North Macedonia

From Friday 26 November 2021 to Thursday 02 December 2021

After our excellent road-trip in Albania, we continue our way by passing by North Macedonia. A few days ago, we booked a bus trip between Tirana (capital of Albania) and Ohrid, in the South-West of North Macedonia.

As soon as we pass the door of the bus station, we are asked from all sides, some want to know where we are going, others if we need a cab. We just have to say "Ohrid" and they point to the mini-bus and the driver who will accompany us. We load our bags in the mini-bus then we leave to look for a snack. When we come back 5 minutes before the departure, we notice that there are more passengers waiting than available places in the mini-bus. And, far from being disturbed, the driver tells us that since the women are smaller, they will share the back seat of the van. So we are four on a bench for three people. When I take place at one of the extremities of the bench, I understand that the journey is going to be very long. One buttock on the bench and the other in the void, I try to support the pressure of the body of the other girls who push me gradually of my seat. Thirty minutes later, I have the impression to be completely disarticulated, my back and my neck do not like this position at all, my right leg is aching so much the muscles are solicited.

So when we arrive at the border between Albania and North Macedonia, I am delighted to get off the mini-bus for a few minutes, far from suspecting that this torture session is over for today. Once again, the French vaccination rule "I had the COVID 19 before, so I have the right to only one dose" comes up. North Macedonia refuses to let us pass, because we had the COVID more than 45 days ago. The customs officer, very nice, explains us that we have to do a COVID test to cross the border. For that, we have to go back to the Albanian side first, because the tests are done on this side of the border. She explains the situation to our bus driver, the tone rises and the verdict falls: he will not wait for us. He opens the trunk, takes out our things and starts again.

Annoyed by this situation, the customs officer asks us to go and do the test and tells us that she will call us a cab for the rest of the journey.

Ten minutes later, it is with 30 euros less in our wallet, a very painful nose and two negative anti-genic tests that we cross the Macedonian border again. Immediately, a cab present on the spot, proposes to take us to Ohrid. And as we used our last Albanian leks to pay our antigenic tests, he agrees to take us for 18 euros, that's all we have left.

This unforeseen loss of money and this problem of vaccination occupy our mind for a good part of the journey. We are determined to be vaccinated as soon as possible!

Ohrid

Our accommodation in Ohrid is very nice. We have the impression to live in one of these rooms composed mainly of windows that we had seen in the houses in Berat, the city of the thousand windows. It is very luminous and the view of our balcony is splendid: on a side the castle and on the other the immense lake. The negative point of these houses "with the thousand windows", it is that we feel the draughts pass while we are lying in our bed.

Our hosts are very helpful, they offer us to call the vaccination centers to see if it is possible to get a second dose of vaccine against COVID-19 in Macedonia. On top of that, they take care of our dirty laundry. It's a relief to be in the company of kind people after our experience with the mini-bus. The next morning, we learn that we can get vaccinated once we are in the city of Bitola, our next destination, as the vaccination centers are closed on weekends.

Our day in Ohrid is very peaceful. In the morning, we take the time to discover the architecture of the old town, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In the afternoon, we take advantage of the lake, also listed as a UNESCO world heritage site since 1979. If you follow our adventures, you know that we were already at the edge of the lake a few days ago, but on the other side, on the Albanian side. Lake Ohrid, the oldest lake in Europe, straddles Albania and Northern Macedonia. Today, the lake is very agitated, because of the storm and the heavy rains during the night.

Tonight it's rest night, we leave at 5am the next day for our next step: the city of Bitola.

Bitola

The city of Bitola is located in the southwest of Macedonia. We spend two days in Bitola. And our program is already thought: visit of the city and its surroundings the first day, vaccination and rest the second day.

We start with the visit of the archaeological site Heraclea Lyncestis, the ancient city of Bitola, built in the middle of the 4th century BC by Philip of Macedonia. The ruins are quite nice to visit, but too bad for us, the museum is closed for renovation. We will learn during our stay in Macedonia that it is very frequent to pay the full price for an entrance ticket, without being able to access the whole visit.

Then, we walk to a waterfall before returning to town. This is an opportunity to pass by the Tumbe Kafe park, which testifies to the suffering of Bitola during the First World War. Shell holes, trenches and bunkers are still visible. Most impressive are the remains of two war planes.

For the record, Bitola was on the front line between the Bulgarian invaders and the Serbian army during the First World War from 1916 to 1918. The city was bombed daily by the air force and artillery and was almost completely destroyed at the end of the war. At the end of the war, Bitola was included in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes which became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. Bitola's suffering did not end there, as it was the first city to be attacked by Axis forces during World War II. The city was liberated by communist resistance fighters on November 4, 1944. And even if Bitola does not get the title of capital, Tito having preferred to give it to Skopje, it remains the second economic center of Macedonia.

In the afternoon, we visit the center of the city. We find the main street with its neo-classical architecture very nice. We walk to the clock tower and the old bazaar. We spend the time we have left before nightfall to find and admire the street-arts.

The next morning, we go to the vaccination center of the Red Cross on the advice of our host. As soon as we arrived, we were asked for our residence card. Once again, we could not get a second dose in Bitola. On the spot, the operator advises us to go to Bulgaria or Serbia. We spend our afternoon looking for the possibilities that are available to us in terms of vaccination. We had good hopes for Bulgaria, a European Union country, until the embassy told us that only Bulgarian residents were eligible for the vaccination. We get no answer from the Serbian embassy, which seems to be one of our best options, which worries us.

Skopje

We arrived in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia at noon, after a three hours bus ride. We left under the snow this morning and we were delighted to contemplate the plains and mountains all white.

Once we dropped our bags in the hostel we booked... Oh no, we are not in the right hostel. Ours is on the other side of the street! (Thanks anyway to the manager for his welcome!).

So, we start again... once our bags deposited in the hostel (this time, it is the good one), we run towards the meeting point of our guided tour of the city.

We spend two hours in the company of our guide, who shows us how true the nickname of Skopje: "the Disneyland of the Balkans" is. Skopje suffered a lot during the First World War because, like Bitola, many battles took place on Macedonian territory. The Second World War did not spare it either, and the earthquake of July 26, 1963 (magnitude 6.9) was the final blow, killing at least 1,000 people, injuring 3,000 and leaving 120,000 homeless. After that, more than 80% of the city was destroyed.

And while the international context is tense because of the Cold War, Skopje appeals to international solidarity to rebuild. This is the only historical moment when the United States and Russia find common ground regarding the aid to be given to the Macedonians.

Of course, when the international community helps, it gives thanks. How can Skopje do this? By building replicas of the most famous international symbols such as the French Arc de Triomphe, the Belgian Millennium, the German Branderburg, the American "Bull", etc. And the corruption is such in Macedonia that a good part of the money intended for the reconstruction is diverted. The result? Beautiful buildings that are in danger of collapsing, but with very nice (and fake) facades.

Finally, what occupies us the most during our stay in Skopje is our vaccination problem. Even if, at first sight, it is not possible to be vaccinated in Macedonia, we still try to go to the hospital. Here, all vaccines are available. The speech is the same as the one we had in Bitola: no vaccination for non-residents. Nevertheless, a doctor advises us to go to the Ministry of Health the next day in order to obtain an exemption. This would allow us to be vaccinated.

The next morning, we put this advice into action. To our surprise, we are very well received by one of the officials at the Ministry of Health, Ivan, who immediately agrees to our request. The only information he needs is the batch number of our first injection. Information, which we obviously do not have. Where can we find it? On our vaccine summary, which we have never obtained and whose name no one in France has mentioned to us.

A quick search on the internet tells us that this vaccine summary was put into circulation after the date of our first injection and that it is our responsibility to ask for it, either to our doctor or to our vaccination center.

That's when my sister, Aurélie, entered the scene and struggled to call our vaccination centers to get the information. Until (twist of fate) she calls me to inform me that she got both of our vaccine summaries by simply asking at... her pharmacy. I might as well tell you that we already thought it was over!

With our two vaccine summaries in our pocket (well, in digital format on our phones), we go back to Ivan, who, without any warning, registers us in the Macedonian system and calls the hospital to inform them of our coming for the injection the next morning.

At the hospital, we are received immediately. The doctor fills out our file, takes us to a nurse who gives us the injection and then brings us back to the doctor who gives us our certificates. And in Macedonia, we receive not only a Macedonian QR code (which attests to the two injections), but also a European QR code, an attention for the United States and another for Canada. Much better than in France, isn't it? And, thank God, no need to ask for the vaccine summary, the doctor gives it to us directly.

After this episode, which marks the end of our vaccine epic, we go back to the hostel, where we rest while waiting for the departure of our night bus to the capital of Bulgaria: Sofia. And for once, we are not nervous to cross the border!