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Skopje, Macedonia

Skopje, Macedonia

Now I finally saw something of Skopje. In November last year we almost went to Skopje but in Nis we decided to go to Sofia. Christina and a friend of us, Coen, thought it would be a better idea at that time to visit Bulgaria and I was quite frustrated because of all the rain in Sofia, it wasn't raining in Skopje at that time!

Anyhow, I had to visit Skopje for work so it wasn't about sightseeing this time. Still I had enough time to grab some pictures. From Belgrade it's around 4 hours by car if you drive 145 km per hour and provided there is not much traffic on the road. In summertime the E75 between Belgrade and Skopje is packed with traffic heading for Greece and Turkey so it will take you more time. Also the border checks will take more than the 10 minutes I had to wait. The first part of the E75 is highway, after this a 2 lane road through hills the last 100 kilometers in Serbia. In Macedonia is is highway again. Toll on the highway in Macedonia can be paid in euro's, about 1,50 euro in total. If you do not want to drive you can also take a bus from Belgrade. They depart from the busstation next to the central train station and at this time of year it will take something between 6 and 7 hours.

EU citizens do not need visa for Macedonia as far as I know, at least I didn't need anything.

If you talk about Skopje or Macedonia the first question you hear from everyone in Belgrade: Nice, but did you actually visit lake Ohrid?? Lake Ohrid is a popular destination for many tourists from the Balkan and (in the past?) even for tourist from all over Europe I promise we will try to visit lake Ohrid in the future in order to make some pictures.

So these are the pictures I made in order to give you my first impression. In short, it is not a big city which might be a little bit boring but at least most things are within walking distance. The city is clearly divided in an 'Albanian' side scattered with mosques and a 'Macedion' or 'Orthodox' side with a gigantic cross on top of a hill which is alluminated at night. In the city center these two parts are connected by a small stone bridge crossing the river Vardar.

Many nice restaurants and bars are located on the riverside, and as soon as it is getting warm the terrasses are great to spend your evening with a nice Skopsko beer or famous Macedonian wines. (posted by Jitze, 19/03/07)

theatre in Skopje

stone bridge separating Albanian and Orthodox part

click on this link to go to the second part of the pictures.

Skopje Online, info site

Republic of Macediona according to Wikipedia

Skopje according to Wikipedia