Below is a list of our favorite things that we did during our visit to North Macedonia. We were only in the country for about a week, but it’s a small country which allows you to travel from one end to the other in a relatively short period of time.
Stobi Archeological Site
Stobi Archeological Site is kind of in the middle of nowhere. When we first arrived, we really weren’t expecting much. There was a small parking lot (with only one other car) and a building where you purchase tickets to visit the site. We were there, tickets weren’t expensive, so we thought we would go ahead and check it out. And we are so glad that we did! Wow!
The site is larger than it looks from the parking lot and there are some amazing things to see. The highlight is by far the mosaic floor in the basilica, complete with marble columns. There are lots of other mosaic floors within the site as well. Another highlight is the public fountain (sink). I don’t know why, but I’m fascinated by ancient plumbing (strange I know), so the huge sinks with metal taps made me very happy.
While we were there we saw archeologists at work exploring an area near the church. They were using a metal detector, shoveling up dirt into bags, removing it from the area, then carefully searching by hand.
All in all, it took us about 1.5 hours to explore the entire site. We would highly recommend making the trip to the site as it was well worth it.
Ohrid City
We parked our car near the port and then spent the afternoon wondering around the old town. The parking near old town requires payment. You can pay by SMS if you have a local phone number with payment source for parking, otherwise (as we did) you need to find a worker selling parking passes. Once we sorted out parking, we started by visiting the Church of Saint Sophia. We didn’t know what to expect, but it was only a couple euro to enter, so we went inside, and it was worth it. The inside was covered in beautiful frescos.
From there we headed to the Church of Saint John the Theologian overlooking the lake. It wasn’t too bad of a climb up the hill, but the church wasn’t overly impressive. The view over the lake and town was beautiful though. Behind the church is a path that leads up to Samuel’s Fortress. The climb is a bit steep so you may want to visit the fortress first (gradual hill from the old town area), then make your way down to the church and back to old town.
There’s not a lot to see at Samuel’s Fortress, but again the entry was only a couple euro, so it was worth walking along the fortress walls to see the ruins and view over the city. After the fortress we headed towards the old bazaar and passed the ancient theatre on our way. The theatre is open, so you can easily visit and take a look.
The old bazaar is a nice wide area with lots of shops, restaurants, and cafes. We walked through the area, making a stop at a yummy chocolate café, on our way back to our car.
Lake Ohrid
We had heard a lot of great things about Lake Ohrid and we can see why. We were probably there a little early in the season, but during the summer there are lots of water activities – boat tours, standup paddle board, swimming, etc. Hopefully we can return when summer is in full swing.
Bitola
Bitola is the second largest city in North Macedonia. There are several museums and churches to visit within town, but we spent a couple hours wondering around the streets. We then took a break along the wide park street. Lots of people were out and about, strolling through the park, enjoying the beautiful afternoon.
Extra: Wild Camping
We spent a night wild camping int he Mavrovo National Park. We originally wanted to find a camping place near the lake, but there were already people setup along the water and any open places were full of trash (such a shame, but quite common in the area). Instead we decided to find a spot up in the mountains. We found an amazing place, near a couple abandoned houses. We were all by ourselves, just the two of us and a cuckoo bird, along with a couple cows that came to say hello in the morning.