Whisper it quietly: one of the world’s oldest lakes has become Europe’s latest secret escape, packed with mountains, history and magic, says Lyn Hughes.

"I have been here at least 200 years! Well, not me, but my family has," said the boatman, "This is one of the oldest towns in Europe". We were chugging past Ohrid's old town, its lakeside restaurants and bars, and then the wooden boardwalk that hugs the cliffs, before Macedonia's most iconic site came into view. 

Whether knowingly or unknowingly, if you have ever seen an image of the Republic of Macedonia, it will almost certainly be of the cute little church of St Jovan Kaneo, perched on a clifftop with the cerulean shimmer of Lake Ohrid twinkling behind it. And yet relatively few find their way to these ancient waters. 

Lake Ohrid (“Ok-rid”) is one of the oldest lakes in the world, almost certainly the oldest in Europe, and among the deepest too. Not surprisingly, it has a rich history and is a UNESCO World Heritage site, along with the jewel that is Ohrid town. Here you will find churches galore (it is believed that Ohrid once had 365, one for every day of the year) as well as a medieval fortress, a Roman theatre, Ottoman architecture and fine cobbled streets. 

Around the lake, a Bronze Age stilted village has been reconstructed on its shores, while cave churches and the former monastery of St Naum are a reminder of how, at the end of the 9th century, Ohrid was considered an important centre for religion, literacy and Slavic culture. 

But there are natural wonders here too. Not only is the lake beautifully framed by hills and mountains, but it is considered the most biodiverse in the world for its size. Its depths contain several species of fish, including the endemic pink-fleshed Ohrid trout. One of only two species of trout found in the lake, it was once severely endangered but numbers have recovered enough that you can now eat it in the town’s restaurants without any guilt. Another fish, called plasica, has scales that can be turned into beautiful ‘pearls’ – a technique known only to two local families, who jealously guard the secret of how it is done. 

Macedonia’s highest city is the idea environment for the vital paragliding community in the country, but barriers remain for it to consolidate as a destination for alternative tourism

29/05/2017 -  Ilcho Cvetanoski

Nested high in the mountains, at the average altitude of around 1,350 metres above sea level, Kruševo overlooks the Pelagonia Valley and its two major cities – Bitola and Prilep. This small town of less than 5,000 inhabitants, situated in the southwest of the Republic of Macedonia, is rich in history, well-preserved 19th-century traditional architecture and beautiful nature. But what makes Kruševo even more unique is the potential for a first-class paragliding experience for pilots of all levels.

Cheap, tasty, and unspoiled

Talking about tourism in Macedonia almost always leads the conversation towards Ohrid. The Ohrid Lake and the town of Ohrid  are protected by the UNESCO  as a world natural and cultural heritage site – the lake was listed for its environmental value in 1979, and the town for its cultural value a year later. Therefore, it is no wonder that the Ohrid Lake is considered as the main tourist site in Macedonia. However, over the last few years, so-called alternative tourism is thriving as one of the possible areas for further economic growth. Together with hiking, biking, and ecotourism, paragliding is among the most promising areas for development of the country’s alternative tourism.

Kruševo and its paragliding opportunities were recently listed as one of Macedonia's top natural and historic treasures  by National Geographic. In the top-ten list, right after the Ohrid Lake and before the painted mosque in Tetovo, Kruševo's “prime conditions for paragliding” are emphasized. The town's gifts have recently been celebrated also by the web-magazine Cross Country  , a specialised publication for paragliding, praising Kruševo’s ideal environment.

“Unusually, the town sits in a natural bowl on the ridge top, so launch is an easy walk from there. The grassy take-off sits above wooded slopes that drop down to the Pelagonia plain, stretching south to the Greek border”, reads the web-magazine, adding that the best flying conditions are from June to September. In case of bad weather or family vacations, attractions for the non-flying tourists include “several museums, the Ilinden uprising monument, monasteries, and the ruins of the Roman town of Heraclea Lyncestis in the town of Bitola”.

Also, “in the mountains there are good mountain-biking trails and Prilep has become known as one of the best bouldering areas in the world”, the author adds, pointing out the capacities for cheap accommodation with plenty of guest houses and hotels, not to mention the many cheap eateries.

A vibrant paragliding community

Local paragliding websites  advertise Kruševo as one of the world's most attractive places for cross-country paragliding, highlighting the “unspoiled nature”, the quality of food, and nice accommodation for the pilots, “much cheaper than any other European location”.

Baki Shakirovski, a paraglider since 1994 and former leader of the Macedonian national team, confirms that Kruševo is regarded as one of the world's better established paragliding locations, but it is not the only one in the area. According to Shakirovski, Popova Šapka at Šar Planina near Tetovo, Vodno and Skopska Crna Gora near Skopje, and mountain Galicica between lakes Ohrid and Prespa are also excellent locations for paragliding.

“Macedonia has plenty of sunny, calm days. The infrastructure is good and landing zones are well connected with the roads”, explains Shakirovski, who describes Macedonia's flying community as “a small, but vibrant”, with “paragliding clubs in every major town”.

One of these paragliding clubs is Vertigo, in Skopje. Member Sasho Smilevski argues that further developing paragliding tourism would require a set of institutional measures.

“All taking-off and landing spots need to be registered at the Civil Aviation Agency. Also, all spots should be properly levelled and marked with information tables".

Smilevski also points out that Kruševo is recognised as a first-class location and stresses how it offers a lot to do for the whole family as well as for flyers.

“Kruševo, together with the near sites like Ohrid, Bitola, and the national park of Galicica, can offer an active vacation for the whole family. Tourists who are not professional paragliders can experience tandem flying above the lakes or enjoy swimming. In this category last year we registered around 1600 stays”, Smilevski said.

Vladimir Barakovski, president of the Aeronautical Federation of Macedonia, points out that Kruševo hosted the 2016 European championships  in both hang gliding and paragliding. “It will also host the 16th World championship in August 2019. This is evidence of the huge potential of Kruševo and Macedonia in this sector”, Barakovski said.

For paragliding tourism to be at the top level, investments are needed besides the natural beauties. Unfortunately, “institutions are not investing enough for the development of this sport and the promotion of Macedonia as a destination for flying”, concludes Barakovski.

Obstacles to paragliding tourism

With this fully-fledged set of locations and actors nurturing the culture of paragliding in the country, it is no surprise that the President of the Paragliding World Cup association (PWC) is Macedonian Goran Dimishkovski, who now lives abroad.

In an e-mail conversation, Dimishkovski confirmed the country's assets – the low prices which make it very affordable for flying, the climate, and the nature. But that is not enough.

“Kruševo has the potential to grow into an important destination for paragliding, but unfortunately it hasn't yet”, Dimishkovski points out.

At the same time, he was highly skeptical towards the possibility of further development of paragliding tourism.

“With the well-known mentality and attitude towards tourists and tourism in general, I could say that there is almost no hope for further development of paragliding tourism. What we lack is education, infrastructure, investments, respect towards experts, etc.”, Dimishkovski concludes.

What to do in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia – Europe’s most eclectic capital!

A controversial and not to mention very expensive renovation programme has turned this once relatively quiet former Yugoslavian city into a neoclassical masterpiece. Launched in 2010, Skopje 2014, to give the project its correct title, was a government backed initiative aimed at giving Skopje a more classical appeal (with the hope of attracting more tourists) and the Macedonian people a sense of national identity.

Skopje Macedonia | few days in Skopje

I can understand the ideology behind it; no doubt the Macedonians get fed up to the back teeth with people thinking their country is part of Greece and after the breakup of Yugoslavia, creating a national identity must have seemed like the right thing to do. But boy, did the government take it to another level. An abundance of ‘ancient’ bridges, statues and stately buildings make you feel like you have walked onto the film set of Troy or if I’m being unkind, Meet the Spartans. Skopje is historicist kitsch at its very best and for many Macedonians (including the friendly woman we spoke to at the tourist board), the money spent on the project could have been better used elsewhere.

That’s not to say that we didn’t like Skopje. In fact we loved it. With the camera snapping ten to the dozen, we spent a few days wandering around the city, marvelling at statues of Macedonian heroes (and possibly a few borrowed Greek ones!) encircled by over the top fountains and monumental faux-classical buildings that some locals don’t even know exist.

All this classical nod to the past nearly distracts from Skopje’s other attractions. For starters, there’s the city’s Old Bazaar, the largest in the Balkans outside of Istanbul, a pleasant hilltop fortress with great views and interesting memorabilia associated with Mother Teresa who was born in the city and lived in Macedonia for about eighteen years before moving away. Add tasty food, a lively outdoor café and bar culture and very cheap beer and you’re onto a winner!

The best place to start is the Porta Macedonia, a large triumphal arch on Pella Square. Before heading to the big hitters on the Vardar River, take a slight detour east to see the Monument to Fallen Heroes for Macedonia.

Located in the small Žena Borec Park, there are a couple of classic socialist-era statues to look at including the Monument of the Defenders of Macedonia but the real gem is the whitewashed monument topped with four golden horses rearing on their hind legs and fronted by a very camp-looking golden male holding a golden torch. The whole thing is very, well golden, and I should also mention the golden angel complete with golden wings who stands next to the four golden horses.

From here it’s a minute’s walk to Macedonian Square. If the powers that be are not still knocking it down and rebuilding it again, which they were doing when we were there in April 2015, then check out the multitude of statues dedicated to national heroes, including the resplendent Warrior on a Horse before strolling the short distance to the riverfront.

Get ready for an architectural smack in the chops as you next step onto the Bridge of Civilisations. Keeping an eye out for passing chariots and Aristotle-types in togas, pause and take stock of the gargantuan buildings before you.

The Archaeological Museum is one of the most impressive of all the buildings lining the north bank of the Vardar River, but there are several more of a similar ilk. I particularly liked the skinny Agency for Electronic Communications building.

Cross over the bridge and take a short detour to your left to see the Macedonian National Theatre and the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle. Go inside the museum if so inclined before coming to Karpos’s Rebellion Square. The centre of the square is the Warrior monument. Surrounded by an all singing, all dancing and very colourful water fountain, the statue is officially named ‘warrior’, but it is generally considered to be a depiction of Alexander the Great’s father, Philip II of Macedon. Denting the country’s coffers by the princely sum of 7.5 million euros, the statue is one of the most photographed sculptures in Skopje.

Karpos’s Rebellion Square serves as a main entrance to the Čaršija neighbourhood and the city’s Old Bazaar and it’s the obvious place to head to next.

A welcome respite from the grandeur of the river banks, Čaršija is still very much a workaday neighbourhood. Sure, the Old Bazaar has its fair share of tourist-related shops and restaurants but it’s easy to get lost in the backstreets, sip tea in a simple cafe and observe local craftsmen at work.

Heck, you can even still buy a sleeveless sheepskin jacket just like the one Anthony Quinn wore in The Guns of Navarone.

If we didn’t travel so light I would have got myself one of those although there is a rumour that my father-in-law (Kirsty’s dad – not pictured by the way, that’s Anthony Quinn!) still has one stored away in the attic somewhere, purchased during his adventures in the Balkans back in the 1960s.

Skopje Macedonia | few days in SkopjeThe Guns of Navarone, Anthony Quinn, 1961

The Old Bazaar is mainly about strolling around but if you want a focus, the modern and very hectic Bit Pazar (sometimes called Pit Bazar) at the top end of the district is worth a peak as is Sveti Spas Church where the underground wooden iconostasis (wall of icons and religious paintings) is impressive indeed. But for us, the Mustafa Pasha Mosque was the must-see sight in the Old Bazaar. A fine example of Ottoman architecture, the mosque is situated on the eastern fringes of the bazaar and if you leave it until last, it is only a short (uphill) walk from the mosque to the Tvrdina Kale Fortress. Byzantine and later Ottoman, the city’s castle is not that impressive inside, but it does offer great 360 degree views. You won’t miss the huge National Arena Philip II of Macedonia stadium if you poke your head over the castle’s northern parapet.

If you head back down to the main road below the fortress and cross the newly renovated Goce Delčev Bridge (check out the lions, one of which was cast in Florence at a cost 1.5 million euros), you can follow the river in a northwesterly direction until you get to the Government of the Republic of Macedonia building. Quite a modest affair in comparison with other city buildings (maybe someone ran out of money?), the government building is very low key security-wise and you can walk right up to the entrance if you are so inclined.

Heading back to the film set, I mean the centre of town, the last stop on this walking tour is the picturesque Stone Bridge.

Dating back to Roman times, the bridge is a short distance from the Bridge of Civilisations and is a key design feature in the city’s coat of arms. There’s a great view of the fortress and the ‘ancientness’ on the north bank of the Vardar River from here and also check out the little swimming statue in the river. She disappears and reemerges again depending on the level of the tide. The statue is a nice touch!

Away from Skopje city centre

A short distance from the pomp of the city centre, things tend to be a bit more normal. The buildings are like any other regular buildings that you may see in other Balkan cities, the tourists thin out and Skopjeans (I don’t think this is a real word, but I like it!) go about their daily business. It’s nice to just wander around this part of the city, but there are a couple of focal points worth making a beeline for. The Memorial House of Mother Teresa is a short walk southeast of Macedonian Square. You wouldn’t think that this strange looking building (Lonely Planet describe it as a ‘retro-futuristic structure’) was where Mother Teresa spent her formative years but apparently she did and the building is full of MT memorabilia.

Keep heading south and you come to the Museum of the City of Skopje. We looked at the outside of the building (an old train station) but didn’t have the energy to go inside yet another museum so I can’t give an opinion of whether it is worth a visit. We did, however, go inside the futuristic-looking Church of St. Clement of Ohrid. Located 1km north of the museum, the church is the largest cathedral of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. It looks like a great big spider (well it did to us anyway!) and from the church it is a 700m walk back to Macedonian Square.

Where to stay in Skopje

We stayed at Modern Living Apartments. They have several apartments available for rent throughout the city. We stayed at the one on Macedonian Square. Along with Studio 15 in Belgrade, it is probably the best apartment we stayed in during our time in Eastern and Southern Europe thus far. We could see Macedonian Square from our kitchen/living room window. We had a separate bedroom, a really nice kitchen/living area, plenty of natural light and it was also nice and peaceful at night. The bathroom could have done with being a bit bigger and the view of Macedonian Square would have been much nicer minus the construction work, but you can’t really blame the apartment owner for that! We paid €30 a night and considered it excellent value for money.

And one final thing

I think we were incredibly lucky with the timing of our visit to Skopje. Although Macedonian Square was sealed off and under its second round of reconstruction, the majority of the buildings and statues that we saw were free of building work. With project work still ongoing (where is the money coming from?) and only a few people in the know about what’s next on the redevelopment agenda (for sure, the nice lady at the tourist board isn’t one of them!), it is tricky to know when to visit. For example, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia building was apparently a mass of scaffolding and nowhere near completion in October 2014. There was no such evidence of this seven months later when we visited. As a word of caution, if you decide to visit Skopje, try and do a little research before committing to dates to ensure you won’t just be wandering around one massive building site for a day or two.

Source

Time Lapse Clip from Ohrid Lake Macedonia. Monastery "Kaneo".

a.k.a. the place where I finally got my Balkan passport

I’m sure you know at least one traveller who constantly brags about the various stamps on their passport. Me, instead, I’m always bragging about that Slovenian stamp I got when I renewed my passport while I was living in Slovenia. It kind of spices up my Italian passport adding a hint of the Balkans, which always makes things more intriguing.

This was until I got my very first Balkan passport from the Independent Republic of Vevcani (and yes, I drove under a storm as far as Vevcani only to get a fake passport; you can add this to the list of unusual methods by which I pick my destinations ;-) ).

Vevcani, a micro-country established in 2002, is located just outside the Mavrovo Park, one hour’s drive from Ohrid. The flag has the same red and yellow as the Macedonian flag, but -instead of just sunbeams- on the flag of the Vevcani Republic there is the whole shape of the sun.

The village itself is very nice, well-known for the water spring on the mountain and –it goes without saying- the patriotism of its inhabitants. I didn’t hike up the mountain as far as the springs as it was raining very hard, but I visited the St. Nikola Church, which is all frescoed and very beautiful.

Gari is a Mijak village just a few minutes drive from Lazaropole, on the other side of the main road. It is almost a ghost town. I met nobody all morning, although I did spot some chimneys at work in the upper part of the village.

Here, a lot of houses are decaying, charmingly. All around the village you can hear the river murmuring by. The day was pretty foggy, enhancing the feeling of a place forgotten by modern society.

The summer season at Lake Ohrid will open Tuesday with the arrival of the first “Corendon” charter flight carrying Dutch tourists. Macedonian airports’ concessionaire TAV Macedonia says Minister of

Transport and Communications Vlado Misajlovski, TAV general manager Alp Er Tunga Ersoy and Ohrid Mayor Nikola Bakraceski will welcome the tourists at airport “St.Paul the Apostle”.

Ask any Macedonian to elaborate on the goings-on at local festivities and they’re likely to begin by reeling off the delicious dishes that accompany the party. Feasting is ingrained in the culture of this small Balkan nation, and a reliance on agriculture and home producing means that Macedonia has been a haven of organic bounty and slow food long before these became buzzwords for gourmands.

In this fertile pocket of southeastern Europe, Mediterranean influences have intermingled with centuries of Ottoman rule to create a rich menu of local specialities, many of which you won’t find elsewhere. Today, food-loving rural communities are developing grassroots tourism initiatives to offer excellent culinary experiences for travellers. Often they are set in delightful stone villages rooted to the slopes of Macedonia’s mountainous national parks, and many cater for overnight visitors. Here are five of our favourites – make sure you pack your stretchy pants!

Home cooking in Brajčino

So revered is Milka’s home cooking at bucolic Vila Raskrsnica that bigwigs based in the capital Skopje (3.5 hours away) are known to make pilgrimages out here for lunch. But it would be a travesty just to come for lunch; the five-room guesthouse sits regally at the top of the rural village of Brajčino, a wall of mountains to one side and unexpected views of dishy Lake Prespa on the other. And what’s that sprawled across the lawn? It’s an ambitious fruit and vegetable plot – hello dinner.

The village itself, on the boundaries of Pelister National Park, is a delight. Daily life is played out to the rhythm of rushing mountain streams, cherry trees flash their bright rosy hues in summer, and traditional stone architecture makes Brajčino a fascinating place to wander. Back at Vila Raskrsnica, Milka lives by a garden-to-table philosophy and produces as much as she can herself, with the help of her son. Expect offerings of homemade wine or seasonal fruit liquor as soon as you drop your bags, and freshly baked mekici (fried doughnuts) with berry jam at breakfast. For dinner, ask to try her version of lukanci (paprika-laced pork-and-leek sausages – a Brajčino speciality).

Slow food in Janče

High in the hills of Mavrovo National Park, within foraging distance of porcini mushrooms, walnuts, berries and mountain herbs, Tefik Tefikovski is another local culinary champion responsible for opening Macedonia’s food scene to tourists. In the crumbling Mavrovo village of Janče he runs Hotel Tutto – a must for any hungry traveller. Tefik switched on to the Slow Food movement during 20 years spent living in Germany and Italy, and he was instrumental in launching Macedonia’s own Slow Food organisation in 2009.

Tefik can offer a handful of different sleeping options around the village – from hotel rooms to quaint cottage quarters – but the centre of the community is his restaurant, where diners get front-row seats for sweeping valley views. Grab a menu as soon as you check in, because there are several local specialities that need to be pre-ordered half a day ahead. Particularly yummy are the pita (a flaky, coiled pie stuffed with tangy local cheese and spinach or leek) and the slow-roasted lamb. Also don’t miss the local-produce shop in the foyer, enthusiastically piled with fruit-based rakija (Macedonian firewater) and paper bags of dried goodies plucked from the mountain passes.

Culinary tourism in Dihovo

It might seem an unlikely tale that a former professional footballer spurred a local culinary tourism movement, but so it goes in food-loving Macedonia. Petar Cvetkovski was a pioneer of the country’s blossoming community tourism scene and his local village, Dihovo, is now one of the top places in Macedonia to arrange honey-tastings with a local bee-keeper, cheese sampling and homemade-wine nights. The latter take place inside his family home and now guesthouse Villa Dihovo, with three rooms and a delightfully rustic booze cellar where bottles are planted in the walls. Unusually, guests are asked to pay what they think the stay is worth – there are no set prices here.

The village itself is another comely bolthole tucked into the lower folds of Pelister National Park, and within striking distance of one of the country’s top hikes up to the top of Mt Pelister (2601m), where two glacial lakes – ‘Pelister’s Eyes’ – pierce the lofty summit. Ask Petar about his new cooking classes, which he intends to offer from 2017, and tuck into his mum’s kebabs and sarma (stuffed vine leaves) in their country garden.

Cheese tasting in Galičnik

Within hiking distance of Janče, the timber-framed village of Galičnik is famed for two things: its annual wedding festival and its coveted raw-milk hard cheeses. The latter are produced using age-old methods with animals reared on mountain pastures; one of the cheeses, sirenje, is the star of Macedonia’s national šopska salata – a simple fuddle of tomatoes, cucumber and onion enriched with sharp, crumbly white cheese (not unlike a Greek salad).

It’s not that easy to drop by local producers on a whim, but Horse Club Bistra Galičnik offers daily horse-riding sessions accompanied by a stop for cheese tasting, which allows foodies to combine having a nibble (with a translator) and marvelling at the voluptuous mountain views. If you wish to stay in Galičnik there are a couple of guesthouses here, or you can amble over from neighbouring Janče.

Wine pairing in Tikveš

Winemaking is a ubiquitous cottage industry in Macedonia’s villages and backyards, as it is across much of the Balkans, but it’s only in the past 20 years or so that the commercial practice has found its feet in this country. Touring the vines independently can be difficult without a guide, but winery hotel Popova Kula in Macedonia’s Tikveš wine heartland – a 90-minute drive south of Skopje – is one place that you really must stop by.

Its tasting space in a 19th-century-inspired tower, grape-themed rooms and extended 22-hectare petticoat of vines are reason enough to stay here, but the elevated restaurant and wine-pairing menus make Popova Kula a unique food experience too. The vineyard prizes a little-known grape called Stanushina; it’s used to produce a signature dry blush rosé seemingly custom-made to slice through the acidity of Macedonia’s national salad. The country’s unique grape varietal Vranac (a full-bodied red) is an ideal match for the traditional lamb dishes.

SOURCE: LONELY PLANET