North Macedonia

Skopje's over-the-top statues and the Old Bazaar, plus an early morning kayaking on the emerald water of Matka Canyon.

Skopje is the most surprising city on the route. We crossed from Kosovo into North Macedonia in the afternoon and checked into the Limak, where the room was quiet and high, which was exactly what we'd asked for. We walked to the Old Bazaar that evening and found the Stone Bridge over the Vardar river, then Macedonia Square with its enormous Warrior on a Horse fountain. The whole centre is the Skopje 2014 project, a forest of oversized statues and fake-Baroque facades that is deliberately over the top. You will walk right through it and wonder what happened here. We ate at Skopski Merak in Debar Maalo, where the locals go, and ordered the pastrmajlija, the boat-shaped flatbread with meat, and the tavče gravče, the classic bean pot. The servers steered us well.

The Old Bazaar, the Čaršija, is the largest Ottoman bazaar in the Balkans outside Istanbul, and you can spend an afternoon in it. Coppersmiths hammer away in tiny workshops. Filigree makers show their work. Narrow stone lanes lead to small mosques. We bought a bag of lokma, the honey-soaked dough balls, from Lokmades, which every traveller seems to mention, and carried it up to Kale Fortress for the view over the Vardar. Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, and her memorial house is a quiet stop on the way back down.

The next morning we drove out to Matka Canyon, which is about thirty minutes west of the city. We arrived at a quarter to nine, just before the vendors opened, and it was the right call. The reservoir is an emerald green under the cliffs, and we rented a kayak and paddled out toward the cliffs. We also took the longer boat to the Vrelo Cave, which is a deep underwater cave, and it was cool and dark in the way only caves are. Walk past the first boat company at the entrance, because the vendors further in are more honest about prices. The lunch at Canyon Matka restaurant, on the water at the canyon mouth, was not the best food of the trip. We went for the view, and we got it.

We spent the last afternoon in Skopje at Kale Fortress and the Church of St. Clement of Ohrid, and then dinner at Soul Kitchen on the river at the edge of the Old Bazaar. We ate tavče gravče and kebaps under string lights. It was a lovely last evening in a city that had earned our affection.

Reflection: North Macedonia rewards people who are willing to get up early. The bazaar is best in the afternoon, the canyon is best at dawn, and Skopje is best when you let it surprise you.