Things to do in  North Macedonia

While it’s now showing its age and includes several unfinished buildings, the slightly rundown Skopje Kale Fortress has watched over the city in one form or another since the sixth century. All this fades from view when you walk along its crenelated walls, which offer hilltop views over the Skopje cityscape and the Vardar River below.

Mother Teresa, the famous saint and humanitarian, was born in Skopje. Today, the Memorial House of Mother Teresa (Spomen Kuka na Majka Tereza) stands on the spot where she was baptized. The house serves as both a memorial to Mother Teresa and a museum to her life’s work, with photos, documents, and items related to her.

The Millennium Cross (Mileniumski Krst) watches over Skopje from its remote perch on the summit of Mt. Vodno, southwest of the city. While the 217 foot (66 meters) metal cross is visible from down in Skopje, it's best admired after a journey up the mountain. You can admire the view from the panoramic terrace around it.

For landlocked North Macedonia, Lake Ohrid is as close as the Balkan country gets to having a seaside riviera. Small beaches and patches of reeds line the edges of this large, deep lake that forms part of the Albanian border. Around Lake Ohrid's edges lie the ancient city of Ohrid, several monasteries, and the unusual Bay of Bones Museum.

Tucked behind the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle, the Holocaust Memorial Center (Memorijalen Centar Na Holokaustot) stands in what used to be Skopje’s Jewish Quarter. This memorial and museum commemorates the over 7,000 Jews in North Macedonia killed during the Holocaust and tells the history of the Jewish communities of the Balkans.

Worn stone streets connect the maze of simple and old-fashioned buildings that make up the Skopje Old Bazaar. Goods have been traded and sold here since the 12th century and locals still come here to shop for fresh produce or socialize at a café or barbershop. Skopje Old Bazaar offers a glimpse into the city’s past, but also its present.

Staged scenes of dark moments in North Macedonia’s history, arranged using realistic wax figures, fill the exhibits at the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle (Muzej na Makedonskata Borba) in Skopje. War, death, and torture are common themes of this museum’s exploration of the country’s past leading up to its independence.