Skopje First Impressions

I wasn’t expecting the capital of Macedonia to be stunning and to be honest it’s not. The research I did prior to coming here indicated that even Macedonians consider Ohrid in the south to be the jewel in the country’s crown. Keeping an open mind and determined to seek out the best of the city I left Shanti Hostel at 11 into the searing heat. Skopje’s lack of aesthetic charm isn’t entirely its own fault. It suffered a devastating earthquake in 1963, destroying virtually all the old buildings. If you consider that Marsal Tito, the then Communist leader of Yugoslavia replaced the former charms with ugly sprawling concrete masses with the aid of a Japanese architect then you’ll understand why a lot of the charm was lost. The Communists never were very much into pleasing architecture and their ugly influence is stamped all over this city.

Visually my first impressions were ruined by extensive renovations and bridge building works that are going on right in the centre of the city. The city’s focal point is the Stone Bridge which links the Orthodox south bank with the Muslim North and crosses the Vardar River right next to the National Theatre. I walked along the banks of the river toward the Stone Bridge but the eye sore that the building works have created have completely ruined the view and really have created an eyesore, with piles of gravel, tall cranes and scaffolding obliterating the view I had seen in travel sites at much as could be. The Stone Bridge is considered the symbol of Skopje and dates back to the 15^th century.

Even the huge statue of Alexander the Great at a square at the beginning of the main Boulevard Plostadi Makedonija couldn’t escape the scaffolding curse. I couldn’t help but wonder how nice it would look once all the work is completed. After having my shoes shined by an old guy along Plostadi Makedonija I stopped off at Bar Roma to test Lonely Planet’s claim that it has the best espresso in Skopje- if there’s better I’d like to know- and went to the City Museum. It’s housed in the old Railway which was destroyed in the 1963 earthquake and whose clock on the front eerily displays the time 5:17, the time the devastated earthquake struck. The museum was disappointing, just a bizarre art gallery and an odd display of Communist era furniture.

There wasn’t much to keep me in the new part of town and even though I was hoping to save the old Ottoman Quarter until tomorrow I decided to go there today via a stop at Soboren Hram Sveti Klimenti Ohridski, Skopje’s main orthodox cathedral. On the way a few welcome spots of rain fell.

After crossing the Stone Bridge and I got my first glimpse of the Ottoman Quarter I had the impression that for me, this old atmospheric part of the city IS Skopje. The sights and smells were quite atmospheric and not surprisingly reminded me of Sarajevo, although not as charming of course. It was a world away from the new part of town and I spent most of the afternoon walking through the markets and ambling along the cobbled streets. I bought a little waist bag from a seller where a language problem worked in my favour. I assumed they were 200 Dinar and asked the seller, to demonstrate the price he punched 100 into his phone.

I walked into a Mosque, with permission of course, and was approached by a man who spoke good English. He was a bus driver who told me a lot about the history of the Mosque. It was called the Ahmed Mosque and was apparently the oldest and one of the most significant in the city. The mosque was criminally overlooked by my error strewn Lonely Planet book that didn’t even deem it worthy of a mention. I went to another Mosque, the Sultan Murat which was in my book, gave an old man 60 Dinar for the privilege of letting me inside and looked around, it was quite plain inside and I thought the unmentioned Ahmed one was nicer. I like Mosques, especially when I’m lost. Find a mosque; look at what direction the men are praying towards and you’ve instantly found east. Clever eh?

Wilting a little from the heat I decided to head back to Shanti for a rest. May go out for a drink later but may well end up staying here. Have to say Skopje has its charms but you have to work hard for them.