and then decided I would just walk around the city and let my feet do the walking.
I walked along the river and then found myself near the parliament building. I walked up to it and you could walk in the grounds. I read that they don’t like you taking pictures of government buildings here so I asked one of the guards if I could take a picture and he said I could take one or two but not an excessive amount. I think he let me because I asked him. I got my pictures and then headed across the Gotse Delchev bridge and then along the river back to where I met the tour guide.
The company she worked for also offered tours near the city and I decided since I have time tomorrow before I need to leave for Tirana. I went and booked the tour for €33 and then made my way towards the mall and the hostel. I wanted some junk food and I just wanted to relax since it was almost dark. Of course, I stopped on the way to take some more pictures.
I got back to the hostel and just chilled and had some food and then went to lie in the bed and watched some stuff on BBC iPlayer.
Total steps: 16,810
Total miles: 7.51
Total kilometers: 12.09Below are some pics from today
I got up about 07:30 and then showered and got ready and headed to the airport. I had to go to the check-in desks to get my boarding pass as Tirana doesn’t yet allow mobile boarding passes. I knew i’d have to leave enough time as the queues get quite long. I got my boarding pass and finished my drink and then just went to security. It’s great here because I can bypass the huge queues at the border and just use the eGates.
I then went downstairs to duty free to pick up a carrier bag to game the system and then just wait at the gate.
We boarded and left only 15 minutes late. The captain did say we may have a delay of 30 minutes due to capacity restrictions due to the weather. On the flight back there was some turbulence for most of it and I just watched stuff on iPlayer to keep my attention away from it.
We landed in Stansted and it took a while to get to arrivals. 4 border guards were checking all of our passports. Not sure if it was routine or they were checking for someone. The guard checked mine and saw my post-its in there and said they looked important and didn’t want to lose them. I told him they were for me checking to make sure I didn’t overstay in Europe.
We had to take the transit to arrivals and there was a massive queue here and I was concerned I was going to miss my train home. Thankfully it was moving pretty fast and I got out with 40 minutes until the train.
Skopje was really good and I want to go back so I can see more of North Macedonia. I can definitely recommend Skopje and Matka Canyon.
Total steps: 41,659Total miles: 18.65
Total kilometers: 30.01
View all of my Skopje media here
View all of my Matka Canyon media here