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.
