Due Vagabondi: Kavadarci (Wine Country) & Bitola

KAVADARCI

Here we are in our second week in this great country and just realizing we've been saying 'Mass-e-donia' all our lives when the name of the country really is 'Mak-e-donia'. Sigh.

Now we head south from Skopje (about 2 hours) by bus to the Tikves region of Macedonia, to Kavadarci "the City of Vinyards". As far as I can count on the internet the special microclimate here supports about ten wineries in Kavadarci, a population somewhere around 40,000 with 80% of its population involved in the wine industry.

Tikves is by far the largest winery. The first owner bought the land as the Ottoman empire was on the decline in 1885, built and planted, with the first labelled bottles produced in 1914. We haven't had a bad Tikves wine yet.

Arrival at our hostel in Kavadarci is a bit chaotic as the hosts are away and the replacement hosts didn't know that amenities included access to the kitchen and common area. Once that was straightened out, we had this whole huge rambling house to ourselves for the duration of our stay.

Getting to the town centre is a brief and pleasant walk along the River Luda Mara:

Wall art downtown Kavadarci

Kavadarci has large numbers of cafes and most of them seem full most of the time. We enjoyed one on the main shopping street and a restaurant over the plaza where we could watch families gather, kids on training wheels of all kinds and boys practicing their wheelies.

This is only a small part of the square off to the side. The main part is all open. We had a couple of days with rain here:

Behind the hostel, we can go through the enormous Gradski Park and climb to the top of Kavadarci's highest hill at 300 meters to the Memorial Ossuary of Fallen Fighters from WW II. Beneath the memorial is a tomb that holds the remains of at least 300 resistance fighters in the People's Liberation Struggle.

This website does a succinct job of outlining how in 1941 the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded and fell, leading to what has been described as a brutal occupation.

Memorial Ossuary of Fallen Fighters

We wonder at the shape of the memorial. The website above points out that it is reminiscent of a Macedonian house of the time and shows what such a house would look like.

Many of the plaques have suffered graffiti in this more isolated area

The gate is open and we are able to climb to the top of the memorial to get incredible views out over Kavadarci and beyond.

We enjoyed our stay here, but one or two days is probably good.

BITOLA

On the bus (for about an hour and a half) from Kavadarci to Bitola. We don't usually talk about where we stay, but Hostel Domestika is a special place, not necessarily for any amenities or even the facilities themselves but for the way this family-run business embraces all who come as if they are family. The atmosphere is very precious.

For $3 CAD we can get breakfast and it is home-cooked, delicious and plenty of food. Betty notices that I don't drink coffee, so on the second day, she makes a jug full of hot lemon tea made with real lemons and a recipe from her mother. I love it.

From the hostel we walk through a great park that has lots of play equipment for kids, a huge oval track for joggers and cyclists, walking paths, lots of trees and benches with nearby stands for drinks or snacks for those who want.

Through the park is a wide pedestrian boulevard (Sirok Sokok) that leads to downtown and the covered market and the old bazaar. Sirok Sokok is the center of the city and is the place to see and be seen. Buildings here date back to the Turkish times. Cafes and restaurants line the boulevard and at night it's packed with families. There is even a song written about it:

Main Boulevard

The covered market has the best fresh fruit, veggies, flowers and even meat.

We admire the products of tinsmiths in the old town and watch them work for a bit. Several shops are in close proximity.

One day downtown we wander into an art gallery. It is full of children's art. There is a special children's art festival here in its 34th. year.

We meet the man and his daughter behind this project that attracts art submissions from around the world. They are totally delighted that we are from Canada. We are presented with two lovely postcards of a child's art and a book that has all of the 2019 winners. They hope we will spread the word to art teachers in Canada as there has never been a submission from Canada. Here is their website to pass on to your teacher friends: Montmartre of Bitola

Winners in the older age category get funded to come to and stay in Bitola to do some artwork, based on a theme and to mentor some younger kids.

The Yeni mosque built in 1558 was not open on the day we stopped by. The decorative ornaments in and on the building are the only ones of this type in all of Macedonia. Today the mosque houses an art gallery.

A few denar leads us into an old orthodox church, very plain on the outside with lovely paintings on the inside, but not in a lavish way.

The lion looking creature is one of four feet on a bench

When walking around we have noticed these strange little tractors running around that look like portable sawmills with a big blade on the front. YUP...that's what they are. We come across one working. Temperatures here can drop to -30 in the winter and everyone heats with wood. We see lots of folks with piles of tree trunks in about meter long pieces. The mill comes right to their home and cuts each into about 14-inch lengths. We can't believe how quickly they work. One guy throwing the wood to the guy on the saw who puts each piece through like lightning. Time is money. It looks like he has all of his fingers.

Another day we do the short walk to Heraclea otherwise known as Bitola's Roman Ruins. They are small but well worth a visit.

The brick restoration work seems not logical for the time of the ruins

The mosaics here are in some of the best condition we have seen. Restoration is underway now.

We are told that productions are sometime put on at the theatre these days. Mostly the bottom rows are original, but most seats have been rebuilt with concrete.

This Fast Cat caught himself a lizard ... snuck up on the lizard sitting on a stone and lept four feet into the air and snatched it. Grace in motion.

Our hosts have told us about hiking in the Pelister National Park. We have to take a taxi ride there and back, but it is worth the expense. The taxi lets us off at Hotel Molika, the starting point for the trail.

It doesn't look far on the map!

We first hike up to a ski hill. There we rest, have a snack. Here is a memorial monument to a climber who was the only person for years from Macedonia to summit Mount Everest, but he dies on the descent.

We hike up and up past the ski hill for about an hour. The views are great and still, we have not reached a major viewpoint. Beautiful thistles are in bloom as are yellow flowers, fireweed and others that we don't know.

Thunder rolls around us, black storm clouds appear, disappear, then reappear. A local family passes us and says they are not risking a thunderstorm on the mountain. We go on for 15 minutes or so, then decide to turn back at this rock slide.

A couple of paths & sign at the ski hill

By the time we are back at the ski hill, the weather has cleared again, so we decide to take another trail. Here we find fresh, cold spring water to fill our bottles.

The trail ends at a gravel road. Another local family coming up says its better to return to the ski hill to get back to the hotel and invites us to hike with them as they are going that way. What a wide-ranging conversation we have. The man is in the police force and for years has participated in all of the international police 'games'. He is in his late 50's and very fit. Today is his family day so he is taking it easy. They teach us how to identify a local orange mushroom that is delicious to eat and we help find and pick them. She has about a kilo by the time we reach the ski hill. Their son of about 11 years especially likes to find and to eat them.

At the ski hill, we rest and have snacks together. As we sit, a little red fox appears, then goes off on fox business. We head off the mountain and they are still going up. It's about 4 in the afternoon and the trail map calls for about 4 hours of hiking on their route. We worry a bit but know they are experienced. They clearly all have warm jackets, snacks and water with them. He grew up on the mountain and knows it very well.

Back at the hostel, we have a salad for dinner. Betty and her husband are cooking every evening for four men who stay there (half-board). Betty keeps bringing us extra food from the men's dinner. We get a lovely traditional bean stew; big, thick slices of a Macedonian cheese and an egg dish also arrives at our elbow.

Wow. We are too stuffed to jump after that. Following dinner, we are invited into the family's private space and have a great evening chatting. Our host's daughter, husband and kids also stay at the hostel every summer to help out. The daughter is an actor, her husband a director in theatre and they take the summer off. This family often vacations in Albania, our next destination and they give us lots of valuable tips on where to go and what to see.

The number of different cemeteries in town reflects the long and difficult history that Bitola was the centre of. There is one for Serbians, one for Croatians, for Germans, Dutch and one for the French.

Too soon we need to leave this nest at the hostel. Next stop Struga on Lake Ohrid. Its only a 60-90 minute bus ride away but a huge difference in the climate. In Bitola, they get -30 degrees in winter, whereas the lake has a moderating influence and temperatures are much milder. We look forward to some beach time.

Random Photos Bitola: