I’ve been hanging out in Skopje for a few days

It feels fairly small, but it’s the largest city in Macedonia, and it’s the capital. There is an interesting (re: disturbing) thing going on in Skopje within the last few years. The government decided to pour millions of dollars into some redevelopment in the main square area, primarily to add several huge statues that are a little Vegas-esque. The problem is that none of the citizens wanted this done, so they are kind of standing around with their hands in the air like, “Um, could you have used that money on something that will actually help us instead?”

It was meant to bring more tourists, and I think that is happening possibly. Had I not known about the history behind most of the statues, they wouldn’t have seemed as near as gawdy to me😆 I liked it here, very slow, laidback, quiet place. At any rate, here are some pictures of Skopje (pronounced SKOPE-yeh).

warrior on horse statue

bridge

warrior statue

stone bridge

stone bridge crossing – pedestrian-only

bronze swimmerwoman

gemidzii statue and archaeological museum of macedonia

bridge across the vardar river

Saints Kiril and Metodij (Cyril and Methodius)

chicken pate & eurocrem = eastern european nutella?

various spreads… ummm, I like the potted meat

loving the prices

street

On the north bank (north of the Vardar River), the Kale Fortress, other important buildings, and the Old Bazaar are located. Apparently, the Albanians live on the north bank, while the ethnic Macedonians live on the south, and a lot of them don’t intermix… so there’s that.

The Kale Fortress overlooks the river and city, and it was built in the 6th Century.

kale fortress

kale fortress walls

kale fortress

view from kale fortress

walls

Mother Teresa was born in Skopje (or, whatever the town was called 100 years ago), so they have a cool memorial house for her, where her former house she lived in stood.

mother teresa house

nice letter

with HHDL ❤️

parts of her habit

mother teresa house

church

mother teresa house

I stayed at this little 8-room hotel that I really liked. It was actually inside a shopping mall and right by the square, so a close walk to everything. The room was pretty big actually, it was perfect for me.

my room:)

new purchase: the shoes… gone euro😁

This place is superrrr inexpensive. Loved it!

macedonia baklava😥not the same😩

pudding…

schlag wunder, topping star😂

$3 at grocery

I also took a day trip to see Lake Matka, which is a lovely place, in the nature:), with hiking paths, and it’s only 30 minutes outside of town.

matka canyon

restaurant on the water

canyon view

the grand canyon is only 10,000 kms away!

st. andrew’s monastery, built in the 1300’s

matka lake

matka lake

skopje from mount vodno

millennium cross and mount vodno in distance

Skopje is fairly small, but it is Europe, so nice cafes (re: coffee) and restaurants were plentiful. I didn’t have tons of stuff to do, but it was relaxing, and if all I have to do all day is decide which coffeeshop to go to, then I am perfectly happy with doing just that, so no complaints😊.

Next up:  Croatia