Looking for a cheap city trip? Consider Skopje!
To be honest, this post is a year overdue as it was buried in my folders with other pictures. Last year we made two short city trips (3 days each), one to Skopje (at the time it was still called Macedonia, but now North Macedonia) and the other was to the isle of Malta. It's not that I didn't write this post sooner because it was not worth mentioning, actually more the opposite of that, because we still talk about the cheap but so delicious food we ate in Skopje quite often. When I found the pictures again today, I decided to share the highlights of our city trip last year in October. Like the weather here today in Budapest (26 degrees celsius), it was very similar our 3 days in Skopje around this time of year. The perfect, but so cheap getaway city trip in case you were looking for one at this exact moment, go for it...
The best area was the square next to the stone bridge
If you've ever been to Skopje, you will recognize this statue for sure, as it's in the middle of the square and you can't miss this area.
As we were located not far from this area, and loved the way everything was illuminated at night, we decided to walk around to find a nice restaurant to eat. We found one following the water after passing the stone bridge (not crossing the bridge). Several appealing restaurants and their waiters tried to lure us inside, until we found this particular one that had a (not too crowded) area to sit with our daughter. Forgive me for this, but I can't remember the name of the restaurant as it's been a year. Nevertheless, I have to share a few pictures as we enjoyed the food.
After quite some time, finally I found one of my old time favourites on the menu: melon with parma ham, something that I absolutely love! I had to order, and they didn't disappoint!
Our daughter was supposed to get a pizza for children, but instead we received a huge pizza (adult size):
After this we called it a night, and went to our apartment where we finished the pizza later that night because we took it home in a doggy bag as our daughter decided to take just a few bites of the whole pizza while we were sitting there.
The next morning we went for breakfast at the same square in a cute bistro
This bistro had an outside (tent-alike) area where you were allowed to smoke, so we choose that option because at the time we were both still smoking. I remember feeling very weird and strange being allowed to smoke in an inside area where people were eating. It has been quite a few years by now that smoking has been banned at so many places, especially restaurants, that when you are allowed to do so you feel as if you're breaking the law. I can't even imagine anymore what it feels like when people are allowed to smoke everywhere they go. Thankfully, I don't want to remember either as we both quit smoking recently.
Back to the bistro, which you can't miss if you are at this square, we noticed the prices on the menu were super cheap. We actually were in disbelief seeing people get great plates of food served for these low amounts. Budapest is expensive compared to Skopje, that's for sure. I don't remember what my boyfriend ordered, but I ordered an omelette which was served nicely and only cost about 2 euro (yes, that I do remember, lol). It was delicious, after we finished our breakfast we drank an iced coffee and I believe the total amount we had to pay was just above 8 euro (2 soft drinks, 2 x breakfast and 2 iced coffee).
When walking back to our apartment we found this cute little place with (mostly) healthy shakes and snacks, and we decided to have a little break there so we could go to the toilet and enjoy a drink as well. I ordered this shake with pistachio and some other flavours which was blended at the spot and tasted like heaven! So delicious and not expensive either, but a little more expensive compared to the breakfast we just had.
We only ate and drank good stuff in Skopje
I may sound as if I'm exaggerating when I tell you that it was all good stuff, but it truly was. We are used to my boyfriend having stomach issues almost daily here in Budapest, especially when he eats something "outside" instead of home cooked. We have been in Skopje for 3 full days, and even though some of the meals contained fat (some more than others of course), he never even had one moment of stomach issues there. He forgot to take his medication with him, so we were a bit afraid that he'd have a ton of issues there, but he never even needed one tablet for relief. The food was great of quality, but also super super cheap compared to Budapest. The meat and the vegetables were fresh, and had a much better taste than here. I reckon that we will have another trip to North Macedonia as soon as we are able to go. Also important: the people are super friendly and warm.
Have you ever been in Skopje? What did you think of it?
~Anouk