North Macedonia

The Republic of North Macedonia, it’s not on most people’s radar for a holiday. It does have the fantastic and historical Lake Ohrid and the lively capital Skopje, which has been inhabited for about six thousand years, par for the course around these parts.

Last year North Macedonia made headlines by knocking out Italy from World Cup contention and defeating Germany earlier in the qualifying round. Their campaign fell one game short as they lost to Portugal for a chance to go to their first World Cup.

Macedonia in many ways is stuck in the 1970s. You will see terrible cars, Yugos and others, with kids jumping around the backseats and nobody wears a helmet while riding their motorbike or moped. The first thing that comes to your table in a restaurant is an ashtray, not the menu.

About a third of the population is ethnic Albanian, and as you drive the countryside, you can see many towns with strictly Albanian flags. Mother Teresa was born in Skopje to an Albanian family.

Do you know about the naming dispute between Macedonia and Greece? Greece’s northern territory is called Macedonia and since the breakup of Yugoslavia, Greece has been irritated that Macedonia took the name. After years of whining Greece and Macedonia agreed that Macedonia would change the name to North Macedonia to differentiate between the Greek province of Macedonia and the country of Macedonia, er North Macedonia.

None of this matters, of course, unless you are Macedonian and you are disputing the origins of Alexander the Great. Both countries claim him, but his birthplace is not known. The officials in Skopje claim him as they have erected the largest statue of him anywhere, so he’s theirs, I guess.