Skopje

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What a fascinating city Skopje is. We spent four nights there staying in a comfortable hostel close to the Old Bazaar.

Skopje 2014 was a major capital building project in the city centre organised by the Macedonian government, the main object of which has been suggested was a nation-building exercise. There were ancillary objects, to give the city a more classical look architectually and make it more attractive to foreign tourists. The original budget was €80M but it is reported that it eventually cost €560m and some say much more. Check the You Tube vids. The official one bears little semblance to reality as it showss the grand new buildings and statutes but omits to show the surroundings.

Our tour guide told us that he tried once to count the number of statutes and gave up at 120. He estimates there are 140. Some of them are interesting and impressive while others are, in my opinion, oversized monstrousities with little if any aesthetic appeal. Locals, in general, like the face-lift their city has received. Some suggest that it is now resembles a theme park where Las Vegas meets Disneyland.

The statute in the centre of the main square is named ‘Warrior on a horse’. Everyone knows it is a depiction of Alexander the Great. The Macedonians, however, have diplomatically resisted calling it that in order not to unnecessarily upset their Greek neighbours who have issues with the Republic of North Macedonia. Some Greeks beleive that the new country is attempting to ‘steal’ Greece’s regional identity and history.

The major earthquake in 1963 flattened 80% of the City, however, the Old Bazaar remains today largely as it would have looked for a hundred years or more. I saw one photo taken in 1926 of the Old Bazaar and it could have been taken yesterday.

While we were in Skopje, we met up breifly with Eddie, a good friend of Luke Scullion. He works as a diplomat in the Foreign Office. It was fascinating to get his perspective.

It was just our luck that Skopje was experiencing a bit of a heatwave during our visit with temperatures in the mid 30’s. Mount Vodno overlooks the City and is just a short local bus ride. It was however too hot to venture up there for any hiking. We will now have to return to Skopje at some stage as I would love to hike over it and down the other side to Matka Canyon.

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Fun fact. Well, one I didnt know. Skopje was the birthplace of Mother Teresa, now, following her canonization, known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. Her father was of Albanian. She grew up in Skopje until she left for Ireland when she was 18 years old.