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Published: August 22nd 2006
well i certainly am happy to be out of skopje. parts of it were really cool, but overall i just felt unsafe and being alone certainly didn't help...probably the best part was being able to sit in my room in my underwear in front of the air conditioner...
this morning i was a weirdo and was up and out of my room by 9 to explore what i could in skopje before noon. the main center square, ploshtad makedonija, is really cool and lined with cafes and shops and whatnot, but i think i already told you that. i continued up across kamen most into the old part of the city, which apparently is also the albanian part of the city. the turkish influence basically slaps you across the face...i visited the national art gallery which is housed in a former bath house, and that was definitely really cool. minarets could be seen from almost anywhere, and the bazaar was like a legit bazaar, not touristy like the one in istanbul. probably the most interesting thing i saw at the bazaar were these handcarved wooden baby cradles with the albanian flag (red with two-headed black eagle) on the ends.
i managed to kill time somehow, bought a juice and a marmalade-filled croissant, and headed back to the hotel to check out and get a cab to the bus station. the next bus to ohrid was at 2:00 and cost 450 denari - funny how my cab ride to the hotel from there cost more than that, lol. i waited around until finally boarding, where i met two people from brooklyn, which was refreshing...
sometime after 5 we arrived in ohrid, and i pretty much right off the bat was approached by this man and woman offering accomodation. after a short conversation i said i'd check out the place, and we walked together down the street a few blocks to this small-ish apartment complex. they showed me the room - nice and big with a double bed (pullout), tv, dvd, posters from teen-type magazines all over the wall, etc. they said it was 400 a night, which is about $8 - a quarter of the price of one night in skopje. when i saw that inside the china cabinet there were fireking peach lustre cups and saucers, i knew it was meant to be.
so living in this apartment are the one woman, her two daughters (maybe 15 and 12), and her husband (whom i met later). the other man lives downstairs, but he apparently is best friends with that husband, so the two families are really close and help eachother out. he speaks decent english and also german, since he's a doctor apparently and worked several years in germany and ireland. after washing up he offered to take me on a little tour of the main part of the old town.
the main commercial center is fairly touristy, but not in a gross way like golden sands in bulgaria. the atmosphere is absolutely gorgeous, with old houses and churches lining the hills of the town. apparently there are 365 churches here, one for every day of the year. we went up the the one church overlooking lake ohrid that was featured in the film 'before the rain.' stunning. i can't wait to go back tomorrow when the light is better for more pictures. at another church i saw the tomb of st. clement of ohrid, who is credited with transcribing st. cyril and methodius's glagolitic script into cyrillic. apparently the whole area over there is free for excavation, so lots of stuff is still being uncovered.
we continued walking around, stopped at a market, and took a cab back home. since i was starving to death but didn't want to awkwardly ask to stop at a restaurant, i went to a market down the road for some cookies, but then ended up going into the center again where i bought a calzone. luckily i also found this internet cafe, which has really fast connection AND xp, which means i'll sure as hell be uploading pictures here tomorrow!
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FireKing
Why are all the fire king dishes in Eastern Europe and not at Kane County?? Jeff - I need some big plates if you can get into that china cabinet (just kidding!)