Tuesday, July 07, 2009
It is only a 45 minute drive outside of Skopje to the man-made Lake Matka, where you'll find a fantastic 22-mile canyon with a cliff-side footpath and numerous old churches surrounding the lake. Matka’s treasured beauty is only minutes away from the bustling capital city of Skopje, and yet it offers such treats as native flora, 20% of which is found nowhere else on earth. Butterflies endemic to the Balkan area number 77 different species, and 18 other species not previously known to science inhabit the area.
Both Skopje’s citizens and tourists find recreation and peace in this lovely area. Fishing, hunting, kayaking and swimming are available and for intrepid climbers are caves up the sides of the cliffs above the Tresca Dam, built in only 60 days in 1936, using a half-circle arc-shaped construction. Many worried that the dam could not hold back the fast-moving river, but it has not only survived; it remains a great engineering achievement.
I had actually been to Matka on my last trip to Macedonia but with this trip I finally understood my husband gave me the condensed tour of Matka. He claims he just didn't feel like walking but you would think a kid-free, non-prego trip would encourage him to show me everything? It seems at that time his preference was to sit at the first cafe we came to and drink beer. Oh, well.....
Dejan's sister, her family, myself, Truman and Riley set out on this Sunday afternoon adventure. We spent a numerous amount of time on route explaining to Miss Riley she would have to walk. We thought if we could somewhat mentally prepare her she might walk at least half of the way. So here we go driving to Matka looking like a family of Muslims in our subcompact car with three adults and four kids stuffed inside. Once we parked along the side the road, Truman jumps with amazement to see two cows walking down the road and demands I take her photo with them. So off we go up the mountain. Riley lasts about as far as we had expected her to and ends up on Rade's shoulders for most of the journey. Rade swears Dejan wanted us to do this tour before he came so he could get out of the Riley carrying duty.
Matka is just gorgeous! Huge mountains, a beautiful lake, families playing along the river in the sub freezing water. We get to the top and there is a lovely restaurant right next to an old monastery where the girls and I go in to light candles. Truman, Tea' and I journey a little further up the trail where you walk along rocky legends with ropes bolted into the mountain to hold onto. I am sure there was much more to see at Matka and it is someplace I would not hesitate to return to. I suspect a weekday trip would be a blissfully peaceful journey.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
had the thought occured to you to toss riley into lake matka ? ya know just to shock some sense into her ?
Shar & Doug
Post a Comment