Woke up around 07:00, breakfast was ok, muesli, toast and yoghurt.
Walked into the town again, then over the stone bridge towards the old town, past more statues and fountains. An old local guy stopped me and asked if I spoke English, so I said yes and he proceeded to speak to me in another language, then when I said I didn’t understand he said sorry, shook my hand and walked off.
Bought a fridge magnet and stopped off for a coffee, everywhere takes Euro so we don’t need to change any money. The coffee was so strong it practically burnt through the cup.
Song ordered some kind of cake so naturally I had most of it.
Carried on through the old town which was very pleasant – lots of small shops, mostly jewelry and cafes, so if you didn’t want gold or coffee you were out of luck. Song stopped in a few jewelry shops and promised the owner she’d be back, although we had no intention of that so had to plan our route back so we didn’t go past them again.
The area was bigger than the Prizren and even Sarajevo old towns – lots of streets, but not as busy. It was a change from the other side of town and made for a nice walk. A local offered to take a photo of us and I usually decline because I have visions of handing over the camera only for them to turn and leg it up the road, but we let him this time. The weather had turned, it was about 16c and cloudy, but not unpleasant.
Came across a market selling everything from toilet seats to phones with broken screens. CD stalls were blasting out some of my favourite Macedonian tunes. Not really needing any of these, walked up to the fortress – they do like their fortresses here.
The entrance to the fortress was typical of the place – rubbish everywhere.
We walked along the walls which looked as if they had been repaired recently and were good, but not with great views. The rest of it was appalling; more rubbish, rubble and rusty scaffolding, completely overgrown with weeds, 2 abandoned buildings with graffiti. There were a couple of buildings that looked like they might be museums one day, but were unfinished. I don’t understand why they don’t spend a bit of money, I think virtually every visitor to Skopje would go to the fortress, and they are greeted by a horrible and unpleasant mess. There were some towers that were permanently closed with wire, one that overlooked the old town, so we couldn’t get photos of that. Very disappointed that it was in such a state.
Went back to the main square, stunned at the contrast, looking for somewhere to eat. Most places were cafes and ice cream parlours, but found a restaurant and asked to sit at the back away from the smokers. We realised why so many people smoke – a packet of 20 cost $1.50.
Ordered an appetiser plate of local food to share – ham, pastrami, cheese, mushrooms – most of which was salty.
Decided on pizzas. I had pepperoni, Song had mushroom, and we opted for the small. Just as well, they were huge and we only managed to eat half each. Cost $24.
Having seen everything in Skopje went back to the hotel to watch TV.
Tomorrow we fly to Slovenia.
