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| Skopje Fortress (Macedonia) |
Leaving our free-camp site on the clifftops of Lake Ohrid, we headed
off to explore more of Macedonia.
Our first stop was Skopje, the capital of this former Yugoslav country
of Macedonia.
It is a very old city, and has been inhabited since about 4000 BC.
Much of the interesting architecture shows this.
There is a huge fortress that sits above the town, which was built in
the 6th century AD. It certainly is an impressive sight.
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| Cifte hamman-National Art Gallery, Skopje (Macedonia) |
After more looking around, we came across and loved the architecture of the Cifte hammam (baths). Built in the mid-15th
century, it is now used as the national art gallery.
Having done a quick drive around, it was time to find parking, or
a campsite for the night.
It was almost hopeless as there was no parking at all, never mind
parking for a very large Vanni (our motorhome).
In the end we found a convenient university car park which had a fence
around it, so felt quite secure.
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| Roadside vendors (Macedonia) |
Unfortunately, the nearby intersection was very noisy, along with the
trains and local soccer supporters – Macedonia was playing Ireland that night. Maybe we were lucky Ireland won, otherwise the noise might have been
worse.
The local security guard looked at us but must have decided we were
harmless as he ignored us from then on; but we felt happy he was around.
After a walk around Skopje the next morning, we headed south to
Prilep. We passed many people on the roadside, selling everything from
beads to bread, as well as fruit and veges.
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| Prilep rocky mountain (Macedonia) |
Vendors were tucked up under
umbrellas and makeshift shelters to try and ward off the wet weather.
Thankfully, the weather improved as we drove south to Prilep, giving
us better views of the surrounding terrain.
Prilep is known for its interesting mountains, which, although not very high, are comprised of some very large looking boulders.
It’s also known for its tobacco industry and quite a lot of other
manufacturing.
We didn’t stay long in this rather industrial city, but carried on to
Bitola.
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| Jenni Mosque in Bitola (Macedonia) |
We found Bitola to be more interesting than Prilep, although both are
surrounded by mountains.
Bitola is also a big city and one of the oldest cities in Macedonia.
Unfortunately, as with other parts of Macedonia and also Albania, many of the historic sites are in bad shape, probably
as a consequence of the poor economic situation.
Again, decent parking was difficult to find, and we didn’t have a place to stay
overnight here.
We realised that it was only 14 kilometres from Bitola, to the border
crossing with Greece, so we decided to drive on to into Greece aiming for Ioannina for the night.