スコピエ地方のおすすめライド

A steel cross stands atop Vodno Mountain. Accessible via hiking trails and a cable car (€2). A snack bar is available. On a clear day, there are views of Skopje and the ski resorts of North Macedonia.

The Church of St. Spas, also known as the Church of the Ascension, was built at the end of the 17th century. It is located above the Turkish bath (Daut Paşa Hamam) in the capital, Skopje. During the Ottoman Empire, it was stipulated that the church could not be higher than the mosque. Therefore, the interior of the church was excavated underground to increase the space.

The church grounds are hidden behind a small gate. Behind it lies a very beautiful courtyard with pomegranate trees.

In the Way of the Cross meditation written by Pope Francis – on Good Friday 2025 in the Roman Colosseum – the Holy Father, who died a few days later (Easter Monday), invited us to allow ourselves to be contemplated by the crucified love of Jesus: + "Our darkness seeks the light. (...) now [the crowd] encounters the spectacle of a love never before seen, a beauty that moves them to rethink. To those who see you dying, Lord, you give the opportunity to beat their breasts and turn around, to strike their hearts so that their hardness may be broken. Jesus, grant us, who often observe you from afar, that we may always remember you in our lives, so that even death, one day when you will come, may find us alive." (Pope Francis)

The old cellar church with its iconostasis is unique. The wood carvings are glued, screwed or similar. A masterpiece of craftsmanship.

Alexander the Great was the great Macedonian.

The arch is 21 metres high and cost 4.4 million euros. Its author is Valentina Stevanovska, a sculptor who created several other grandiose monuments as part of the Skopje 2014 project, including the statue dedicated to Alexander the Great, officially called "Warrior on a Horse". During the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski admitted that he was personally the initiator of the Skopje 2014 plan.

The statue of the Macedonian king Alexander the Great, or Alexander III of Macedon as he is more correctly known, is 14.5 meters high, made of bronze, and mounted on a 10-meter-high concrete base. This gives it a total height of 24.5 meters. There is a fountain beneath the monument, and the concrete base of the statue itself is part of the fountain, complete with water features and lighting. Around the base in the center of the fountain are eight three-meter-high bronze soldiers.