Macedonia :: Week 3

After leaving Ohrid we met my parents (and a bunch of my relatives) in Kumanovo, and the day after we went to the small village where my dad was born – a place called German, way up a mountain near the Serbian border.

We spent the weekend wandering around what used to be the farmland my dad’s family lived off as well as being bitten/stung by a fascinating variety of bugs and plants. And we got to use (several) traditional hole-in-the-ground toilets while we were there. So didn't need that.

The old house my dad was raised in had fallen down years ago - dad's family have rebuilt it on exactly the same spot.

The out-house attached to the old grain store

The mountains behind the horses are part of Serbia

Sunset over the mountains

Then we left for Skopje, where we spent a couple of days doing all of the important capital city tourist things like visiting all the right monuments, monasteries and restaurants (and lots more of my family).

Kamen Most (Stone Bridge)

Goce Delcev monument

One of the best places we visited was Lake Matka, which was artificially created in a canyon just outside Skopje.

The boat trip up the canyon included entry to one of the illuminiated caves. We also go to see the entrance to Vrelo Cave. 

Then on the way back to Bitola we visited one of Macedonia’s most important archaeological sites – Stobi.

A couple of days later it was time to visit the village where mum was born and raised – a placed called Capari, not far from Bitola. The kids couldn’t get enough of picking and eating fruit straight from the trees growing along roads and branches hanging over fences.

Wandering livestock - Maksim thought it was funny when this calf rocked up to the centre of the village for a drink

House where my mum was born

Mum found her old clay water bottle (barde) in the basement - we washed it off so we could get a good picture of it.

Tomorrow we’re off to Krushevo for a very important event. After that Sash gets to try his hand at driving a manual car on the wrong side of the road as we head off to visit the Aegean Sea.