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 Ah…Valandovo. By Anthony Kirinicich

Once, while hiking in one of the many wild areas surrounding Valandovo, I came upon a shepherd who proceeded to tell me all about the 1961 earthquake that rocked the region.  He pointed out seemingly enormous boulders, described where they had fallen from, and what the town had looked like before the quake.  Ending his lecture, he referred me to the National Earthquake Institute located, interestingly enough, right in Valandovo.  Unfortunately I never made it to the Institute.  On the way I stopped for ice cream at a café and ended up talking for hours with the café owner.  Being right across the street from the main square, and the big tree where buses stop as they pass through town, he knew everything.   I got more restaurant, travel, and local cultural info then I could have ever dreamed of that day, plus all the local gossip and an earful about the hugely popular Folkfest held every June.  Later I realized that his café is a wonderful place to people watch on Wednesdays, market day, when the town’s normal population of 5000 doubles in size from the surrounding villages. 

If you have never heard of this tiny hamlet, nestled deep in a valley near the corner of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Greece, you are considerably unlucky.  An agricultural town, Valandovo is relatively unheard of because it is the secret poster child for the phase “Jack of all trades, master of none.”   It may not have the best vineyards in Macedonia, but it’s winery and the surrounding valley of vineyards produce mass quantities of the delightful drink.  Even the local high school has a vineyard it maintains.  But grapes are only one the many crops produced in and around Valandovo: fruits, vegetables, tobacco, olives, dates, the elusive pomegranate, and many more I have never heard of all grow in this corner of the world.  All this wealth of plant life is attributed to Valandovo’s wonderful ‘microclimate’ as it’s called by the locals.  Located so close to Greece with its valley setting, Valandovo has mild rainy winters and hot humid summers with many days of sun.  You can tell you’re close to the Mediterranean when the town shuts down to sleep through the hot summer afternoons, reviving itself as evening approaches.