Skopje, North Macedonia

For all the fuzz about rental car restrictions into Macedonia, the border crossing was quick and straight forward. Then a bit of a shock. The roads were terrible compared to Bulgaria. This could be a nightmare, I thought. But as we moved closer to the capital, the roads improved. Mainly due to the fact that we started to have more and more toll roads on our way.

After a quick stop in Skopje, we actually drove a bit further to Matka Canyon where I had booked a hotel right in the middle of the gorge. I had a well deserved beer and then switched to the complementary bottle of wine. It is kind of a romantic getaway, or at least that is how it's advertised. The next morning we had a big breakfast and then hopped on the canyon cruise.

Only on our way back to Bulgaria we stopped over in Skopje itself. I clearly remember the fact that a beer at the main square cost less than an Euro at the time, which I thought was amazing. The highlight is definitely the large monument in the middle of the square of the country's most famous historical person: Alexander the Great.