A Visit to Tetovo, in Western Macedonia
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CITY / TOWNS BY
MPOWELL
Found at foot of the Šar Mountains which separate the Republic of Macedonia from its western neighbor, Tetovo has long been a stronghold of Macedonia’s ethnic Albanians. We spent a day gaining an impression of life in this extremely crowded and hectic city.
Though it’s just an hour from the capital of Macedonia, Tetovo feels like a totally different country. The style of dress is different and people speak a different language; both English and German might actually be more common in Tetovo than Macedonian. Most shockingly, a different flag is being flown. The gold and red Macedonian flag, so ubiquitous in Skopje, is almost nowhere to be found in Tetovo, replaced by the black-on-red two-headed eagle flag of Albania.
Tetovo’s heart is definitively not with Macedonia. There have been times when Tetovo actually
did belong to Albania; after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, and during the Bulgarian occupation of World War II. When Yugoslavia fell apart in 1990, there was a failed movement to have Tetovo secede and join Albania. And the city served as the main base for Albanian insurgents during 2001′s short-lived armed conflict with the Macedonian government.
That’s a lot of touchy (and none-too-distant) history. While in town, we wanted to avoid talking politics with anyone, so we headed into the hills. A large Ottoman-era fortress sits above Tetovo, providing a nice, lonely place to get a panoramic view of the city. There wasn’t another soul in sight during our visit, and the fortress felt practically forgotten. We climbed around the ruins, scraping through thorny brambles, and surprising a group of cows who were napping in one of the fortress’ shaded rooms.
From above, Tetovo looked like a crazy, sprawling mess, and it was somewhat reluctantly that we hiked back down into the chaos. Our ensuing walk around the city was… unpleasant. The traffic is a nightmare. Cars everywhere, constant honking, streets far too narrow, sidewalks used primarily as parking spots. The city’s urban planning seems non-existent, and we found ourselves ducking into cafes just to get away from the noise.
Tetovo isn’t the most beautiful of cities, but the few people we chatted with were quite nice. One of Macedonia’s biggest universities is based here, and there are a lot of young people wandering around, hanging out in the bars. And we did find a couple of cool sights in the city, including a colorful mosque and a tranquil
teke used by Bektashi dervishes, which we’ll be writing about soon.
Location on our Map
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American Flags: more common in Tetovo than Macedonian
http://macedonia.for91days.com/a-visit-to-tetovo-in-western-macedonia/
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Tetovo feels like a totally different country. The style of dress is different and people speak a different language; both English and German might actually be more common in Tetovo than Macedonian. Most shockingly, a different flag is being flown. The gold and red Macedonian flag, so ubiquitous in Skopje, is almost nowhere to be found in Tetovo, replaced by the black-on-red two-headed eagle flag of Albania.