MVNICIPIVM STOBENSIVM

5 October 2024 - Stobi

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Today was another busy day as I spent much of the morning preparing to travel to Pristina tomorrow after the race. I have an appointment there at 8AM on Monday, so I figured it makes sense to go there the day before. At breakfast I had a long talk with an English woman who's also staying here. The people I've met at breakfast have been English, Irish, Canadian and Swedish. Was fun to throw my Norwegian at the Swedish guy and his son. But today with the English woman we compared our wanderlust. She's aiming to bag her hundredth country this year, which makes my 37 seem quaint. North Macedonia was 97th for her and the 3rd this trip after Kosovo and Albania. Interestingly most of her travel has been in Africa and Asia. She's never been to Scandinavia and is thinking about completing her 100 there. Hopefully I'll catch her again tomorrow.

After my busy morning which included acquiring a rental car, I decided to indulge my archaeological side and drive down to Stobi. The interesting things in the town date from 2nd to 6th centuries, so the early Christian era. Many basilicas. However, there is also a newer excavation of an older temple of Isis. The bathhouses and amphitheater are typically Roman, with the later very similar to that at Augusta Raurica back in Switzerland. Of course, after Pompeii every other site pales in comparison. Stobi does have an impressive number of mosaics for its size though, much like that Roman villa I visited in France while walking the Camino last year.

I also bought and read Mishko Tutkovski's short book on the Ancient Mosiacs of Stobi while at the pub tonight.