This post sees us drive from the city of Gostivar to the Capital City of Skopje in North Macedonia via Tetovo, Matka Canyon and Vodno Mountain overlooking the Capital.
The drive to Tetovo was uneventful. Dead straight and mainly industrial. Matka Canyon was great to look at but not well set out for tourism. No walkways for the many families that visit here. No public toilets. Lousy tight parking. Vodno Mountain has terrific views of Skopje, which is set out in a large flat valley, much like Tirana (Albania’s Capital). Sadly the cable car to the Millennium Cross was closed but we were lucky enough to be hosted by a local couple to take photos and film from the balcony of their newly built home – my charm got us in and we were even shouted home-made almond biscuits and yogurt milk. A gracious couple indeed.
Skopje (Pop 601,000, Elev 264m, Founded 2nd Century BC) is the nicest capital we have visited to date. Wide roads, plenty of parking, classical buildings, huge plazas (squares) and more statues than people !!! Skopje has been under siege ever since it was founded by Justinian II. Romans, Byzantines, Slavs, Austrians, Ottomans, Albanians. The Austrian’s even burnt most of Skopje to the ground in 1689 to stop cholera from spreading – and we complain about COVID quarantine ! Indeed ! Finally, 80% of the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1963. It is a city of survival !!!
The highlight of our visit to Skopje was the museum and chapel of St Mother Theresa who was born and baptised in the Skopje of working class Albanian parents. Her birth home does not exist any more (site is covered by apartment blocks) but the museum/chapel was once an old Catholic Church where she was baptised. St Mother Theresa was born in Skopje on 26 August 1910 and died in Calcutta at age 78 on 5 September 1997. She left Skopje for Dublin in 1928 to become a nun and chose to go to India in the same year to teach the poor in a monastery in Calcutta. In 1948 she chose to leave the monastery and live amongst the poorest of the poor. In 1951 she became an Indian citizen. In 1970 she visited Skopje for the first time since leaving. In 1979 she received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1983 Queen Elizabeth II presents her with the Order of Merit. In 1985 Ronald Reagan awards her The Presidential Medal of Freedom. She is declared a Saint in 2016. She stood only 151cm on Earth but soared the heights of Heaven. My brother Nick was fortunate to meet her in Calcutta in 1996 on a work assignment.
Enjoy the sites of Skopje…
GOSTIVAR TO SKOPJE:
SKOPJE:
THE BEST CAPITAL CITY SO FAR:
FATHER PARIS AND MOTHER THERESA !11
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