Tourist Attractions & Monuments Northern Macedonia

Opened in 1989, this national museum (Музеј на Народно Ослободителната Војна/Muzej na Narodno Osloboditelnata Vojna) is dedicated to the region during the Second World War. Here you'll find weapons used by the partisans, as well as period documents. But the main attraction is the superb fresco by Prilep-born artist Borko Lazeski (1917-1993). His local work includes the stained glass windows of the Makedonium and a vast mural in Prilep.

This public university (Универзитет Свети Кирил и Методиј/Univerzitet Sveti Kiril i Metodij, Universiteti Shën Kirili dhe Metodi) is the largest in the country with about 25,000 students. Founded in 1949, it is named after the two saints who evangelized the Slavs in the ^9th century. The visit is interesting for the brutalist architecture of the three main buildings (faculties of law, philosophy and economics) completed in 1978 and designed by the Slovenian Marko Mušič (born in 1941).

This Orthodox chapel (Црквата Света Богородица Захумска/Crkvata Sveta Bogorodica Zahumska) is located on a ridge above Lake Ohrid, at an altitude of 1,005 m above sea level. An elegant little Byzantine building dating from 1299, it is reminiscent of the Church of St. John in Kaneo, Ohrid. Its frescoes, painted in 1361, are badly damaged. However, a rare scene inspired by a fresco in the Church of St. George in Kurbinovo (Lake Prespa) remains: the Virgin Child suckling by her mother, St. Anne.

This abandoned Orthodox church (Црква Свети Никола Летен/Crkva Sveti Nikola Leten) is an Instagrammer's delight: it's partly submerged in Lake Mavrovo. Built in 1850, it's the only visible building of the former village of Mavrovo, buried between 1947 and 1956. However, depending on water levels, it is possible to visit the church, of which only the bell tower is still in good condition. The present-day village of Mavrovo has a new St. Nicholas church, built in 2006.

This ruined fortress (Тврдина Исар/Tvrdina Isar) offers a beautiful panorama. Placed on a hilltop plateau, 360 m above sea level, it overlooks the city to the west, but also the confluence of the Bregalnica and Otinja rivers to the south, from a height of 100 m. The site was permanently occupied from the ^3rd century BC by miners. They exploited an iron deposit on the site. The plateau was then equipped with a wall defending an area of 7 ha. Later, in the Middle Ages, when the deposit was exhausted, only a part of the plateau was used. The Bulgarian and Byzantine empires succeeded one another here and built powerful walls, in some places more than 1.50 m wide. These are partly preserved as well as the remains of a keep. Two necropolises, one ancient, the other medieval, have also been discovered, as well as a basilica and a cistern. The site was occupied again by the Serbs in the ^14th century, then abandoned by the Ottomans in the ^17th century. The road that leads there stops in front of the necropolis of the partisans of the Second World War dating from 1974. It is marked by beautiful stone blocks carved by the Serbian designer Bogdan Bogdanović (1922-2010). Then you have to climb a long series of steps to reach the top. The most courageous can make the whole climb on foot: a path starts in the city and passes by the beautiful church of Archangel Michael erected in 1332. But this one lost its frescoes when it was transformed into mosque.

This elegant white villa (Офицерски Дом/Ofitserski Dom) has housed the tourist office since 2022. It was built for the Ottoman governor from 1911 and completed in 1919, when the town had already passed into Serbian control. Used as a military officers' club until the 2000s, it was restored in 2021. The house is surrounded by the Macedonian Phalanx Park, which pays tribute to the troops of Alexander the Great. At the entrance stands the beautiful statue of partisan Stevan Naumov (1920-1942) in the socialist realist style.

This elegant little mosque (Хаџи Махмуд-Бег Џамија/Hadži Mahmud-Beg Džamija) was built in 1522 thanks to a donation from the fierce governor Hadji Mahmut Bey, nicknamed Tomruk Ağa ("prison guard" in Turkish). The mosque was renowned for its spirit of tolerance. It was home to a medersa (Koranic school) and Dervish poets. Damaged by German bombardment during the First World War and by an earthquake, which shattered its minaret, in 1996, it was renovated in 2023 thanks to funding from Turkey.

This small Orthodox rock church (Црква Свети Стефан Панцир/Crkva Sveti Stefan Pancir) has been nestled in a cliff since the ^13th century. Behind a modern facade and bell tower, it preserves frescoes painted on the rock dating from the ^14th and ^15th centuries, including a Virgin in Majesty and an Eye of Providence. The church belongs to the almost abandoned village of Šipokno/Шипокно (on the heights) and gives its name to the hotel zone of Sveti Stefan (along the lake).

This small pedestrian square (Градски Плоштад/Gradski Ploštad, Sheshi i Qytetit) forms the center of Gostivar with numerous shops, cafés and restaurants in the surrounding area. It is dominated by the white bell tower of the main Orthodox church, Mother of God, built between 1924 and 1929. Opposite begins JNA ("Yugoslav People's Army") Street, which leads to the A 2 road. To the north of the square is a shopping center and, to the south, the small City Park.

This 75 ha cemetery (Гробишта Бутел/Grobišta Butel) is the largest in the Skopje metropolitan area. Among the thousands of graves is that of Georgios Zorbas (1865-1941), famous for inspiring the writer Nikos Kazantzakis to write his short story Zorba the Greek in 1946. Embodied by Anthony Quinn dancing the sirtaki in the 1964 film of the same name, Georgios Zorbas was first a miner, then a monk in Greece, before becoming a mine owner in the Skopje region at the end of his life. Thus, the tomb of one of the great figures of Greek folklore is located here, south of the cemetery (GPS: 42.034575, 21.435675). Rediscovered in 1997, the grave is simple, white and bears the name of the Janda family (Јанда): it houses Georgios Zorbas (Георгиос Зорбас) but also his grandchildren Konstantinida and Jovan Janda, who died in the 1960s. In addition, the Butel cemetery has two important monuments. To the east stands the elegant Monument to the Victims of the 1963 Earthquake. Opened in 1973 and designed by Jordan Grabulovski, who designed the Makedonium in Kruševo, it hosts an official ceremony on July 26, the date of the earthquake that killed 1,070 people in Skopje in 1963. A little further south stands the large Partisan Monument (1964) designed by the Croatian architect Dimitrije Mita Mladenović (b. 1936). Two ceremonies are held here: on May 9 for the celebrations of the end of World War II and on March 11 in memory of the deportation of Macedonian Jews in 1943.

Erected in 1726, this Ottoman tower (Саат-Кула/Saat-Kula) stands 12 m high. Square and built of stone, its upper part and roof are made of wood. It was originally used to indicate the prayer times of Muslims. Its alla turca mechanism (placing the beginning of the day at sunset) was replaced by a classical alla franca system (which counts down the hours from midnight) after the Balkan wars (1912-1913). This one is still in use.

Situated at an altitude of 1,240 m, this Orthodox monastery (Сливнички Манастир/Slivnički Manastir) is dedicated to the Nativity of the Mother of God. Built between 1607 and 1645 by the Bulgarian clergy, it enjoys a beautiful setting on the slopes of Mount Baba with a grandiose panorama of the two Prespa lakes. Spared by French artillery fire in 1917 and restored in the 1990s, the complex is renowned for its miraculous spring, but has not been home to a monastic community since the ^19th century. However, it is possible to sleep here (20 rooms of rather spartan comfort) and is the starting point for hikes in the Pelister National Park. The catholicon (main church) is richly frescoed between 1607 and 1645. The main donors to the monastery are featured prominently. Among them, a certain Michel Petkov from Monastir (Bitola) had his son Kupen, who died prematurely in 1599, depicted in ceremonial dress in the northern part of the apse near the altar. Around the altar are portraits of the Slav evangelizers St. Cyril of Thessalonica, St. Clement and St. Naum of Ohrid, St. Gorazd of Bulgaria and St. Angelar of Ohrid. A rare depiction of Sisoes the Great (^6th-century Egyptian anchorite) lamenting over the skeleton of Alexander the Great can be found on a windowsill on the south wall. The church also boasts a fine iconostasis, whose royal doors and large icons also date from the ^17th century.

Offering a beautiful view of the lake, this recent Orthodox church (Црква Свети Климент и Пантелејмон/Crkva Sveti Kliment i Pantelejmon) was completed in 2002. It follows the supposed model of the church of St. Panteleimon erected here by St. Clement of Ohrid in 893 and transformed into a mosque in the ^15th century. The latter, left abandoned since the departure of the Turkish population in 1912, was destroyed and only the base of the old church has been preserved. Of enormous appearance with a narthex (to the north), a porch (to the south), two domes, a bell tower (to the west), an apse and its apsidioles (to the east), the building in fact houses a rather narrow naos. On the lower parts of the walls, a zinc joint is supposed to mark the limit between recent areas and the foundations of the ^ninth century. Mosaics from a^{fifth-century} baptistery are displayed in the porch. In the naos, part of the ancient foundations is visible under glass panels and fragments of ^{fourteenth-century} frescoes remain around the altar. Finally, the relics of St. Clement have been placed in the crypt in which he was buried in 916, to the right of the iconostasis. Outside, opposite the main entrance, is the atrium of the Ohrid literary school. In all likelihood, the first Slavic-language university was founded here by Clement of Orhid in the ^9th century. Classes were held in this double peristyle, some of whose columns have been removed.

This concert hall, inaugurated in 2017 (Филхармонија на Република Северна Македонија/Filharmonija na Republika Severna Makedonija, Filarmonia e Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut) is the only high-quality achievement of the "Skopje 2014" project. Its structure of giant black vaults echoes the beautiful design of the Cathedral of St. Clement in Ohrid. It stands on the site of the Ibni Pajko mosque, destroyed in 1947. See also "Going out" in Skopje.

This museum (Музеј на Македонски Народен Театар/Muzej na Makedonski Naroden Teatar) is located, opposite the so-called "Theater Bridge" footbridge and next to the Macedonian Wrestling Museum, in the National Theater built in 2013 as part of the "Skopje 2014" project. This is a kitsch replica of the 1906 theater destroyed by the 1963 earthquake. Costumes, sets, photographs, paintings, personal effects of actors and directors, etc., are all on display.

Today rivaled by more modern shopping centers, the GTC or "city mall" (Градски Трговски Центар - ГТЦ) remains an emblematic Skopje building with stores, cafés, restaurants, cinema, rooftop terrace and more. Opened in 1973, it was designed by Živko Popovski (1934-2007) on the site of Mother Teresa's birthplace, destroyed in the 1963 earthquake. At the western entrance, a monument bears a quotation from the Catholic saint: "The world is not hungry for bread, but for love." See also "Treat yourself".

This Sufi place of worship (Теќе Зејнел Абедин-Паша/Teḱe Zejnel Abedin-Paša) is an ancient mosque founded by Governor Aliağazâde Zeynelâbidin Paşa in the ^16th century. In 1766, it was entrusted by decree of the Sultan to the Sufi brotherhood of the Halevis. From then on, the building became the âsitâne (mother house) of the halevis in the Ohrid region. Other buildings and türbes (tombs) were added until the ^19th century. Today unused, it is one of the very few tekkes in the Balkans with a minaret. It is 18 m high and dates from the ^17th century.

This mosque (Џамија Хаџи Торгут/Džamija Hadži Torgut, Xhamia e Haxhi Durgutit) is the oldest in the city. It was built in 1466 on the site of the Byzantine church Agia Kyriaki (Saint Dominic). Legend has it that its minaret collapsed several times, until the cross of the old church was installed at the top. Even today, the minaret (about 20 m high) is topped by a small stylized Christian cross, a unique case in the world. The building is nicknamed "Mosque of the Cross" (Крст Џамија/Krst Džamija).

As the Šar Mountains National Park is new, it does not yet have a proper information center. For excursions in the national park, more information can be found on the websites of the hiking trail networks Via Dinarica (trail.viadinarica.com), which covers the entire Dinaric Alps from Slovenia, and High Scardus Trail (highscardus.com), which specializes in routes through the Šar Mountains, between Kosovo and Northern Macedonia.

This square (Плоштад Скендербег/Ploštad Skenderbeg, Sheshi i Skënderbeut) is located above Goce-Delčev Boulevard and marks the entrance to the predominantly Albanian-populated Stara Čaršija neighborhood. Since 2006, it has been adorned with a 7-meter-high equestrian statue of the Albanian hero Skanderbeg, who fought the Ottomans in the ^15th century. As part of the "Skopje 2014" project, the square was also equipped with a mural depicting great figures of Albanian history, an open-air theater and a statue of Skanderbeg's army.

This mosque (Алипашина Џамија/Alipašina Džamija, Xhamia e Ali Pashës) constitutes the heart of the sharia. Founded in 1573, it took its present name around 1823, when the pasha of Belgrade Maraşlı Ali Paşa extended his territory to here. Square in shape (15 x 15 m), it originally had two minarets, one of which was destroyed during the First Balkan War, the other during the Second World War. The interior has walnut elements and an inscription of the Shahada, the first pillar of Islam. It is the center of the Sunni community in Ohrid.

This vast 65 m-long building (Безистен/Bezisten) is one of the city's oldest Ottoman edifices, having probably been built in the late ^15th century. It is a bezistan (from the Persian bazzāzestān, "place of the drapers") where merchants' most precious goods were stored for the night: silks, gold, jewelry, etc. Renovated in Baroque style in the ^19th century, it is now a little dilapidated but houses a number of shops and services. On the south side is the pleasant terrace of Café Vezilka.

Founded in 1999, this museum (Нумизматички Музеј/Numizmatički Muzej) is housed in the headquarters of the National Bank of Northern Macedonia, in a futuristic 1960s tower. It houses a collection of 22,000 coins, medals, exagia solidi (Byzantine monetary weights), seals and banknotes from antiquity to the present day. Around a thousand of the country's coins are on display. Among these, the oldest are Peonian drachms minted in the ^4th century BC. Buses: 3а, 3b, 7b, 22 and 41, "Kompleks Banki 1" stop.

Renovated in 2021, this beautiful ^18th-century Ottoman-style house (Спомен Куќа на Браќата Миладинови/Spomen Kuḱa na Braḱata Miladinovi) was the birthplace of Dimitar Miladinov (1810-1862) and Konstantin Miladinov (1830-1862). Struga's two Bulgarian poets, who died of typhus in the same Ottoman prison in Constantinople, are presented here as "Macedonians". Yet they were the driving force behind the renaissance of Bulgarian literature, and the idea of a "Macedonian" identity did not emerge until decades after their death. Transformed into a museum, the house where they were born displays some of their works and personal effects, including a reproduction of the poem T'ga za Jug ("Nostalgia for the South"), composed in 1861 by Konstantin Miladinov. But much of their writing is still censored in North Macedonia, as it is considered probulgar. The house also houses the headquarters of the Struga Poetic Evenings Association (a festival held at the end of August), as well as some superb ^5th-6th century mosaics. These come from the floor of a large early-Christian basilica discovered in the village of Oktisi/Октиси, 10 km northwest of Struga, whose population is predominantly Turkish. Opposite the house is the Vangel-Kodžoman art gallery (Галерија Вангел Коџоман/Galerija Vangel Kodžoman). It houses thirty works by local painter Vangel Kodžoman (1904-1994). Visits by appointment with Miladinov House.

This Orthodox monastery (Лесновски Манастир/Lesnovski Manastir) forms a beautiful ensemble around a ^14th-century Serbo-Byzantine church. Enjoying a superb environment, on the southwestern slope of Mount Osogovo and in the center of an ancient volcano crater, it is located in the hamlet of Lesnovo. This one counts only about twenty inhabitants, all Macedonians, but one finds there a small museum and several restaurants. The monastery is dedicated to the archangel Michael and to the holy hermit Gabriel of Lesnovo. It is to the latter that the foundation of the complex is attributed in the ^11th century. The region was then isolated and populated by hermits, including John of Rila, Prohor of Pčinja and Joachim of Osogovo who left to found various monasteries and played an important role in the religious history of the Balkans. For example, John of Rila is considered the patron saint of Bulgaria. Among this group of the "four brothers" of Osogovo, Gabriel of Lesnovo stayed on and probably formed a small community here. But it is only in 1330 that the monastery is mentioned for the first time. Eleven years later, in 1341, it was completely restored by the powerful Serbian lord Jovan Oliver Grčinić (c. 1310-1356), an influential member of the court of Emperor Stefan Dušan.

Frescoes and rock chapels. Several times remodeled, the complex was long renowned for its scriptorium, a copyist's workshop that disseminated texts until the ^mid-19th century throughout the Balkans. Today, the monastery is composed of buildings from different periods, including a chapel built in 2016, but the main feature of the monastery is the catholicon, a beautiful main church built between 1341 and 1349. This houses part of the original frescoes, among which is a whole series of portraits: Jovan Oliver Grčinić and his wife Marija, the archangel Michael on a horse, the hermit saints Gabriel of Lesnovo, Prohor of the Pčinja and Joachim of Osogovo and, in majesty, even dominating Christ, the emperor Dušan and his wife Helena of Bulgaria. Other scenes appear such as the dormition of the Mother of God, the healing of the paralytic, the archangel Michael saving Thessaloniki from the Saracens in the ^10th century and even a scene of kolo, the typical circle dance of the Balkan Slavs. In addition, along the road leading to the hamlet, about 1 km to the south, are still visible three caves used by hermits in the ^14th century and transformed into rock chapels. On the spot, an explanatory panel in English indicates the access.

Nestled in a cliff, this Orthodox cave church (Црква Свети Архангел Михаил/Crkva Sveti Arhangel Mihail) houses a fine set of ^14th-century frescoes. The grotto also features a ^13th-century fresco in poor condition depicting the miracle of Chône: the archangel Michael - here painted on horseback holding a spear - diverting the water that threatened to flood the Christian village of Chône, in Phrygia (modern-day Turkey), after pagans destroyed a dam upstream.

This square (Плоштад Скендербег/Ploštad Skenderbeg, Sheshi Skënderbeu) consists mainly of two small parks in the city center. Since 2003, it has been adorned by a massive 3.5 m-high statue of Gjergj Kastrioti, known as Skanderbeg (1405-1468), financed by the Albanian diaspora in the USA. The Albanian hero's family ruled Debar before the city was taken by the Ottomans in 1395. Also on the square is a small monument commemorating the Albanian victims of the Kosovo war (1998-1999).

The National Museum of the Ilinden Uprising and the Republic of Kruševo (Музеј на Илинденското Востание и Крушевската Република/Muzej na Ilindenskoto Vostanie i Kruševskata Republik) is housed in an attractive ^19th-century house that belonged to the Tomalevski family. It was here that the Republic of Kruševo was declared on August 4, 1903, at the start of the Ilinden uprising against the Ottoman Empire (August 2-November 25, 1903). In the weeks leading up to the uprising, the place served as a clandestine arsenal: it was here that lead was smelted to make ammunition, that the famous little wooden cannons were cobbled together, but also that hundreds of bought or stolen weapons and thousands of cartridges stolen from Ottoman garrisons were stored. Established in 1953, the museum houses an eclectic collection of weapons used by the Kruševo insurgents until the fall of the Republic on August 13, 1913: handguns, sabres, knives, old petrels and Western-made rifles. These include Mauser rifles and Smith & Wesson pistols from the Ottoman army, a pistol from the Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne, a Winchester M1897 pump-action shotgun and Lebel rifles from Châtellerault. The exhibition is accompanied by period photos, maps and documents. But the highlights are the Belgian Nagant revolver and the Austro-Hungarian Steyr-Mannlicher rifle that belonged to uprising leader Nikola Karev.

This small museum (Музеј на Град Виница) belongs to the town of Vinica with a population of about 8,500. Founded in 2006, it is worth a visit for its amazing collection of terracotta objects from the nearby fortress and other sites from different periods. In particular, it possesses very rare Christian terracotta icons from the^{5th to the7th} centuries. But the most famous of these "Vinica icons", which represents the Old Testament characters Joshua and Caleb, is in the Museum of Northern Macedonia, in Skopje... and on the 200 denar banknotes.

This World War I cemetery (Француски Воени Гробишта/Francuski Voeni Grobišta, Varrezat Ushtarake Franceze) is located above the Vardar and next to the US embassy. It houses the bodies of the soldiers of the French Army of the East who died during the Vardar offensive of September 1918. Although much smaller than Bitola, it contains 2,930 bodies of French, Moroccan and Senegalese soldiers: 960 individual graves and two ossuaries. Inaugurated in 1923, it stands on a former Roma cemetery ceded to France. Well-maintained, it comprises four rows of graves, monuments and the Maison du Souvenir (House of Remembrance). The House of Remembrance keeps a list of the soldiers buried here. An exhibition features period documents and recounts the capture of Skopje on September 29, 1918. This episode marked the end of the "Üsküb maneuver". While the Macedonian front had been at a standstill since 1915, this offensive, launched on September 14, 1918, broke through the lines held by the Bulgarians, Germans and Austro-Hungarians. Starting out from Florina (Greece), the^4th regiment of African chasseurs and the regiment of Moroccan spahis marched up the Vardar valley, giving rise to the last charge of the French cavalry under the command of General François Léon Jouinot-Gambetta, nephew of Léon Gambetta. The capture of Skopje led to Bulgaria's capitulation on September 30. Allied troops continued on to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which capitulated on November 4.

This museum (Музеј за Тутун/Muzej za Tutun) is located within the Prilep Tobacco Factory (Тутунски Комбинат ад Прилеп) and is part of the Prilep National Museum. It was founded in 1973 to mark the factory's centenary and the four centuries of tobacco cultivation in Pelagonia. The exhibition features over 2,500 objects: snuffboxes, pipes, water pipes, opium pipes, hookahs, lighters, narcotics, as well as tobacco production and handling objects, advertising objects, tobacco products, paintings, photo collections and sculptures.

Overlooking the old town since 1840, this three-aisled basilica (Црквата Свети Пантелејмон/Crkvata Sveti Pantelejmon) is the seat of the Macedonian Orthodox diocese of Povadaria. Thanks to its incredible acoustics, due to clay pots filling the space between double walls, it is nicknamed the "Scala de Veles". It was designed by Andreja Damjanov (1813-1878), a native of the region and considered one of the most important Balkan architects of the ^19th century. He was also responsible for the Osogovo monastery near Kriva Palanka, among others.

This Orthodox church (Црква Свети Никола/Crkva Sveti Nikola) features frescoes dating from 1271 that survived the destruction of the First World War. Located in the hamlet of Manastir, 690 m above sea level, it was part of a monastery founded by Byzantine aristocrat Alexis Comnenus in 1095 and restored in 1266 by a higoumen (abbot) named Akakios. The rest of the buildings were destroyed in 1916. The church takes the form of a basilica with three naves: there are only four buildings of this type in the country, including Saint Sophia Cathedral in Ohrid. The central nave features scenes from the life of Christ and portraits of saints Demetrios, George, Theodore Tiron and Theodore the Stratilate. The south aisle is decorated with scenes from the life of Saint Nicholas. In the north aisle, the portrait of the higoumene Akakios, who carries the church in miniature, remains. Manastir officially has three inhabitants and is part of the mountainous Mariovo region. Intense fighting took place here between the Serbian and Bulgarian armies in September 1916. Some 23 km to the south as the crow flies, on the summit of Mount Kajmakčalan (2,528 m above sea level), between Greece and northern Macedonia, stands a chapel that preserves the skulls of some of the 4,643 Serbian soldiers who died during the confrontation. The Bulgarians suffered fewer casualties (1,876 dead), but were forced to retreat, allowing French, Serbian and Russian troops to take Bitola in November 1916.

This square (Плоштад Карпошово Востание, Ploštad Karpošovo Vostanie) is an obligatory passage when taking the stone bridge to visit Skopje's eastern shore. Left empty after the 1963 earthquake, it is now occupied by a series of ugly and kitschy monuments created as part of the "Skopje 2014" project. It was supposed to be named after Alexander the Great's father, King Philip II of Macedonia. But due to protests from Greece, it was renamed after the local uprising in October 1689 against the Ottomans led by the Bulgarian Petar Karpoš. At the far end of the square is the Warrior 's Monument, a 15 meter high statue of Phillip II on a 13 meter high pedestal. In the center stands the fountain of the Mothers of Macedonia with four statues evoking Olympias, wife of Philip II and mother of Alexander. Two other fountains adorn the square, while the stone bridge is guarded by statues of the insurgents Gjorgji Pulevski (1817-1895) and Petar Karpoš (c. 1655-1689), and then by those of the Slavic evangelizing saints Cyril and Methodius, on one side, and Clement and Naum of Ohrid, on the other. Finally, the square is bordered by the Museum of Macedonian Struggle, the Holocaust Museum, the Church of St. Demetrios, the buildings of the Nikolovski Faculty of Music and the Nikolovski School of Dance (1960s-1970s), the curved Ibni-Pajko building (1938), the Stone Bridge Hotel and the National Archaeological Museum.

This information center (Национален Парк Галичица Инфо Центар/Nacionalen Park Galičica Info Centar) is mainly active on the Internet and does not offer hiking guides. On the English version of the website, you'll find poorly detailed route maps (on foot or mountain bike), accommodation solutions or even a presentation of the flora and fauna. The same information can be found on the "National Park Galicica" app available on Google Play.

Curiously isolated on a block of stone, this Islamic mausoleum (Турбе Синан Челеби/Turbo Sinan Čelebi) is the only witness to five centuries of Ottoman presence on Plaošnik Hill. In the center of a small group of roofless arcades is the sarcophagus of Sinan Yusuf Çelebi, buried here in 1493. He was a prominent member of the powerful Turkish Ohrizade family and was responsible for several monuments in the lower town in the ^15th century which have now disappeared. It is also him who transformed the Saint-Panteleimon church into a mosque.

This small stone Orthodox church (Црква Света Петка/Crkva Sveta Petka) is one of the oldest in the Reka region. It dates from the ^16th century, but no longer features any valuable decoration. It is dedicated to Saint Paraskeva of the Balkans, an ^11th-century Eastern ascetic who took the place locally of Petka, the ancient deity of the South Slavs. Galičnik also boasts the parish church of Saints Peter and Paul (1931) and the chapel of Saint Petka, on the outskirts of the hamlet.

Founded in 1926, this municipal zoo (Зоолошка Градина Скопје/Zoološka Gradina Skopje) extends over 12 ha within the City Park. It is home to around 500 animals (36 bird species, 42 mammal species and 8 reptile species), including elephants, giraffes and lions. It was renovated in 2010 following the death of an elephant. However, it's still not very well maintained. Nearby are the Natural History Museum, cafés and restaurants, and the Dino Park recreation area (MKD 50). Pony rides are available for children.

This street is about 500 m long (Улица Македонија/Ulica Makedonja) and is the main pedestrian axis of Skopje's western bank. It connects Macedonia Square to the City Museum in the south. There are cafes, restaurants and stores as well as the Mother Teresa House and the Church of Saints Constantine and Helen. Created in 1911 and almost entirely pedestrianized since 2004, it was named after Sultan Hamid V, the Bulgarian kings Ferdinand ^I and Boris III, the Serbian king Peter ^I and Yugoslav president Tito, before becoming the "Street of Macedonia" in 1991.

This small 100^m2 museum (Вински Музеј за Pегион Тиквеш-Кавадарци) is dedicated to viticulture in the Kavadarci-Tikveš region. It looks back at the history of wine in Greater Macedonia geographically, from Greek antiquity to the rise of Kavadarci winemakers and merchants in the ^18th century. Mainly on display are barrels, stills and utensils used in the ^19th and ^20th centuries to produce wine, rakija and madzoun, a thick local grape juice. Store with wines from different producers and sometimes tastings.

This Orthodox monastery (Брајчински Манастир/Brajčinski Manastir) was founded in the ^15th century by Bulgarian clergy. Dedicated to Saint Petka (also known as Saint Paraskeva of the Balkans), it boasts a church that preserves frescoes painted in the ^16th and ^18th centuries, including beautifully colored portraits of the archangel Michael and the prophet Jeremiah. Abandoned following a fire in 1902 and restored in the 1980s, the complex no longer has a permanent monastic community, but attracts pilgrims due to the presence of a reputedly miraculous spring.

Located on Macedonia Street, next to the Mother Teresa Memorial House, this new Orthodox church (Црква Свети Константин и Елена) boasts five golden domes and a 50m-high campanile. Built in concrete from 2012, it was still not completed in 2023 (completion scheduled for 2024-2025). It takes its name from a former Orthodox church near the Vardar River, which was destroyed in the 1963 earthquake.

This site (Археолошки Локалитет Скупи/Arheološki Lokalitet Skupi) contains the remains of the Roman city of Colonia Flavia Scupinorum, founded in the ^1st century AD, and better known as Scupi. Destroyed in 518 by an earthquake, it was rediscovered in 1926 by the Serbian archaeologist Radoslav Grujić (1878-1955) and is still being excavated jointly by Italian and Macedonian archaeologists. The visit is a bit disappointing. Already, apart from a large theater, the ruins are not very "talking". Moreover, there are no precise schedules (it is even sometimes closed without reason several days in a row) and the rare explanatory panels are frequently vandalized. Nevertheless, it is an important place. For Scupi was the only city in the territory of present-day North Macedonia to benefit from the title of "colony": the equivalent of a "Rome in miniature" with (free) inhabitants having Roman citizenship and institutions comparable to those of the capital. The site itself was continuously occupied from the ^12th century B.C.

Hill of the Rabbit and Pudic Venus. Scupi is located very close to the confluence of the Vardar and the Lepenec River (800 m to the southwest), under the hill of Zajčev, which rises to 300 m above sea level. It was on this "rabbit hill" (Zajčev Rid) that Roman soldiers established in the ^2nd century BC a castrum, a fortified camp that then dominated a city belonging to the Dardanians, allies of Rome in the conquest of the region. During the reign of Emperor Domitian (81-96), Scupi was given the title of colony. Veterans of various legions came to settle there and a typical Roman city plan was adopted. On the way to the theater on the hill, we pass along the remains of a small residential complex, a building with an arch, a horreum (warehouse) and a public bath. It is in these baths that a superb marble statue of Venus "modest" of the ^2nd century was unearthed in 2008, today exposed in the museum of the City of Skopje. The path continues along a section of street, an early Christian basilica of the ^4th century and a villa, before leading to the impressive ^2nd century theater. This one could accommodate up to 9,000 spectators. But unlike the one in Stobi, in Povardaria, there is no indication that it was used for gladiatorial combat.

Founded in 1952, this museum (Музеј Струмица/Muzej Strumica) is very well presented compared to what you see elsewhere in the country: good lighting, detailed English explanations... Housed in a former Jewish school, it houses Neolithic and ancient artifacts, church frescoes, glazed ceramics and jewelry from the Middle Ages, an ethnographic collection (beautiful men's costume), weapons from the ^twentieth century... Since it is a "national institution" in charge of local heritage, there is information here about almost all the sites to visit in the region.

This small municipal museum reopened in 2018 (Музеј на Илегалните Работилници за Време на НОВ/Muzej na Ilegalnite Rabotilnici za Vreme na NOV) is housed beneath the tower of the Constitutional Court (same building as the Archaeological Museum), in the cellar of a house razed to the ground in 1965. It was here that the local partisan detachment manufactured weapons and explosives during the Occupation, from 1941 to 1944. Presentation of weapons and manufacturing techniques.

Located north of Stara Čaršija, next to the Bit Pazar, this mosque (Алаџа Џамија/Aladža Džamija, Allaxha Xhamia) was built in 1438 by the general and governor of Skopje Ishak Bey and enlarged by his son Isa-Bey Ishaković. It owes its name to the multicolored ceramics that adorned its walls: in Turkish, alaca means "colored". These were destroyed by fire in 1689. The mosque retains its 30 m-high minaret and richly sculpted doors. The interior features painted decorations, reliefs and ^15th-century parquet flooring.

This neighborhood (Дебар Мало) is one of the most pleasant on the western side of Skopje. Described as a "bohemian" or "little Montmartre" neighborhood, it concentrates many restaurants. Despite the earthquake of 1963, it retains buildings and villas from the 1920s-1930s. It is at this period that it took its name of "Debar district", mainly populated by Macedonians from the region of Debar, in the west of the country. The most lively places are the streets Aminta-Treti (or Leninova, from north to south) and Orce-Nikolov (from east to west) and the pedestrian street Gjorgji-Peškov.

Recently restored, this 10-meter-high tower (Саат Kула) was erected in the ^14th century, in the early Ottoman era, to indicate prayer times to Muslim inhabitants. It was part of a large Turkish neighborhood that rose on the heights of Dojran, around a sharia (commercial and religious complex). Almost all this complex was destroyed in 1913, during the fighting between Greeks and Bulgarians in the Second Balkan War. Nearby are the old Turkish baths.

This site (Археолошки Локалитет Баргала) contains the remains of the Roman and Byzantine city of Bargala, founded in the late ^4th century and abandoned during the ^7th century invasions. The bases of an enclosure wall, baths, stores and workshops are visible, as well as those of a triple-naved basilica, four columns of which have been raised. To the south-east of the site, the two domes of the beautiful church of Saint George, built during the Bulgarian Empire in the ^9th or ^10th century, are also visible.

This small, single-nave Orthodox church (Црква Света Варвара/Crkva Sveta Varvara, Kisha e Shën Varvarës) was founded in 1597 by the St. John-Bigorvski monastery. The exterior walls are in poor condition, but the church features superb ^16th- and ^17th-century frescoes. The church stands a little way from the hamlet of Sredno Maalo/Средно Маало ("Middle Village"), part of the municipality of Rajčica/Рајчица (160 inhabitants), or Rajçicë/Rajçica in Albanian.