July 2014

A strange nation of peasants and statues.

I crossed North Macedonia (then known as Macedonia) by bicycle during my Global Cycling Tour. The countryside is largely peasants, and the city of Skopje is adorned with elegant statues. There's not much else remarkable. People are friendly but rarely speak any English. More than once, locals patriotically ranted to me how much better their country is than Greece, and how great Macedonia was historically, and on and on. The country is way too patriotic and seems to be blind to its own flaws as, unlike much of the rest of Europe, Macedonians seem to only know Macedonia.