WEIRD. The Mediterranean meets Turkmenbashi. Statues. Really, really big statues. Hundreds of really big statues. Everywhere. A great example of “seeing is believing”.
There are also some warren-like bazaars, museums, hamams, mosques, churches and more. Hiking is just on the edge of town, and short bus rides take you to two highlights of Macedonia, Makta and Tetovo.
The food sucked.
There are some pleasant, old town, Ottoman feeling parts of Skopje.
Bit Pazar makes you feel like you're on the Silk Roads.
But your first and lasting impression of the Macedonian capital is bronze. Gigatonnes of sculpted bronze.
Avenues of statues, for poets, musicians, statues of warriors, lions, horses- every spare foot of space? "Fuck it, put a statue on it. No, BIGGER!"
These guys are bigger than me, way bigger....and yet....
....they are just the support act for the big fella on top.
Alexander The Great, as if he wasn't great enough, stands as high as a six storey building.
A statue representing heroic women looks down from the fort...at allthe ther statues.
Even North Koreans would be saying "Dude, what's with all the statues? Turn it down."
Dunno why the city feels the need to overcompensate. There's quite a lot to like about it.
The Archeological Museum houses a very impressive collection of the area's history.
Housed, of course, in a completely OTT Fuck-Off sized building.
The old bazaar area contains all manner of historical places, like this caravan sarai, Kursumi An.
Restaurants and take-away joints serve a predictable and disappointing "array" of the same stuff as the place next door.
Old shops are scattered here and there, between the doner and the mosques.
Some businesses look like they have been there since the Turks. Some probably have been.
It's easy and enjoyable to lose an hour or three in Pit Bazaar, the active market area on the edge of the old bazaar.
It was one of, probably the most jostling bazaar we saw in the Balkans.
Like every second city in the Balkans, Skopje claims a link to, and memorialises Mother Theresa. Small, quirky.
And if you haven't overdosed on churches yet, squeeze in one more.
Commemorating the 1150th anniversary of its patron saint, the 1990 Church of St Clement Of Ohrid is modern Macedonian architecture at its best.
Lots of steel and domes, and decked out in pictures of Jesus and his crew. It's cool.
If and when all the bronze and heroes and horses and lions gets too much, the hills aren't far.
Other hikes start right in Skopje, but an hour takes you to the dramatic Matka Canyon. I tried to fall down and ended up n hospital. That kind of holiday.
I'm an unashamed mosque fan, so probably just as well I'd saved Tetovo until after checking out Skopje's emergency wards.
If there is another mosque anything like this in the world, I'm yet to hear about it.
Originally dating to 1438, the 1833 rebuild by Abdulrahman Pasha is officially called Šarena Džamija.
For obvious reasons, it is commonly called "the painted mosque".
The imam and worshippers are quite welcoming of properly attired visitors.
Interestingly, it was not financed by Sultans or rulers as was the norm, but by two local sisters.
Also interestingly, there is no external dome. And 30,000 eggs were used to prepare the paint and glaze!
Nearby is a hamam, and some other historic bits & bobs, but Tetovo is also a good little place to spend a day.
But, yeah, ask anyone about Skopje- the statues!