Adventure day!
Today Vesna was going to Skopje for work and asked if I
would like to ride along. I of course accepted the invitation! I met Cassidy and we went exploring through
Skopje. Our first stop was the old train
station, which is now a museum and art gallery.
Upstairs was the art gallery portion. Her is a picture of one of the
displays. This artist took pictures from the inside of a mental institution looking
out the windows, she then placed the photographs on top of these lit
boxes. Very neat, but also a bit sad;
but I guess that is what art does, exposes emotion.
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| Art Exhibits upstairs |
In the other part of the station, was the museum portion.
One part was the history of Skopje, with pictures and artifacts. Then downstairs were the older artifacts from
thousands of years ago. Here is a
picture of that area as well.
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| Museum downstairs old train station |
After leaving the old train station, we were about to cross
the street when a woman stopped us saying, “Welcome to Macedonia, we are so
glad that you are here visiting.” We proceeded to have a conversation. It was so nice of this woman to say something
to us, and she was very kind, but Cassidy and I decided we must really stick
out for her to have just been so sure we weren’t from there!
Walking north from the train station is a very wide
sidewalk, like a road that has been turned into a walk-way. Today was the 100-year anniversary
celebration. There were people all
around the area, horse drawn carriages, people in dress from different periods
over the past 100 years, bands, and did I mention people? Here is a picture of the walk filled with
people.
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Street view of 100th anniversary celebration
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We then got to se the Memorial House of Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, but her
original house was torn down but the spot where it was is marked in the ground
and there is a plaque. Here are the photos of the memorial house and the
original location of the house.
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| Mother Teresa Memorial House |
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| Memorial House |
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| Plaque at Mother Teresa's original home |
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| Markers where her house stood |
Our next journey took us to the city center where I got to
see the Warrior on a Horse Statue in daylight not rain! There are fountains all around it, and lights
that come shining down from under the upper level in different colors. The
statue was just unveiled on Macedonia’s independence day on September 8th,
so there are still many people coming to take their picture in front of
it.
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| Warrior on a Horse |
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| Me in front of Warrior on a Horse |
Next came lunch- I had Mediterranean Spaghetti (olive oil
and pesto) and Cassidy and I shared the famous cheese fries (it is a feta cheese)
the dip that came with it was so tasty- I am going to have to figure out how to
create it back in the states! It is like
a little bit spicy ketchup like with red pepper spice. I am GOING to figure it out exactly
though. I also wanted to post a picture
of my drink- Diet Coke Light. I post it not only because of the difference in
the name, but to also show something common here in Macedonia (and probably
many other places too) all beverages, except tap water, are served from glass
bottles!
From lunch we walked across the stone bridge, and the Vardar River to an old Turkish Bath that has been
turned into an art museum. I took some pictures of the outside, and then
inside, including the amazing ceilings!
The artwork inside was very old, and amazing to see. But I really
enjoyed seeing the architecture!
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| Stone Bridge |
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| Vardar River |
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| In the Turkish Bath - now art museum |
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| The ceiling of the museum |
We proceeded to the Old Bit Bazaar area. I took some pictures
of the side streets. The streets wound all around and there were little shops
and restaurants all along. I found a
neat hand painted cup that I am going to use here to hold “stuff” in my room and
then I will bring it home as a great memory. It was a lot of fun walking around
and seeing all of the people on the streets, in the shops, and at the cafés. Cassidy, Erin and I also got a tea with one
of the shop owners. It was a lot of fun to be with a local at a local café!! The teas are very small, and many people put
sugar in it. I chose to only squeeze a bit of lemon. After tea we stopped for my first Boza. It is fermented flower drink, but we had
blueberries juice added to ours. It was a really refreshing and tasty
treat!
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| Side Streets |
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| Side Streets |
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| Side Streets |
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| Boza |
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| Walking back over Stone Bridge- view of Warrior on a Horse |
It was an awesome day! And after our adventures, I met back
up with Vesna for what became the most “practical” part of my journey to Skopje! We stopped at the mall and went to Jambo-
where I got kitchen towels, silverware, plates, bowls, a bowl for doing my
laundry in the sink, and a container to take fruit with me to work! I actually have REAL stuff for my cupboards
at the dorm. WOW!!!!
Lesson: Listen to the
people and don’t just take what you see for granted.
Well to my surprise at the end of my day- I was walking back to my dorm room and there in front of me were Vesna (who had been in Skopje for work all afternoon) and Cassidy (another fulbrighter living in Skopje)!!!! Those stinkers had surprised me! It was so heart warming and exciting to see them walking up the sidewalk! When Vesna went to Skopje for work she picked up Cassidy and brought her back. We went to dinner together, at Bela Mia in Tetovo. I have had on my list of “things to purchase” for a bit now, sheets for my extra bed. I wanted to get them so that if I have guests they can sleep on the bed. So it was off to the store to get sheets for Cassidy (great reason to buy sheets). Then it was ice cream for dessert!! We followed dessert with an art show presented by LOJA a Non-Governmental Agency here that promotes peace and understanding. 
