Π.Γ.Δ.Μ. ΣΚΟΠΙΑ

[North66]

Νομίζω το ερώτημα είναι ξεκάθαρο και καθόλου φιλολογικού χαρακτήρα. Πρόχειρα θυμάμαι ένα ελληνικό τουριστικό που το σπάσαν κάπου στην ΠΓΔΜ και παλιότερα κάποια αθηναικά αυτοκίνητα που δέχτηκαν επίθεση κατά τη διάρκεια αθλητικού ιβέντ στη Θεσσαλονίκη.

 

[sfakhania]

sorry

sorry for writing in english. I am still in Skiopje, and cannot find the greek letters in the hotel pc .. I came in Skopje by bus from Sofia. in the bus we were 2 austrian guys, 1 australian, 10 bulgarian and me the only greek. I was the only one the customs checked ,made me open my suitcase and asing questions for 15 minutes .the other passengers laughed , cause they say that customs in that part of the border is always strict but the cheks mostly bulgarians .me , the greek guy, was the perfect "victim" to be checked ....otherwise in skopje the situation is as follows .simple local people are ok , friendly and polite, some of them even helped me when heard I am greek, (did not pay in some museums, gave me locations on tha map. welcomed me...etc etc) .the city is divided in two parts. the let;s say european , where all the statues of alexander etc and the bars and cafes are .this area is ok. but north of the river is the old bazaar...which is all middle east .women wear muslim clothes. so many of them I have not met in middle east. this area is beautiful ,but not european at all.... was very depressed about what they say as official history in their national museum about macedonia. completely different from what we say here. for instance they say that part of macedonia is still "occupied" by greece and bulgaria.....kind of worried me , because there is no point of discussion and solution .....

 

[rinistic]

hey everyone, sorry for writing in english, but it's just easier as Greek is not my native language. I am from Skopje and kinda wanted to help you out with your question. Skopje is pretty safe, and unless u go parking and barking around some xrysi-avgh -like people you will be just fine.

I have no clue where you are staying, but parking and staying in the center of the city and areas like Kapistec, Karpos, Taftalidze, Kozle is perhaps the safest option if u feel weird about traveling to Skopje. But there have not been incidents with Greek citizens in Skopje as far as i remember. Regarding the border thing, I see Greek citizens traveling on daily basis in huge numbers just to the local casinos without the border police in Evzoni- Gevgeli even bothering to stop them and search through their cars. But u never know the mood that the border policeman might be in that day, and after all, i don't like it either, but they are not there to be our friends when u come to think of it.

anyhoo, when u get to SKopje there are a few things to visit, usually tourists know more things than Skopjans themselves ))) charsija will be one of your favourite places i am sure, it;s the old part of the town, with new commercial and alternative bars, but also many galleries and hamams.... make sure u get into Kurshumli An, it's one of the most amazing and calming places in the city, especially during the open air documentary festival, which sadly was held in june.... take a stroll through charsija, the fortress, the city park, and maybe sit down for a relaxing beer in some of the bars in the city park area called Debar Maalo. If u r the alternative-indie type I recommend the bar laika in debar maalo, menada or la kanja in charsija...
and since u will be in skopje make sure u go to matka, it's an artificial but beautiful lake in the city and the area around it is very popular for hiking and rock climbing and there are some impressive caves which u can visit by taking a boat ride... if u r the hiking type or like hills u can climb Vodno, the mountin inside skopje, or just take a teleferik to the top...

one thing i do not like about skopje is what the city centre looks like these days... skopje has pretty much turned into a construction site, they are repairing the streets and building monuments that don't belong there like crazy....its called the project skopje 2014 and makes the city look like a scene from a theatre of absurd play.... it's ridiculous and insane from so many aspects and the saddest part about it all is that the people did not protest in large numbers and react in order to stop it all....

apart from that, u might be interested to know that the general urban plan for the city after the disastrous earthquake in 1963 was made by the famous greek architect Doxiadis. and the buildings in the city centre which from above look like they are forming a wall were designed by the japanese architect kenzo tange...

i am sorry i can't recomend places to eat because i rarely eat out hahah but people seem to like Toto, it's like a small meat-oriented tavern, and pretty cheap and u might run into Greeks there as well. people also like Galerija 7 in charsija, they make a mean lahmadzun

if u r staying for a few days make sure to go for trips to kokkino, it's an observatory like stonehendge and kuklici ... hope some of this is helpful...

ah yes, and don't worry too much about the "macedonia" issue or thinking that people might not like u because u r greek..... most people from skopje are in halkidiki and the greek islands during the summer

as for the muslims, yes 30 percent of the population in the country is muslim... charsija is in the area accross the river that has a majority of the muslim allbanian and turkish population, but this is not as it used to be 10 years ago.... so no fear and find some nice people in skopje to show you around and u can rent bicycles for like 10 denars which is like 20cents per hour if u r too lazy to walk around the city

ah, a cool place to see is the pirate-radio station Kanal 103, which is actually situated in the building of the national tv and radio station MRTV.... but the producers are all on hollidays now... it would have been nice to just pop in for a visit, as anyone can go as long as they know some of the dj-s, the place is so significant for the underground culture of the country....