Skopje city break

Welcoming you at the Skopje airport. Transfer to your hotel and some free time. In the relaxed afternoon, our local guide will give you a brief explanation of the tour and take you on a walking tour, starting from the centuries-old Kale – Skopje Fortress. We will continue to the Old Turkish Bazaar, mingling with the locals, meeting different cultures and religions, old forgotten crafts. The second part of the afternoon we visit museums such as: Museum of Macedonian struggle, the Archaeological museum of Macedonia with one of the biggest ancient coins collection in the world exclusively from the Macedonian territory. We walk across the Stone Bridge, the landmark of the city, and stop in front of the monument and fountain of Alexander the Great. The next stop will be the Memorial House of Mother Teresa. She was born in Skopje in 1910. Welcoming dinner in a national restaurant. Overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. This morning we start the day from mountain Vodno where we visit the Millennium Cross. To visit this landmark of Skopje, we take cable car up to the top of the hill, a great place to admire the panoramic view of the city and plain of Skopje. The next stop will be the complex called Ethno village that presents various houses built in typical Macedonian architecture from different regions in the country. Next to the complex, we visit the church of St. Panteleymon with rare Renaissance frescoes from 12th century. From Vodno, we take you to one of the most beautiful canyons in Europe, Matka, with the river Treska. We will have a lunch break in the restaurant on the bank of the river, possibly river trout, and by small boats set sail 6 km upstream to visit the cave Vrelo, full of cave decorations like stalactites and stalagmites. Free time in the canyon for individual activities. Back to Skopje and free time until the organized dinner in a national restaurant. Overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. This morning we drive to the old city of Ohrid, town of UNESCO, one of the oldest towns in Europe full of history with traces of four thousand years of civilization. We will visit famous untouched medieval churches, the fortress of Tsar Samuel with a beautiful panorama, the ancient Macedonian-Roman theatre, and set sail by small boats back to the center. Lecture about the history in the biggest open-air museum of the Byzantium. Lunch in a national restaurant. Free time to explore more of this UNESCO site. Later in the afternoon, we get to the unique prehistoric settlement on water from the bronze age. Explanation by the professional curator about the open-air reconstruction of a Neolithic lake dwelling based on artefacts found on the surrounding lake bed. Back to Skopje and free time. Overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. We drive to the biggest ancient archaeological site in Macedonia, Stobi. Among many other objects and ancient buildings, the oldest synagogue in Europe, from 1st century A.D. is found in this archaeological site. We continue driving to Stobi winery. A wine expert from the winery will take us on a tour around the winery, where only the best grapes from the plantations in the peak of its maturity, arrives in the cellars, where the winery produces clean and non-contaminated wine, concerning pesticides, heavy metals, residues and contaminants. Later, we have lunch and possibility to taste some of the wine from this well-known winery. To fully enjoy this day, during lunch in the winery’s restaurant, we will salute with few characteristic wines from these centuries-old wine region. Leaving the wine region behind us, we get back to Skopje. Free afternoon for individual activities in which we may suggest visiting the National gallery of Macedonia or some of the Ottoman mosques and hammams. Farewell dinner in a national restaurant. Overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. Today, before the flight, we may take you in some of the modern city malls, or the old city bazaar for shopping or simply for chatting with local people and find out more about their everyday life and culture. Next, we take you from the hotel to the Skopje Airport, two and a half hours before your flight. We hope that you truly Experience(d) Macedonia!