The trip from Peja was a two-part journey. First, we caught a regular bus to Pristina then as we were looking for another bus to take us to Skopje we found a guy with a small 10 seat bus who offered for us to hop in with him for only $7. A regular bus would have cost us $8 but we figured getting through customs would be quicker with only a handful of people. And well, we love to go with local transport when we can. Turns out it took us almost as long as the real bus because the driver kept stopping once we crossed the border to drop off stuff he was delivering. Probably a side hustle or so we hoped. No regrets. While on the bus looking for a place to stay we noticed that Skopje had a few western hotel chains in the heart of the tourist district so we decided to end our Balkan road trip with some familiar amenities. We booked a Best Western for $38 a night and settled in. We have been traveling for 3 weeks now at a pretty intense pace and were both feeling run down. We had planned to meet some other travelers here but they got sidetracked so we ended up taking a nap then just having dinner and relaxing.
The next morning, we got a slightly later start then normal so we swapped our jog for an American hotel breakfast then set off to explore what Skopje had to offer. Our hotel is perfectly located in the center of everything. We figured we would explore the town first then come back to the room when it got hot and crowded to get some work done and then head outside the city to Matka Canyon for dinner. We planned a sightseeing loop around the city last night. First, we walked through the main square then we walked along the river to the Old Stone Bridge and then into the Old Bazaar. We stopped at a little café to grab a water and while Alyssa was using the bathroom I started filming the guy behind the counter as he prepared a dish for someone. He saw I was filming and offered me some. Turned out to be a pita filled with a rice paste, thinly sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and 40 different spices. It was a flavor explosion. The best thing I have eaten here in Skopje. Next, we headed through the bazaar then walked to the old fortress perched above the town. The place was deserted and not kept up but from the top of the wall you got a 360 degree view of the city. Our next stop was at the plaque where the house Mother Theresa was born in was. It was only feet from the Macedonia Gateway, our next stop. It looked like a knock off of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. From there we walked to the Mother Theresa museum which is located where she was baptized. It was small but interesting. By now it was getting hot so we headed home for a break. Our plans to visit the lake ended up getting derailed last minute as a storm was heading our way and we didn’t want to take the chance of getting caught in the rain. It ended up not raining so we walked along the river and found a place where we ordered 3 traditional dishes and 4 traditional deserts and spent our last night here stuffing our bellies. Everything we saw and did today was free and easily walkable. This was by far the cheapest stop on this road trip. Walking around the city you see statues everywhere. In 2014 the government decided to spend 80 million dollars on statues at the taxpayers expense. 85% of the people voted against them but the government went ahead with them anyway. In the end it ended up costing over 700 million and the government is now in debt to the international bank. The silliest thing is that the statues are random, spread everywhere and people have no idea what most are as they are not labeled at all. We couldn’t even find a map with all the locations on it. Some are in the main square, some at the bus stop, others in front of Burger King, down alleys and some in the river. The locals hate it and refer to it as Eastern Europe Disneyland. We saw a statue of feet diving into the river and a monument to beggars. The 2 main statues in the central square are of Alexander the Great but no one knew who the others are. Overall we had a great day here. Next stop …..Greece!!
