North Macedonia trivia: 48 questions and answers

Skopje. Skopje is the capital and largest city, on the Vardar river in the north of the country.

Macedonian denar. The Macedonian denar is the official currency. Many places also accept euros, but the denar is the country's own money.

True. True. North Macedonia is landlocked. Its large lakes, Ohrid, Prespa and Dojran, lie on its southern borders.

Korab. Korab, 2,764 m, on the border with Albania, is the highest mountain. Triglav is in Slovenia, Musala in Bulgaria and Olympus in Greece.

Cyrillic. The Ohrid Literary School helped to spread the Cyrillic script among the Slavs. Clement is the patron saint of Ohrid and of North Macedonia.

Kruševo. The Kruševo Republic lasted from 3 to 13 August 1903, before Ottoman troops retook the town.

False. False. Stefan Dušan was crowned emperor in Skopje in 1346, having made Skopje the capital of the Serbian Empire.

True. True. The earthquake killed more than 1,000 people and destroyed about 80 percent of the city, which was rebuilt with help from 78 countries.

True. True. ASNOM met in secret on 2 August 1944 and proclaimed a Macedonian state within Yugoslavia, with Macedonian as its official language.

The 30th. On 27 March 2020 North Macedonia became the 30th member of NATO.

The Ohrid Agreement. The Ohrid Agreement, officially the Ohrid Framework Agreement, was signed on 13 August 2001. It ended the conflict and gave more rights to the Albanian community.

Tavče gravče. Tavče gravče, white beans baked in a clay dish, is considered the national dish. Mastika is considered the national drink.

Beans. Tavče gravče is made from white beans cooked with onion and dried red pepper, then baked in a clay dish.

Red peppers. Ajvar is made from red peppers, roasted whole, peeled and slowly cooked with oil, sometimes with aubergine.

True. True. Mastika, a spirit flavoured with mastic resin, is considered the national drink, just as tavče gravče is the national dish.

Štip. Štip holds the Pastrmalijada festival every year. Pastrmajlija is especially popular in Štip, Veles and the east of the country.

True. True. The Ohrid trout, found only in Lake Ohrid and its rivers, is shown on the 2-denar coin issued in 1993.

False. False. Selsko meso means "village meat". It is a pork and mushroom stew cooked in a clay pot.

Grated white brined cheese. Šopska salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onion is covered with a thick layer of grated white brined cheese.

Bitola. Bitola, then called Manastır, had consulates from twelve countries in the last decades of Ottoman rule.

Prilep. Prilep is a regional centre for high-quality tobacco, and its tobacco is used by large cigarette makers.

True. True. Enchalon comes from the ancient Greek word for eel. Today the Black Drin river flows out of Lake Ohrid at Struga.

Vardar. The Vardar flows through Skopje. It is the longest river in North Macedonia and reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki in Greece.

Mehmed II the Conqueror. The Stone Bridge was built on Roman foundations under Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror between 1451 and 1469. It is the symbol of Skopje.

Lake Ohrid. The Church of St. John at Kaneo overlooks Lake Ohrid from a cliff in the town of Ohrid.

True. True. It is a mixed World Heritage Site. Lake Ohrid was listed in 1979 and the town's cultural heritage was added in 1980.

False. False. As of 2026 Kokino is only on UNESCO's tentative list, not the World Heritage List itself.

Skopje. Matka Canyon lies just west of central Skopje on the Treska river and is a favourite spot for walking and kayaking.

Vardar. Stobi stood where the Crna river joins the Vardar, near today's Gradsko, and later became the capital of a Roman province.

Skopje. Mother Teresa was born in Skopje in 1910 and lived there until 1928. A memorial house now stands where she was baptised.

288 metres. Lake Ohrid is up to 288 metres deep, one of the deepest and oldest lakes in Europe.

8. The flag shows a yellow sun with 8 broadening rays on a red field. It was adopted in 1995.

True. True. In 2020 Honeyland became the first non-fiction film nominated in both categories.

False. False. The Manaki brothers had their studio in Bitola, then called Manastır, not in Skopje. Bitola has held a film festival in their honour since 1979.

The Baltic Sea. The rivers flow towards the Aegean, the Adriatic and the Black Sea, but not the Baltic Sea. The Vardar alone drains about 80% of the land towards the Aegean.

31. The Macedonian alphabet has 31 letters. It was standardised in 1945.

True. True. In late Ottoman times Bitola had a military academy, and Atatürk was among its students.

Thank you. "Blagodaram" means thank you. "Molam" means please, or you're welcome.

leb. "Leb" is bread. "Riba" is fish, "voda" is water and "pivo" is beer.

False. False. "Skapo" means expensive. The word for cheap is "evtino".

Na zdravje!. "Na zdravje!" means cheers, literally "to your health". "Dobar den" is good day, "Izvinete" is excuse me and "Do viduvanje" is goodbye.

The bill, please. "Smetkata, ve molam" means the bill, please. "Smetka" is the word for a bill.

False. False. "Jas ne razbiram" means I don't understand. To ask if someone speaks English, say "Zboruvate li angliski?"

192. 192 reaches the police. 194 is the ambulance and 196 is roadside assistance. The European number 112 also works.

True. True. Dipped headlights must be on day and night, and you can be fined for driving without them.

48 hours. Visitors must be registered within 48 hours of arrival. Hotels do this automatically when you check in.

False. False. It is illegal to photograph military installations and sites of government or strategic importance.

Cyrillic. Macedonian is written in Cyrillic. Road signs also show town names in Latin letters, but menus and signs in smaller towns are often in Cyrillic only.