Matka Canyon and Skopje, N. Macedonia

Saturday afternoon, so it must be Macedonia...quick trip to the beautiful canyon, hung with monasteries as the Orthodox church hid from the incoming Ottomans, a crowded summer playground outside Skopje..empty in the unseasonable rain..we shook hands with Milo as he left us in the muddle of tiny streets, puddles and rubbish at the back of Skopje's old bazaar area - such a sudden joy to shake hands again after two years - fully Cyrillic now, a different set of conflicts (N. Macedonia rechristened to appease Greece, now riots because the Bulgarian population and cultural influence not sufficiently recognised, Albania and Serbia also with skin in the game, Turkey investing - an eternal middle ground for other people's ideas and ambitions, an eternal threat to identity or reinforcement of historical bias). Beer, happy to report, is excellent...Montenegrin wine needs revisiting! Supper in old caravanserai inn, vegetables with roast potatoes and cream...fantastic..call to prayer as we sleepLæs mere