If Macedonia wasn't so difficult to get to I'd go back in a heart beat! But I suppose if it was easier to get to then the country itself would be very different. I had heard about Macedonia in all my Art History classes so when I was in Greece I wanted to check it out. My biggest disappointment is that I didn't check out the infamous lake everyone goes to Macedonia to see.
The journey from Greece took a full day. I went from Athens to the top of Greece and then through Macedonia to Skopje. Google Maps failed me about the steps it would take to get to Skopje so by the time I arrived I was feeling pretty rattled. It was difficult to navigate the bus depots and stops in the Greek alphabet without Google completely missing a transfer so I was pretty stressed by the time I got to Skopje.
When I arrived it was almost midnight and I was somewhat certain I was in the right place. I got into a cab and showed them a picture of the city square cause I was sure I'd find wifi there. Here is a picture I took when I got to the square and was close to what I showed the cabby.
The cab driver wasn't the most enthusiastic taking me there but I demanded it was where I wanted to go... Once there I found a coffee shop that was open (THANK GOD) but they didn't take any of the money I had. I tried with USD, GBP, Euros and CAD. They didn't even take Visa or Master Card. I ended up holding my hands out with all the different currencies and basically begging them to take anything. Oh yea and the person didn't speak English either...but they did understand wifi (THANK GOD).
Once I got onto wifi I booked a hostel and then tried to find a cab to take me there. The address was in the English alphabet so it was hard to show where I needed to go. Even on the map it was showing wrong. I again had to argue about where I wanted to go which was pretty bad given all the cab drivers around were old men. Please old man take me for a ride in your car to a place I don't know exists at midnight.....
Anyways.. I eventually did make it... in a similar fashion of argument and pushing through to get where I needed to go...
The next morning was much more pleasant. I went for a walk and got to know the hostel dog.
Unfortunately because my journey to Skopje was so long and stressful I wasn't the most confident in the city. I stayed close to my hostel and in the city centre for most of my week there which is why I did not make it to the lake.
One thing people might not know about Skopje is the offshoot for designer shoes. MARK MY WORDS. I've heard these places exist in the world. Where the shoes are the same as the designer ones but have different labels on them? These are NOT the same as knock offs. Knock offs fall apart super fast. These shoes are beautiful and the cost was 1090 denar which should be close to $30 cad but really seemed like less... I'll have to post some photos of the shoes when I wear them out.
Here are some photos from another walk I did.
On my last night we saw some horses outside of the hostel in front of the river. After taking some photos there we hit the town for some dancing before I had to go to the airport bright and early.
I think the coolest thing I learned about Skopje is how safe it's public parks are and that they spend a lot of the government budget on drinking water. You can drink it right out of the fountains in the public park.