Blogs from Skopje, Macedonia, Europe - page 3

Macedonia is prone to earthquakes. In fact, a mere 2 weeks before our departure for Skopje, a small quake measuring 3.1 on the Richter scale hit the city. The epi-centre was only 2 miles from the city centre. Buildings shook. A bit of debris fell from buildings into the street, but no major injuries were reported. It was a different case in 1963. On 26th July, a large quake of 6.9 on the Richter scale destroyed large areas of the city. The death toll was over a 1000. There were many more injuries and most of the major buildings were left in ruins. The old Railway Station included. It was left in pieces. The clock on the front of the building has stood still ever since at the exact time of the quake - 5.17 am. ... read more

Our flight home was in the late afternoon, so after a leisurely breakfast and packing our stuff for the journey home, we walked a short distance from our hotel to the museum of the Macedonian struggle. The Macedonian take on various historical events was really interesting, and the exhibits well explained by an English-speaking guide (who took just ourselves around) - there are numerous paintings and eerily lifelike wax figures that have really taken a lot of work to produce. After the museum, we took a quick walk to Sv Spas church to see the elaborate wood carvings - they were explained with good humour, which made the trip up the steps in the midday sun worthwhile (like most other things in Skopje, it'd been closed on Monday)! We ate lunch by the river, before catching ... read more

Today we went on a long walk... We left the hotel fairly early to set off for the bottom of the gondola at Mt Vodno, just outside Skopje. Having seen taxis everywhere yesterday, we thought it'd be easy to find one this morning, but it was a little harder than we thought. We found one in the end, but arrived to find that the gondola didn't open until 10am, and it was only just after 9. Not to be defeated, we decided to walk up to the summit instead. It turned out that this wasn't the greatest idea ever, as it was already quite warm and the path was relentlessly uphill... But we made it! At the top is a massive gold cross, with a swanky looking restaurant complex below it. Unfortunately, aside from a little ... read more

Taxi from the hostel to the airport was uneventful. Arrived at the airport and upon checking in found out we happened to stumble across the "baggage police with PMT". First of all I was grilled as to how I got in the country with my large bike case. Then after numerous phone calls by the check in woman to an unknown person I had to put my case on the scales. Phew 29 kgs! 1kg under the allowed weight. Next was my hand luggage. Definitely one piece only which we'd seen earlier, so my small back pack was now inside my carry on. 6.9 kgs. 0.1 kg under the allowed weight. I'd witnessed people putting on a pair of jeans at the counter to get under. Sadly Gus was next! He lifted his 32 kg case ... read more

Slow start to the day as our cycle was only short. Panniers packed and we set off towards Matka. The road signs don't make any sense to me and Gus so we were totally reliant on Gus' Garmin. A large portion of the route was on a bike track which ran at the side of the road and when that ran out we chose the pavement. Lol. Along the way we stopped at a fruit shop and then at Lake Treste. The facilities at the lake were sadly abandoned but it would have been a great place when it was first built. Now it looked like a scene out of a movie. The road ran out and we cycled along a path under the steep sides of the canyon. The hotel appeared at the end of ... read more