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Published: November 17th 2007
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Hostel Hostel
It was not that 'Hotel-like' Well we actually had breakfast in this hostel but it was slightly uninspiring. Rob as usual made the most of it by having as much toast as a person can consume. It was too smokey to sit around in the kitchen for long so despite the snow outside we went to explore the city.
The road into the centre was very flooded so we had to be careful whilst we walked. We took it in turns to avoid the rubbish and holes in the pavement and being soaked by cars driving past us. We easily found the centre of the new part of the city, less easy was believing it was the centre. Maybe it was the first properly cold week of the winter and so nobody fancied going outdoors but there was nobody around. We didn't stop for long in the new town,only long enough for me to try and persuade Rob to buy some gloves from a stall.
The old town in Skopje definitely pales in comparison to most European old towns but it did have a hint of Turkey which added a little of something else to it. The streets were all cobbled and lead up
Stone Bridge
Link between old town and new towards the fort that is perched on top of the hill overlooking the city. There were loads of Turkish style cafes selling Pide and kebab and yet despite our new found love of Turkey we declined these all too familiar foods.
As we approached the fort I found a handbag lying on the floor. We checked through it and whilst all the valuable things had gone, there was a diary and photos amongst other personal effects. Despite Rob's moaning I picked up the bag and tried to find somewhere to hand it in. I know how unhappy I would be if my handbag went missing and I would want it back even without my money etc. We couldn't find any police to give the bag to but we found an English speaking man at the reception of a five star hotel who promised to hand it in for us.
We returned to the fort and had a look around it. It wasn't much of a fort but there was a massive restoration project underway. We mooched around it for a bit and got very cold in the process. In the end we decided we needed to thaw out
and get something to eat. Whilst Irish pubs are the same in whichever country you are in, you can always rely on them to have good English type pub food. I had a soy bean burger and Rob had a club sandwich and chips. Using the free wifi I phoned dad but he was out for dinner. Purely to waste time until he returned to work, we ordered apple pie. We spent ages purposefully eating slowly so I could phone dad but he was blatently skiving at work and so his birthday wishes had to be saved until later.
Lonely Planet said that Skopje has two international bus stations and whilst we knew the times of the buses to Pristine we didn't know where to get the bus from. We had a vague idea of where the bus station should have been and we had a map that was vaguely acurate. We walked around the area looking for the station and whilst we did find a very good supermarket where we bought some beer at a ridiculously cheap price we could not find the station. In the end we decided to call it a day and head back to
the hostel. (not before buying a lip balm at Lush, yummy).
At the hostel the main internet still wasn't working but they let us use the office internet so I could phone my dad. I didn't want to bother him for long because he was still at work so it was a bit of a lame conversation considering I haven't spoken to him in ages. We found out that there is only one budget hotel in Pristine and they were not on hostelbookers, so we e-mailed in the hope that they would reply before we leave for Pristine tomorrow.
We asked the owner of the hostel whether he knew if the vegetarian restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet still existed. We didn't want to walk a considerable distance to find that it has long since closed. He said he has never heard of the name and thathe would know if it did exist because he is a vegetarian himself. Once outside the hostel we both decided that he wasn't entirely convincing and that we should look anyway. We walked all the way to the train station and asked to women who mimed the directions to the restaurant for us.
Entrance into the Castle
A very tired Steph could have easily rested there It was a good job that they did because we would have never found it otherwise. It was a tiny cafe/ restaurant and there wasn't much food left, but the owner made sure we knew what there was and suggested food for us. The highlights were the homemade juices lemon and blueberry and the scrumpcious bread.
At the hostel we had our beer whilst I chatted to my sister on Skype and Rob published the photos onto travelblog. We are just about to go to bed now but neither of us are looking forward to it because the room is freezing and there are people in there with us tonight. Americans. Night Night. Stob
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Ken
non-member comment
Your Chernobyl photos came in useful with U6.
Hi Robert. I just used your Chernobyl blog photos (you did quite a few on that blog) with my Physics U6. They were quite amazed that you got so close. You may remember the photo on page 117 of the text book shows a helicopter dropping sand, boron and lead on the broken reactor and you photo showed the same profile and same tower next to it. It then led to a discussion on the the risk you took - I think they expect you to come back with two heads! Dad xx