A Land of Towers and Bridges

There are a lot of invisible lines that bifurcate Macedonia.  Albanian-settled versus mostly ethnic Macedonian.  Rural versus urban.  One political party versus another.  However, for most PCVs, the most prominent line seems to be the Vardar River.  Stretching primarily from Skopje to Gevgelija in the South (and continuing to flow into the Aegean sea through Thessaloniki), the Vardar is obviously an important part of the culture and history of Macedonia.  Even part of the economy relies on this torrent of water, as both a rail line and the major expressway are built parallel to it. 

As PCVs are announced their sites, they are divided by program manager to the east or west side of Macedonia.  Over time, PCVs generally stay in their half, either because direct bus lines only serve that part of the country, or it is easier for volunteers to converge on the capital during major events.  The major towns in the West include Tetovo, Gostivar, Sturga, Ohrid, Recen, Kicevo, Bitola, and Prilep, while the major towns in the East include Kumanovo, Strumica, Kriva Palanka, Stip, Kavadarci, Negotino, Gevgelija, and Kochani.

In my opinion, volunteers in the West are a bit more privileged, inheriting some of the important cultural towns in Macedonia.  I recall from a guidebook to Macedonia that the author “was not really sure what were the major attractions in the East, as that part is a bit more rural, etc. etc.” (quote paraphrased by me, obviously).  Even though I had never visited any of the towns in the East (outside of PST), I had been determined since the summer to visit one of these cities.  So at the end of January, I decided to visit Kratovo.

Overall this trip was pretty random, but I had told Jake (our MAK18 in Kratovo) that I would visit him at his site at some point, and when I found out that my PST family twin, Allison (she lived with my host family this year for PST AND we have the same birthday) was living in this town, I was determined to make this site my number one stop in the East.   I decided to visit during a weekend in January, anticipating that an avalanche of work was ahead of me through February and March.

Kratovo was a training site for PST for the MAK18s (this is no longer the case for future groups).  Therefore the town is accustomed to Americans, as a group of 8 or so was thrown into the town each September for the past few years.  According to my Macedonian guidebook, Kratovo is located in an ancient volcanic crater (Kratovo derives its name from the word “crater”), and during the Roman times it was known as an important mining town as Kratiskara.  According to the tour guide during my visit (Jake), the town was once inhabited by about 70,000 people (it’s estimated that the town is now a tenth of its peak population), and important metals like iron, gold, and silver were extracted from the hills.  Supposedly, the Roman and Byzantine empires partly depended on this ore for the circulation of their currency. (All photos below compliments of Allison!)

One of the Kratovo bridges

Kratovo's river

Turkish Prison

Inside the Turkish prison

If I had to navigate the town on my own, I would have no idea how to get from one place to the next.  The river splits the town at the bottom, and at times in order to reach a house ahead, one needs to cross the river on one of many of the town’s bridges to snake through the path ahead.  During the weekend of my visit, all of the January snow had finished melting, and Macedonia had been experiencing heavy rains, so the river flowed like a torrent.   These conditions provided beautiful views, especially from one of the higher bridges, and this particular bridge inherits a special myth within the town. 

A long time ago, a group of brothers had decided to do service to the town by building a bridge.  However, each after each night when they returned to the construction site, they learned that the previous day’s work had been demolished.  After several failed attempts, the brothers visited a soothsayer (or whatever), and he provided them with this omen: The bridge will be complete, only when you through one of your wives from its steep, steep cliffs.  When you return home, the first wife that enters your abode must be tossed from the heights into the rushing river below. 

The brothers were obviously torn about killing one of their wives, so they agreed: We shall not tell our youngest brother, and then we’ll throw that breezy from the cliff. 

Thus, all of the wives except for that of the youngest avoided the brothers’ home, and when she returned from work (as a blackjack dealer or something), they tied her up, walked to the chasm, and threw her into the abyss below. Not only was the youngest brother distraught because he lost his only (I assume) wife, but he cursed to his brothers: You idiots, she had just given birth to my first-born son!  Now how will I feed him, my nipples do not secrete milk like hers did!

So the brothers, ever the clever group, decided to bury her into one of the foundations of the bridge, with one of her breasts protruding, so that the baby may continue to feed from her.   

Making dinner at Jake's homestay

Killing time with chess

English Pub with the counterparts 

Twins!

Otherwise, Kratovo is one of the most medieval looking cities in all of Macedonia, especially since it has preserved half of the twelve original towers built during the Ottoman times.  These towers were defensive in purpose, and there are underground tunnels that connect all of these 17^th century structures.  Most of the remaining towers are in good condition, especially since France and Germany funded the preservation of two towers (and Uncle Sam recently “bought” one for $100,000 or so.  If the French and Germans are going to buy a tower, then we gotta buy the biggest one, right?) 

Today, Kratovo is most known for the home of a Macedonia’s media tycoon.  He owns the most popular television channel for dubbed Turkish soap operas (yes, the same channel that I watch with my host mother).  This has accumulated for him many riches, political clout in the country, and basic control over the whole town.  Supposedly, Kratovo is the only town in Macedonia that charges citizens to pay for their tap water.  Otherwise, my fellow PCV tour guides showed me the abandoned Turkish prison, fed me Pastrmajka (similar to pastermalija, you will need to refer to Veles if you are too lazy to Google what this cuisine looks like), and showed me their fancy English pub. 

Overall, this was a good weekend to get away and see an important part of Macedonia’s history.  I realized that those who had experienced PST in Kratovo had a vastly different experience than my group in Lozovo.  While we had a more bucolic experience of a Macedonian lifestyle, I can only imagine that those starting their service in Kratovo must have felt like they were serving as PCVs in a medieval world.