Wednesday 27th August 2025 – border crossing from Greece was straightforward and took 30 minutes. Bought insurance at the border for €80 for 30 days. More than we would like but no choice. Lost an hour on time zone change. Purchased an A1 network SIM card with 70GB of data for €11.
Struggled to find anywhere in Greece or Macedonia to fill our UK gas bottle (we had expected this but were hopeful somewhere might have an adaptor). It is crazy that there are so many different gas bottle systems across Europe. So purchased a new bottle and a burner because the hoses were a different size too (narrower) so wouldn’t fit the connector to our UK stove. The new cylinder plus burner was 2,800 Dinar (£39) so a reasonable solution (much cheaper than the same thing in the UK). Diesel is again less than £1 a litre here.
The campsite owner here lived for many years in Australia (there are lots of Macedonians in Sydney apparently!) so helped us find the gas bottle.
Cold in the night but then we are at 800 metres amsl.
Thursday 28th August 2025 – visited Heraclea Lyncestis, an ancient Greek city in Macedon, now located near Bitola in North Macedonia. It has nicely preserved mosaics:
Then the Treskavec Monastery, also known as the Holy Mother of God Monastery, located near Prilep in North Macedonia. It was quite a steep narrow road up. It transpired that today is the Dormition of Mary the mother of God (assumption) so it was packed with visitors. Free bread and soup is provided for the pilgrims.
Then we visited another Roman site, the ancient city of Stobi:
Staying at Demir Kapija tonight. There are celebrations going on, brass and drums in the streets. This region makes the finest wines in Macedonia. The most important are: Vranec (Red): The most important indigenous red grape, yielding deep, fruity, and full-bodied wines. Temjanika (White): A fragrant white grape offering floral and fruity notes. Of course Rakija, the fruit Brandy popular across the Balkans is also prevalent here.
Went into town in the hope of eating traditional Macedonian food at one of 4 restaurants but the town was absolutely heaving because of the festival. There was a huge street market selling shoes, clothes, tools, linen, everything really. There we absolutely no tables at the restaurants. A harried waiter just shook his head at me! So we decided to cook for ourselves and postpone the delights of Macedonian cuisine (allegedly a fusion of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines).
Friday 29th August 2025 – drove through the Maleshevo region through four beautiful mountain passes up to 1,200 metres. Lots of bee hives here, the region is known for its honey, also for its cheese. Lots of cabins up in the mountains, people value the clean air and tranquility of this region. Lots of fruit grown here, the plum trees are laden and the harvest has started.
Tonight we are staying on a grass area next to a restaurant. The owner allows people who eat in the restaurant to camp there. The menu looks interesting (and the food smells delicious). We are sitting in the shade in their orchard amongst apple and quince trees.
The food was ok bit not special. We had a Macedonian salad (what else?!), some cheese fried in breadcrumbs. Then sausage, chicken breast and pork stuffed with cheese called Plaskavica. The food was inexpensive however. We were the only diners in the restaurant on a Friday evening, not a great sign. We had hoped to try some of the specialities but they needed 24 hours notice.
There aren’t many Land Rovers in Macedonia (we have only seen two) and this is one of them:
We waved furiously at the other one but they just thought we were crazy! They clearly don’t adhere to the international convention of classic Land Rover owners waving to each other!
Saturday 30th August 2025 – visited the stone dolls, curious statuesque rocks in the landscape:
There is a local legend about them and they have names such as bride, godfather etc. Curiously the site warden is British with a Macedonian wife and has been here for 5 years.
We then visited the Zebrnjak monument built in 1913 and subsequently bombed by the Bulgarians during WWII and commemorating the first Balkan war against the Ottomans. There was originally a tall tower on top of the remaining base:
An extraordinary 360 degree view from the vantage point. There is an ossuary of Serbian soldiers here.
Macedonia is a beautiful country but there is definitely a litter problem here. Also a lot of rubbish is dumped in ill tthought out landfill sites that are an eyesore and smell terrible. There are only 1.8 million people and 25% live in the capital.
We are staying on a farm at Matka tonight. They are preparing food for us.
Sunday 31st August 2025 – decided to hike across the mountains to the Matka gorge. The path was clear at first but became steeper and less defined until it petered out! We managed to scramble through somehow.
The valley is full of Downy or Italian oak (a small leaf oak, eastern hornbeam and juniper:
The valley is stunning:
Although you can see the pollution hanging over the capital Skopye:
Fifth tortoise in the last few days:
Looking down towards the gorge before we hiked down:
The gorge itself:
You can take a boat trip along the gorge but we opted to walk along the path. We had lunch in a restaurant near the Monastery (which we didn’t visit). Whole hike about 5 hours (with breaks) and 15 kilometres.
Monday 1st September 2025 – visited the incredible Lake Kozjak. Walked along the ridge for 3 kilometres and back. The green colour of the lake is stunning as are the mountains surrounding it. It is an artificial lake some 47 metres deep. We are in the Jasen national park. We have decided to bush camp here. Campsites are not so easy to find in Macedonia (curiously “Maccadonia” in the region).
This evening’s visitor, we think he smelled our chicken curry!:
Three fires were lit across the valley this afternoon:
The last campsite owner told us that even campfires had been banned by the government so undoubtedly the fires are illegal.
A feral dog came and chased away the fox.
Dawn at our campsite:
Tuesday 2nd September 2025 – visited the painted mosque in Tetovo originally built in 1438 but rebuilt in 1833:
Rachel had to wear a black skirt and a head scarf (provided) to enter. I was fine in shorts.
We then hiked to a series of 8 waterfalls at Kamenjane. There are wooden steps to climb up between the waterfalls. At the falls it was deliciously cool on a day that got up to 31 Celsius.
Waterfall number 7 (the second to last of the photos) was the tallest and noisiest.
Oddly all the road bridges in Macedonia all have a sign giving the span of the bridge. I have no idea why this is thought to be useful and would much prefer to know the name of the river which is always absent! I am told that this is a hangover from former Yugoslavia where the military needed to assess whether tanks or convoys could pass the bridge.
It is very noticeable in this part of Europe that the white line in the middle of the road is broadly ignored. Drivers like to be right on your hind quarter with two wheels straddling the white line so they can see past even if there is oncoming traffic and they have no chance of overtaking. Many of them will hassle you like this for miles. And then when there is a safe place to overtake they won’t preferring to remain an irritant on your hind quarter!
Ate at the local restaurant last night which had lots of Macedonian specialties. Butter beans dish cooked in a clay pot called Tav?e grav?e. A chilled cucumber, yoghurt and garlic salad called Taratur (we tried this and it’s delicious). Rachel had a meat pot with cheese (local dish). I had a beef brisket dish with potatoes.
Wednesday 3rd September 2025 – we visited the Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery, a Macedonian Orthodox monastery located in the western part of North Macedonia, near the road connecting Debar and Gostivar. It is undoubtedly the most amazing monastery that we have seen.
The inside of the church is just exceptional. The monastery church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It was founded in 1020 by the monk Jovan, destroyed in the 16th century by the Ottomans, and restored in 1743 by Hieromonk Hilarion:
I have never seen wood carving as fine as these. Not even, dare I say, Grinling Gibbons. There are 500 humans and 200 animals depicted in them. They are very three dimensional and in extraordinary quantity as frieze panels, columns, cabinets, astonishing. They were carved by local craftsmen in the 19th century. The door to the church is made of mother of pearl and tortoiseshell and I suspect Ivory.
Strictly photographs are not allowed inside so you will have to excuse me, I couldn’t resist. So, shhhhh, don’t tell anyone.
The monastery was subject to a major fire in 2009 but the church survived intact.
The monastery is on a stunning location in a valley:
Message from the monks. Bravo!:
Hiked up to the Duf waterfall at Rostuse in the Mavrovo national park in a stunning valley location:
Poor George is feeling sickly again. There is a whine, we think from the transmission beginning at around 35 miles per hour. Took him to a mechanic who found the front differential covered in oil. He checked the oil level and said there was oil in it but it was dark rather than golden. He said that we should drive to Albania to get it fixed (not possible here) and in 2 wheel drive only. Land Rover Defenders are permanent four wheel drive however. The only way to just drive the rear wheels is to remove the front prop shaft and engage the centre differential lock. This is possible in am emergency but I decided against it under the circumstances.
