Favorite country in Eastern Europe thus far…..Why?
I love this place. This is pretty much everything I have looked for in a country. First of all it is an ex Yugoslavia country and I love the history of that region. Second they have a long and storied ancient history (I am a history teacher). Third everything is still relatively cheap, even in the Lake Ohrid area. Fourth they have cheap alcohol and everything is really relaxed around there with café’s and drinking. Fifth, they have some of the best fruits and vegetables I have ever had in my life. The tomatoes were sweet juicy and to die for. Sixth, the food is excellent. They have just about anything you can think of from fish, to pork, to lamb, etc etc….Ok I can go on forever, but you get the point….
Skopje is a city that I had no expectations for at all as I did not do a lot of studying about it, but when I got there I was pleasantly surprised. First of all the customer service everywhere was great. The hotel that I stayed in picked me up from the airport and upped my accommodation to a better part of town pretty much where all the café’s are. Walking around the city which is very centralized I had a feeling of relaxation as there are parks everywhere (again a common theme in ex communist countries). Everything was so green and lush and they had fountains everywhere!!! They had statues to all of the famous people through Macedonian history and a bit about them in English and also Macedonian. The museums are simply to die for and I went to the resistance museum and it was one of the better put together museums I have been too. At all costs if you are in Eastern Europe, you must go to Skopje…
We then took a car to the Lake Ohrid area which is on the border with Albania. The famous thing here to eat is the Ohrid Trout which of course I got. Walking around this place was relaxing as it was only a short walk from our guest house to the water. Along the water you can find heaps of restaurants and bars and the nightlife here is relatively calm, but still fun. We took a boat ride around the lake to see some of the other parts with people lounging out on the water or on the sandy part of the lake just drinking and taking in the sun. We ended up going to an Irish Pub (yes there really is one in every city), and ended up meeting some guys from a city called Bitola in southern Macedonia and ended up hanging out with them the whole night. They were really shoe stringing it as they were all sleeping on the beach and just living a relaxing life!!!
The next night was one of my favorite nights. I had found out one of my favorite bands http://www.bondquartet.com/ was playing there in the old amphitheater!!! I was in disbelief because this is the same music I play in my classroom when students enter. I got the best tickets I could and went and enjoyed the show immensely. They played all of my favorite songs and really put on a great show. It was just by luck I ran into them to see them play….the next morning we took a little bus back to Skopje, chilled out for a few hours then got our bus onto Kosovo…..