Macedonia Travel Guides

Hades and Persephone cannot bear to refuse Orpheus’s plea, and grant Eurydice’s release, on one condition: that Orpheus does not look back at her until he leaves the underworld. He agrees, but at the very last moment, anxious that she has fallen behind, he turns to look at her—and indeed, she falls away “with a last farewell which scarcely reach[es] his ears” [1]

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Edited by Max - 19-Dec-2014 at 00:19

103 Almost Alive

for photos check the link

8 Things That Surprised Me About Macedonia - 15.06.2014 1. It’s not in Greece. Okay, actually I already knew that Macedonia was also a country, not just an ancient area of Greece, thanks mostly to a mild addiction I had to playing Sporcle’s Countries of the World and Flags of the World geography games while living in Japan. But it turns out there’s some serious controversy surrounding the country’s name, with many insisting it only be referred to as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Oh, and don’t even get started on Alexander the Great… 2. Lake Ohrid completely deserves the hype. When people in Serbia and Albania kept raving about Lake Ohrid and telling us not to skip it, I was a little skeptical. I mean hello, I’m from Norway, so it takes a lot for a lake to impress me. Oh my goodness, Lake Ohrid was so impressive! Not only was the water beautifully clear and perfect for a refreshing dip, but the whole area is surrounded by quaint fishing villages and majestic mountains. Slightly less impressive, however, was the weather. It rained almost our entire time in Ohrid, so I only managed to get a couple of photos between downpours. 3. Skopje is home to 284 statues. Okay that might be a rough estimate, but I’m pretty sure it’s close. Seriously, there were enormous statues everywhere. Pretty bizarre.Travel Skopje, Macedonia statues Travel Skopje, Macedonia statues Travel Skopje, Macedonia Travel Skopje, Macedonia statues Travel Skopje, Macedonia statues 4. Skopje was totally redesigned in 2014. Apparently Skopje didn’t always look this bizarre. “Skopje 2014″ was a both costly and controversial project launched by the government in 2010 in an effort to transform the capital into a more unified and visually appealing European city. We asked various locals what they thought about their city’s makeover, and responses ranged from awkward silences to mild acceptance to full on disgust. One man complained that it was just an unnecessarily expensive display of nationalism aimed against Greece. Ouch! 5. Meal cost us a total of 3 euros, including a 2-liter jug of local red wine.Macedonian food local wine salad Restaurant meals in Skopje were similarly cheap and tasty. 6. People speak German! After struggling in Albania due to my lack of Albanian/Italian/Greek language skills, I was so pleased to be greeted with “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” Why yes, I do spreche ! This especially worked with elderly men, as it seemed that all of them had at some point spent time working in Germany, which meant that we were hanging with a pretty cool crowd while in Macedonia. 7. Šuto Orizari, or Shutka, the world’s largest concentrated Roma population, isn’t quite the outrageous gypsy festival one might imagine. I had been both fascinated and horrified by the plight of the Roma community in Serbia and Albania, so when I heard that Shutka was just I fifteen-minute bus ride from Skopje’s city center I was curious to visit. But while I did eat an extraordinarily tasty pita burger there, I didn’t feel like I was anywhere particularly out of the ordinary. For the Roma “Gypsies,” however, Shutka is something quite extraordinary. Having left India more than a thousand years ago, the Roma people can be found spread around the world and they are almost always discriminated against, living on the outskirts of society. Shutka is the only municipality in Europe with Romani as an official language and a Roma mayor. 8. Macedonia is incredibly easy to hitchhike through. I know hitchhiking is easier for girls, but I can’t imagine anyone having a hard time finding a ride in Macedonia. We hitchhiked everywhere, including from Skopje to Greece, with our longest wait being about eight minutes. 9. We didn’t have to book any rooms in advance. Sometimes it pays to visit a place during off-season (if even just barely off). We weren’t in Ohrid for three minutes before someone was pointing us to an apartment we could stay in for 6 euros/night. The owner was the sweetest woman who continuously fed us coffee and cookies.home stay apartment Lake Ohrid, MacedoniaWhen we arrived in Trpejca, a picturesque fishing village about a 20-minute ride from Ohrid that everyone needs to someday visit, we wandered around in the rain until a kind family found us a room for 5 euros/night, possibly in their friend’s summer home. In Skopje we stayed at Backpacker’s Skopje. We didn’t book in advance, but we did check the price (7 euros) so we knew better when they tried to charge us 10 euros. The location was convenient and the rooms comfortable, and we learned that a perk of staying somewhere with perpetually high staff is that they will keep bringing you food. http://www.heartmybackpack.com/blog/travel-macedonia/

10. Dis is di age af reality
But some a wi a deal wid mytalagy
Dis is di age af science an' teknalagy
But some a wi a check fi antiquity



Edited by +Protagorist - 02-Oct-2014 at 15:16

Originally posted by Max

се е на соодветно место пријателе од несоодветниве муабети, најчесто во нишкава и во подфорумот НТ, а оти така и тука, е тоа е веќе друга работа за која доколку сум вишок сигурно ќе бидам предупреден од администрација, терај по ПП со вакви умни дилеми во иднина

Edited by +Protagorist - 24-Sep-2014 at 22:44

and from all the things that every Macedonian downtown must have, the Carousel is first one on the list! this one in Skopye was even carefully ordered and placed as ambition trap for all the would-be alexG kids, its horizontal spins give true meaning to all this central thematic park in this town, and next stop for those that will grown-up is the squares portico known as Pavilion of Love, which should be something like sk-ferrytail coming true for all teenagers that transit from wanna-be to will-be AlexG, yet bitter but alkaline is the truth, that after the pavilion y'll need to pass few lions and falanx so they can climb up the watermelon-universe of the equestrian warrior [1]      

http://tourismus-in-mazedonien.blogspot.com/2014_05_01_archive.html









Edited by +Protagorist - 12-Oct-2014 at 04:55

I’l leave one more Alt-an to this freestyle market talk

So altho this standardization has its own good sides like chance for controlling what is or its not organic, or at least labeling gmo foods which is mandatory here, then antibacterial haccap etc. (something like human social reflex [1] then again if this standardization is producing heavy market dullness whats the use from, except room for extra profit of multi-market mastodons, and happily for now we stil dont have such altho we have created few with mid-size potential like Sileks and Orka this second one arc for textile,food,medicine etc. yet they are like acid rain that cant be avoided even there is no standards around
and after we start boxing ourselves with eu-legislation we placed ourselves on path to become more selfish but also less happy, its simple, in this age of naked materialism in whom we try to transit completely - we become more and more antisocial, unmoral til bone and greedy from head2heel!

but coz it was not always so, probably there is stil plenty true socialistic vibe somewhere around, actually one of reasons why we are so welcoming, tho our southern mentality is the main spice for this, therefore I think thats right time 4 our dance Pravoto (2><1 steps) so after two steps forward to capitalism we need new one backwards to socialism, altho this last right-winged government is trying to promote many socially popular measures, even people say successfully tho they have plenty space to fil in with solitude til they "come down to" their socialistic roots [1][2] "passing by" their capitalist stem! maybe theyre fine now as leafs, with high central burst, but from it stil its not benefiting on large the middle class and even less poor ones, tho many felt the breeze of change which this last revolutionaries-by-root have bring [3] first of all this space should be filled with thoughts for the poor and all that need more than social care young or old! til now this was done only for homeless people but ghettoizing them without consent in some barracks in Katlanovo near Skopye which normally gives first-aid comfort for all homeless&jobless people but its not quality solution for longterm sustainable social-help!


not that there is universal solution for every social case, specially the ill or hooked which need more than socialism [1] maybe Christian vegetarianism, but I think that for most of the people that have lost anyhow happiness in their life, there could be offered sustainable means which will bring back again their smile e.g. IF macedonian authorities Open one organic-hippy-door with some sort of Rural Collectivization, especially for people who want to escape from the urban ghetto and free their mind, in same time they'll need strong encouragement and help from the government for that, not just art minded hope but true program for rural migration, fast and easy as in town ruins should be taxed extra which would lead to rural colonization of all that deserted half ruined village palaces, also This Is Only Way & Chance for them to survive as traditional architecture! Long story short – “give people chance sustainably to escape from the concrete jungle, in same time saving all histo-rural places through them” Naturalists, not only they'll revive all our unique (abandoned and ruined) villages but they'll open room again for (once already reached) own national classicism through our rural architecture aside its traditional music, some kind of wide spread true revival of its own past

say for example this happened 10 years ago, now we would have largest European rural thematic park, but also potentially extra organic agriculture coz those that escape from city in nature surely don’t go coz profit per se, but also happy healthy life, and I’m sure that there are many who will flee there immediately if they've had chance, altho surely not everyone would be ready for independent rural life, which could be reached maybe some sort of commune like kibbutz village living [1][2][3][4] even this could be must-do acclimatisation for everybody, so they could be valuate and prompted for independent farming & rural tourism - which should be mandatory for getin free refurbished house [5] yep ironically here standardization will help even as gift it could be obligated to offer some free accommodation for elders - so they can finally say its good to be working-class hero...
ideally all this should be promoted to authorities by some nGo like Lenka [6] who will bring-out some know-how brainstorming about such urban re-emigration [7] tho first of all they'll need to establish stronger Voluntarism for this could last [8] even all minor law offender could be sentenced to help out such rural comeback
       


this gif is comparison view, of just how this process should be thoughtful i.e. we need revival of the tradition as from the first two ruined houses which in same manner will be uplifted, not as the second pair of cross-over, or the last two photos of new-skool traditionalism! check these links below for examples of real tradition    

Traditional Macedonian Architecture [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] http://www.build.mk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=373&PID=134363#134363

at last i'l say Altans are like grape fruit, they are necessary only if they are valuable and immediately useful, I think this one now is mature enough for such rural revival echo, even greeting as long term investment for any case scenario of economic or natural slump!



http://www.build.mk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=373&PID=144237#144237 [1]


Edited by +Protagorist - 02-Nov-2014 at 20:01

for me this new standardization as much as was expected and welcomed earlier, now i see that it become unnecessary burden to common people, it is almost like european benchmark trap for the poor, taking from them their urban fractal reasoning i.e. cardboxes around markets, cars on corners, improvised donut&gevrek carts, and all that similar urban utility guerrillas - the so called grays as they are making enough to be taxed!
Like fractal street marketers they were typical for the transition and not so common in the socialistic past, coz then jobs and salaries were assured in some artificial social-matrix, but ridiculously woven by antisocialists waiting in line for aristocratic lush, altho even then there have been hobos around our soc-system that have been left behind for recycle, from this aspect I am curious why leaders in SRMa didnt had will for social-marketing although they declared themselves as socialists, their followers actually stil exists backed by their leftovers of ex-yu suppressed nostalgia [1] hm probably back then it was not easy to be socially aware when all progressive minds had strive for pro-western touch from art til marketing [2] maybe they were discouraged by the Russian soc-trends which influenced them only as constructivism on agitprop level [3][4][5]

Stil no matter how upper class in ex-yu was stuffed with frantic capitalist subconscious, masses were far beyond that planed boxed consumerism, altho they've fell on the all-round collective vacation mode, cruising around the federal lakes mountains and sea, some says that this wouldnt be case if there were not for shs-group budgeting to pay for, tho they were using loans for that too [1] and even if it was true all the power was concentrated in their hands, sharing only good manners as collective market i.e. selling us machines while buying groceries, it was some sort of federal conspiracy to keep macedonians on low metabolism coz their fear of any new revolutionary ambition that we can evoke if we were progressive… [2] coz this we were something like second-class republic for decisions making in the federation, altho there were always “right-hand-man” macedonians of the Y-feldmarschall even lk for ten days was first and last Macedonian president of ex'yu, normally we had small amount of grownup leaders coz our intelligentsia was eider imprisoned or relaxed with yugo-carrots, other as usual find escape in word acrobatics, having wide flow while prosifying and safe heaven plunging in poetry, tho some have been unplunged by accidental shots while hiking in woods as was case with Kocho Racin but this rude shorting-pencil-strategy was usual only around wwII while after SRMa joined SFYu authorities used more pressurized than shorting methods in their yugo-catharsis as was case with Zivko Chingo d’macedonian socialistic’tolstoy which words had large bell resonance - later praised through the movie Great Water and the song Babadjan



But for everyday people with centuries of collective war memory, this ex-yu willing ancillary was almost ideal, as long waited love missive, if not ideal coz the postwar carrots like collectivization & industrialization, a whole spread education & sport, transport transform, also belonging to large body of balkanism, then new fast & easy communication, yeah chance to listen soccer on radio and watch some finale on tele, simply it was more than working-class revolution it was techno paradigm shift, even long lasting through dosed technical echoing in every field from art til marketing, in that progressive realm among east and west - an european golden ratio of economy & politics, more westerner doh - which was most obvious by the yu-art

in this context e.g. after '60s for kids arrived even Italian comics like Zagor or Alan Ford [1] but also Italian soccer sticker albums, altho first stickers locally had been produced in '65 by Krash as part of their animal kingdom choco-bar [2] I remember my first shared-soccer album Mexico’86, even i can snif some memory of stickers smell [3] maybe it would hit me even harder if our federal team qualified for that fifa-cup [4] or maybe that period lacked some soccer showmen so it could make that federal socialistic soccer euphoria extra pearly, one that we have received later in our ‘90s independent transitionalism when he lift up the land through channel-103 soccer radio shows [5] after he kicked the football into audience in his vox-populi Yadi Burek subsequently becoming local morality-toner and nwo-dis-tuner called Janko with potential to bring back courtesy as collectivism instead this ongoing strive for western individualism


Edited by +Protagorist - 02-Oct-2014 at 11:02

Ararat, Kula & Pony - Skopyes AK48 - were 3 legendary urban-guerrilla coffee-shops of Skopye that once artly have been holding for hostage this town - surrounded and hooked by them from three sides, they were most independent places in Skopye and among first in whole country, despite this whole city was shroomed with similar cafes!
but i'll underline that as much inventive atmosphere have offered these places, for me Tea-chai-shops were far better, among them the oldest (stuffed with artistic mood by Zero in the end of 80's) and which stil exist is known as Galery7 chaiing at the end of the old-bazaar.. its status later in 90's was succeed seven streets further by Bagdad-cafe, from where that bizarre tea-vibe in 00's has escaped at NA yet rarely any of them had something other than prefab alkaloid bags [1]

one thing that Skopye lacks, not that there havent been any til now, is tea-shops with open libraries, among whom earlier most famous was Az-BuKi - an local philosophical epicenter, anyway concept now largely threatened by this notepad-age, maybe this could be praised again if someone open Anti-cafe place similar to those in Moscow [1][2] an post-socialistic concept of stopwatch half-free or free-serving cafeteria something like all-you-can-eat buffets but as cafe opened in odd places like apartments, suburbs or ex-factories... also they should be typical meeting place for ngo's who cannot share free drinks&food to their members and guests... actually in this anti-cafes ideally coffee should be banned, coz as postsocialist invention AC must spread macrobiotic reasoning, surely not without reason [1][2][3]
     
another good thing that for now cant be found in Skopje is tea-tisane-cocktail cafe, selling healing herbal tea mixtures! maybe there are menus that offer some, but i haven heard for typical place!? opening such heal-tea-house in the city should be done by and maybe @ the agricultural faculty, or as part of the city's botanical garden located near, so to be introduced potentials&tastes of our local but also exotic plants, normally it would be beneficial in such place to be mounted stands of our-bee-federation, coz it would be sin to sweeten all that green-healing with white sugar [4] plus it would be pity if people dont have chance to try some true local honey [5]   



must say that while Skopje looks as cafe-seat of Macedonia, without some true coffee-pitch this can not be the case, having such this epithet goes and fit to Bitola - town through whom were entering european trends in Ottoman Empire, tho from there europeans have had the chance to find out for the ottoman trends - like the middle-age cafemania [1] actually Bitola citizens have kept one such trend from the past "d'afternoon coffee break" its funny but usually a daily walkable korzo street (parade street) in midday is overcrowded with coffee drinkers, simply whole town is pouring downtown on coffe-hour for one cup of coffee and they'll go after they've seen what they need plus leave what they dont, its like some local concrete beaching and those that cant find time for normally are perceived as homies, hm maybe it was so until tourism burst again and prices went up, making that same one cup to rise from 20 cents in the 90's to 1 euro in 00's probably now is 1.5, if not 3 coz Bitolchani as people from Pelagoniya usually act kabadaya's [2] tho many Skopyani too coz half Bitola in the past century moved to Skopye

actually cafe&tea rest-rooms are Muslim invention that Turks brought here even before west europe got any [3][4] anyway for Cafe here we say Kafana or in its literate-form Kafeana an coffee-an which in ex-yu time got serbian suffix as Kafich tho in turskih this sounds coffee4ich i.e. cofee for free, tho actually true coz coffee was rarely encashed in ex-yu, except if it was served like dessert-add e.g. coffey&lokum or coffey&figs
so speaking from histo-perspective maybe Bitola is one of the first european coffee-shop spots, maybe third right after Istanbul and Salonica coz Bitola back then was bigger than Skopye with similar population to Belgrade [5] yet from some tropical reasons probably the prevailing ottoman sanjak (collonial division) was named after Ohrid [6] anyhow today here, coffee is more gripping for Christians, coz nowadays among muslim-break-habits turkish tea rulz eventually salep [7]


Edited by +Protagorist - 25-Apr-2015 at 17:23

the stadium is located at the entrance of city's central park, second urbanized park in the city at the end of the Otoman empire, it was planted after the end of the Ilinden Uprising [1] tho some underline that was even older [2] who knows probably not as calming european trend but as some modern message coz it was time when tagging was delivered through landscaping, after wwII to the park were added soccer field, amusement park and zoo, tho there were also river beach and kayaking club once, later there had explode sumer discotheques that were challenged by few small local restaurants which atmosphere smell on kebap-party especially the one in the heart of the amusement park right below the Panorama wheel which served its mezze in the sightseeing train

so after Philip has stabilize the city-park marvel as largest modern macedonian amphitheater, we needed another object so Alex could start finally riding its own plans, this was quickly resolved tho with persian subsidies i.e. turkish TAV invested in renovation of Skopje Airport, which only lacks direct railway connection so it can grow in largest Transport hub along K-10 [1]

the airport is mid-size [1][2] resting on 16 km from Skopje, between is located the new industrial part of Skopje [3] this location is place where once was floating lake in neogen [4] which primeval leftovers were artificialy dreined in the last century [5] time-warp info that gives to this place quite liquid mood, and ancient on top of that, lacking only dinos to pop out around as bicycle-mascots wishing happy trip to the passengers, there is even modern basis for this - i didnt mention that TAV (skp operator) is otanized company i.e. civil extension arm of nato [6] and as long it is 200 mil. free gift after 2 decades nobody cares [7] tho as refurbish via concession it was already gift for 20 years independence in 2011







Edited by +Protagorist - 16-Sep-2014 at 22:43

pardon, two postmodern objects droped white, rest of them ended plain concrete brutalism, this second object is the House of MOB macedonian opera and balley, tho they will be separated coz their singers will take a walk to new Opera House [1] next to the old one Г [2]

and it would be ok if all ends on this, but there is impossible coincidences around all this, in one hand unusual for european objects of opera or ballet they ended in modern objects, while in other skopjes theaters got neoclassical objects, maybe modern dance choreographies shakes among ballet dancers and philharmony will go electro, never mind at least this is just addition to our collective impossibilities, paradoxes and surrealism [1]

then there is the opposed-cubist-symbiosis among this old and new objects, they scream ignorance at least, their uncompatible materials transit from the broken lines of the old one to this oval roof from the new opera, tho this is maybe totally repairable thing, piece of cake against the recent neoclassicism that will not disappear thus immediately asks for some ground landscaping gymnastics, maybe some contra pirouette with high altitude plants, who knows is it worthed to give up even from palm&cacti switch

we already had similar switch there, on artistic level tho, when after our independence and fastly forgotten socialism, people immediately forgot on Opera&Ballet, some coz the transitional economy some coz the explosion of satellite tv, so this shrine of renascence throned by brutalism > in its basement got two transplants < which manage to superimpose his architecture, one discotheque and one pharmacy, as i can remember they were largest among their own in whole country!? through this MOB-discotheque macedonians were frayed instantly first with rave then techno and right after goa-trance, and its wall2wall pharmacy was dispatcher of first cheap contraception, in a way underground decadence at its best, together an beast that bring 24/7 partying with few philharmonic chillout hours who back then brought the epithet to Skopje as balkan party-hot-spot mapped as such also on the 90's world techno map
forgotten, this MOB although architecturally was perceived as springboard definitively in 90's became sub-cultural diving platform, now this object is hidden enough with potential to become empty echo, at least will survive with relaxed smile which can be shared from another perspective when will open its ballerine heart to the new Charshiya square where hopefully will spread its own relaxed cubic vibe [1][2] if not else they are compatible in their sharp outlook



there was also half-white postmodern object in Skopje the famous socialistic mol on the opposite bank from MOB that with the building of the government and telecom headquarters will not have the same luck as MOB i.e. to survive skopyes last heaviest urban revenge, they are in process of neoclasical catharsis, which there is no other way to be saluted than with postmodern RIP f-bookmarks like was done by Maddames Alexander altho he dint do this as fan of neoclassicism [1] but as fun of traditionalism which probably it wouldnt had have such consequences as the existing NC-facelift

overlooked but this ongoing neoclassicism is probably also traditional altho with u-turn along russian neo-byzantine mood, at least if they used marble and stones instead concrete and styrofoam this facelift could been more authentic e.g. what once happened to Budim, and then maybe this is left as option for the next balkan megalopolis KuSkoTe that unites in One the largest north macedonian towns Kumanovo Skopye and Tetovo [1][2] probably very soon (~50y.) if Macedonia absorb even not more than 0,5% from the african emigrants and middle east refugees, who can fill all the gaps, and only if Macedonia became eu-member coz no matter how prosperous is, its not attractive for settling all the bordering thoughts of those nomad freedom seekers, tho even then its questionable if these gaps will be anywhen filled with traditional stone-styled byzantine architecture, maybe after the next global cataclysm, tho then Skopje probably will have sea shores [1][2][3]       


Edited by +Protagorist - 16-Sep-2014 at 12:11