An afternoon in Skopje, the city of statues

Back in the beginning of December I was browsing flights on momondo.com, which is not in any way unusual for me. I came across some really cheap tickets to Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, leaving from Malmö on January 2nd and coming back on the 4th. I hadn’t been to Macedonia before, and I had no other plans for that weekend, so I figured that I might as well just go despite only having 1,5 days in the country! Macedonia is a small country, but it’s very mountainous, so it’s not because there’s not plenty to do and see, I just didn’t have more time this time around.

So on January 2nd, far too early in the morning, I set off for Skopje, first catching a bus to Malmö and then a flight from there to Skopje. Fast forward 7 hours and I was meeting up with the lady that runs Skopje Hostel, the hostel that I stayed at for my one night in the city. To my surprise, I was the only one in the hostel that night, and since the staff doesn’t stay there past check-ins, I had the whole place to myself! It’s smack bang in the center and costs only 10 euros per night, so I got myself a really good deal there.

It wasn’t long until I was out of the door again though, as I only had three hours before sunset. I wanted to take a day trip to Ohrid the next day, so I had to complete my sightseeing of Skopje before sunset.

Thankfully, Skopje is very small, so I had actually seen everything I wanted in just two hours. Well, apart from the Millennium Cross, a tall cross located on the top of Mount Vrdno that serves as a memorial of 2000 years of Christianity. I actually really wanted to go there, but the owner of the hostel told me it would take too long, so I wouldn’t be able to see anything else. Instead, I chose to see as much of central Skopje as possible in the three hours I had available.

Skopje, which is home to 500,000 inhabitants, has been inhabited since 4000 BC and thus has a long, complicated and interesting history. In the 2nd century BC, Skopje – or Scupi as it was called back then – became the capital of Dardania, a Roman province in the Central Balkans, but in the 1st century AD, the city was seized by the Romans and became a military camp. Later, the city came under Byzantine rule and for much of the early Middle Ages, the city was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire. Later in the Middle Ages, the city was under control of the Serbian Empire, then the Ottoman Empire and again the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars in the early 20th century. After the First World War, Skopje became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia, before being conquered by the Bulgarian Army in the Second World War.

Finally, in 1944, Skopje became the capital of Macedonia, which at that time was a federal state within Yugoslavia. In 1991, Macedonia became independent and Skopje became its capital once and for all.

But what Skopje is probably most famous for is being the birth city of Mother Teresa, who was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary. She spent her life working with various charities, and was recognised by the church as a saint nine years after her death.

The Roman history is very apparent in the architecture all over Skopje, and it’s a highly unusual city with enormous roman-inspired monuments and buildings amongst rundown houses and garbage (the streets are full of garbage, much like Cardiff).

One thing that Skopje must have more of than any other city in the world is statues. There are literally statues everywhere. On the sidewalks, on the bridges, on the buildings – everywhere you look! There’s even an entire bridge dedicated to statues of Macedonian artists. It’s a pretty cool city!

Across the Stone Bridge on the eastern bank of the Vardar River lies the Old Bazaar, which is the most atmospheric part of the city. The bazaar has been the center for trade and commerce in Skopje since the 12th century. Here, you’ll find street muscisians, cozy restaurants and cobbled streets. I had a few interesting encounters there.

I was buying the mandatory souvenir magnet at the bazaar when the shop owner asked me if I was from the States. When I told him that I was from Denmark, he proceeded to ask me if I thought he was better looking than Mads Mikkelsen (haha!). I’m actually one of the few women who don’t find Mads Mikkelsen handsome, so yes, he was.

A few moments later, I ran into a silversmith, who was Macedonian born, but Norwegian by upbringing. He told me that his family fled to Norway during the Yugoslav Wars from 1991-2001, but now he has come back to pursue his career in his beautiful birth city.

Right next to the bazaar stands the old fortress, from where the view of Skopje was pretty great. I actually felt much better about missing out on Vrdno Mountain once I got up to the fortress, because I had the perfect panorama of the entire city and the mountains surrounding it.

A few moments after leaving the castle, it started to rain. I tried to imagine how I would feel being on the mountain in the rain, and felt glad that I decided not to go!

Skopje Fortress was built in the 6th century AD on a piece of land that had been inhabited since the Neolithic period from circa 4000 BC and onwards.

I ordered some takeaway pizza and then went back to the hostel to relax. It was great having the whole place for myself, as it felt as though it was my own apartment, and it really allowed me to rest, which I needed. Before going to Macedonia, I’d only been home for two days (where I’d been working) after my trip to Azerbaijan, so I was quite tired even before getting to Macedonia!

The next day, I set off for Ohrid, the most beautiful place in Macedonia according to the locals that I talked to as well as most travel bloggers. I just had to see it, despite it being three hours away from Skopje! More about that in the next post.