Macedonia

Cityscape

Cross the 15th-century bridge to Skopje’s old town where elaborate bathhouses and Ottoman mosques await or visit lakeside Ohrid and its Byzantine churches. Take Macedonia’s MZ train to Tetovo’s ornate Sarena Mosque or travel by train to Macedonia’s southern mountains, stopping in Bitola for Roman Heraclea and hilltop Treskavec Monastery.

Landscape

Ski in Mavrovo National Park or hike in Galicica and Pelister National Parks. Get your passport stamped at nearby Vevcani, which declared independence in 1991. Sail around Lake Matka, near Skopje, or Lake Ohrid, the Balkans’ deepest lake.

Take Home

Buy replica Byzantine icons, beaded jewellery, copperware and painted wooden boxes from Skopje’s bazaar or take home strumicka mastika, aniseed firewater, or herbal teas.

Eat & Drink

Savour Macedonia’s staple of grilled meats with tavce gravce (baked beans), ajvar (sweet pepper and aubergine sauce) and shopska (cucumber, cheese and egg salad), washed down with Skopsko beer or Vranec wine. Buy Ottoman favourites, kebabs and bureks (filo-pastry parcels) for Macedonia train trips or sip coffee and check emails in the world’s first all-wireless country.

New Perspective

Admire panoramic views over Skopje valley from Vodno Mountain. On its highest peak, Krstovar, is the Millennium Cross, the world’s largest Christian cross.