On 7 May at 1:00 pm, a caravan tour along the Via Egnatia will arrive from Albania at the Macedonian border crossing of Qafasan. The TOUR ON FOOT, accompanied by donkeys and mules to carry the luggage, has been organised by Via Egnatia Foundation (www.viaegnatiafoundation.eu), along the track of the ancient Roman road of Via Egnatia, like an old Caravan. Along the road research will be done, interviews made and material gathered for a book on the Via Egnatia. The tour, which is a mixture of a 19th century expedition and a modern PR event will include an international crew of people who are already engaged in the VEF-project, and people who are looking forward to contributing their skills, their knowledge, their energy and their enthusiasm to the project.

The Netherlands Embassy in Skopje has been supporting this activity as a part of a larger project aimed at revitalization of the old Roman road Via Egnatia, which basically ran from Rome via Brindisi, crossed the sea to present day Durrës, on the Albanian coast, and from there continued to Istanbul via Albania, Macedonia and Greece. This “reanimation” takes many forms: scientific research, cultural exchange and practical cooperation in developing the old road into a cross border hiking trail, also exploring its economic and tourist potential. The old Roman road as a non-political symbol of modern cross-country communication, a way of meeting people, a way where cultures meet each other.

The Netherlands Ambassador, H.E. Simone Filippini, will stand ready at the Albania-Macedonia border crossing to welcome the Caravan. Several Macedonian high ranking officials are invited to join up for the first kilometers in Macedonia as well as the ambassadors from the countries the old Via Egnatia actually crosses. The Macedonian public is warmly invited to join this tour, which is planned to move from the border crossing to the coast of the Ohrid Lake, at the village of Radozda, then to Kalista and move to Struga and later Ohrid. The tour is envisaged to then move for several days toward Bitola and cross the border to Greece there on 18 May.