Skopje, a rare name for a rare city. We go through it without very clear ideas and we leave it in the same way. Nor do we know if this "I like you but I don't want to be with you" is positive or negative.
East contrasted feeling He already splashed us before even arriving in the capital of Macedonia. It was in the train which took us from the practically abandoned Bitola station, where the trains depart from weed-covered roads, running through the heart of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which is the correct name of Macedonia. Why?
Well, Macedonia is called Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for the same reason that you can not put the name "Coca-Cola" to the drink you have invented in your home, based on pineapple juice, sparkling water and some secret liquor taken from the grandfather's bar-furniture. In the classical era there was the Kingdom of Macedonia, a region in northern Greece, which became the main world power (do you think Alexander the Great?) When the Yugoslav Federation was dissolved and Macedonia was formed as a country, Greece opposed the use of this name, so that of FYROM, that is, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, but come on, we can colloquially call it Macedonia (as long as you are not in front of a Greek historian, ballplayer, of course).
Where we were going ... ah yes! The train! That old train, dirty, dusty, slow… but soooo comfortable. Why are these soft armchairs no longer made on trains and buses? It was a pleasure (be well understood) to be there, watching the misery of rural villages pass, the collapsed phantom stations where you still stop respecting the paths of a lifetime, seeing the people with broken clothes and dirty duffels say goodbye with a huge smile and Some hugs senses of your loved ones. Sensations faced from our train window and our dirty / comfortable armchairs.
In Skopje, as we have said, our “yes but no” faces of “give me everything baby but just for tonight”… Two clearly different environments blend in this city, with as much personality as little identity.
In 2010 the project was announced with hype and saucer “Skopje 2014". The idea was to give the city a face lift, rebuild numerous government buildings destroyed in the 1963 earthquake, new bridges, avenues, museums ..., in short make Skopje a more monumental and beautiful city. And if they are leaving it monumental and beautiful, but they have spent a little with the statues! There is almost one statue per inhabitant! Can you play "What will it have been?" when facing a historical metal character, depending on his position, his style, his clothes ... Writer, painter, poet, teacher ?. You will leave doubts looking at the plate at his feet. We suggest you find some singer!
Above all these statues rises a powerful emperor on his horse, his name? "Horse warrior". I don't know if the warrior looks like Alexander the Great, but the horse is naive to Bucephalus. For the disputes with Greece he has not been given the name of the great conqueror, but hey he is waging war 25 centuries after his death!
This project in theory should have been completed in 2014, we see that in Macedonia things are also taken calmly. They may have to see the critics on behalf of society, which sees how the state coffers deflate into something that neither does nor does it come to them, if what they want is to lower unemployment and improve their living conditions! And it is normal to ask about those ship-restaurants that are being built on the river ...
Skopje is also happily famous for being the hometown of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, or better known as the Mother Teresa of Calcutta. In his honor you can see several statues (of course), a chapel and a museum, where he lived in his youth years before going out to fight for inequalities. Brava!
The area that is being developed in Skopje with these great avenues and monuments contrasts with that of the “Old bazaar“, One of the largest and oldest Turkish bazaars in Europe, inheritance of the Ottoman passage through this territory. Numerous minarets of the mosques rise between the narrow streets, where it is mandatory to stop to enjoy tea and some candy.
Skopje, new and old, clean and dirty, with a sad and kind face, with laughter and tears, of great heroes and poor beggars, that of the thousand statues and the thousand unfinished works ...What the hell do we do with you?
USEFUL INFO
- How to get to Skopje from Ohrid: we did it going through Bitola. In Ohrid we took a shared taxi paying 250 Dinars per person, there are buses that cost 220 dinars. We arrived at the bus station and the taxi driver offered us this price and we accepted. If you talk to your accommodation, they may be able to contact you with a taxi driver, or by asking someone directly in the street. The journey takes 1h 15 minutes, by bus 1h 45 minutes. In Bitola we took the train that leaves at 12.50 and arrives in Skopje at 16.14.
- Where to sleep in Skopje: We did it at the Shanti Hostel.
