Travel, 50+, North Macedonia

While the flag may draw out pleasantly surprised noises of "ungh" and "huh", Macedonia of North does not seem to spark big thoughts or feelings. For the most of the world, anyway. A lot of Europeans who can throw guesses about the place, mention something like poverty, pollution or even corruption. You will also find the place on common listings such as "the most hated countries by the Greek" and "language wars against Bulgaria". Otherwise the place is a bit of a void.

While I had some knowledge of the place, I still had to pester a search engine about it. Turns out the place tops the list in "Safest countries to go out after dark". At least that was the case the year of travel. And their largest city was. The most dangerous thing I encountered was the perfumes of adolescents who thought it's a great idea to swim in it.

The daytime was more dangerous at any rate. Ignoring the scorching sun, already at arrival (by bus), I was obliged to test my agility and wits against a team of pickpockets. Children, all the way up to their leader. They noticed there was no way I was a local and, logically therefore, I was both rich and an easy target. Alas, they failed and an invisible barrier seemed to limit their operations to the bus station area only. Later on I met other people craving for coin. The most outrageous of them all turned out to be an old man, who demanded with an enraged voice "Monneeyyyy!" I turned to him, extended my hand as a cup towards his and thanked him with a smile. He blinked a few times, then walked away confused. Still holding his begging hand up for a while after.

The Judgment: Macedonia was something that was conveniently nearby on a trip from somewhere else to somewhere else. We, with a travel buddy, decided to sacrifice a couple of days from the plan to pop by just because it was there. Consequentially, I only got to see it for a couple of days, so there's not much to say. I really wished there was time to visit Ohrid and the lake. For some reason I will never know, the local people told me they were sorry I could not see Bitola, but that I really had to go there. Even after leaving, people online kept talking about Bitola. Why?

The capital seemed quiet, calm, had a few very nice places and a few environments of rubble. The tourists had not found the place, yet. Everything was quite inexpensive. People were polite and everyone knew at least one word of English. I'm sure you can guess which one. The food was very Balkan as seemed to be people's hopes for the near future.

Would I go again? Yes. I've had the Ohrid trip cancelled twice already. Maybe third time is the charm. And maybe I have to go to that Bitola, too, and find out whether there's anything worth visiting on the Eastern half. Just not in the +40C (+104F / +313.15K) summer, this time.