Boutique Imperial Skopje

... when you see those athletes in the Olympics? Well now you know. And you know probably more about Macedonian history than you ever cared about. Use it at your next dinner party or something.<br><br>I crossed the Stone Bridge and the West just absolutely collided with the East, and that made me glad Skopje is a stopping off point for me on the way to Lake Ohrid. Low slung Ottoman buildings line narrow stone streets and places like shoe ...

... the whole hog and write "**** off you Muslim *******" in neon lights next to it (which is obviously the intended message anyway). I headed back across the river and decided to treat myself to a drink in the Irish pub before a late lunch. I sidled in and sat at the bar along with the three bored looking Macedonians who worked there. Soon I was sipping a pint of Skopsko pivo for 100MKD (£1.31). It's quite a smooth pint and was probably one of my favourites ...

... here.- You know like with peach or lemon flavors. The food was great and I have eaten the most here, than anywhere else.- I really think it is because I was actually hungry- they didn't feed me many meals today so I wasn't full before dinner!! But I probably would have eaten lots anyways, cause it was just that good. We were not only entertained by Venera and Gazmend, but by their son Jon. He will be 2 in October and he is full of energy. Just ...

... for breakfast. Tourism is rare in Skopje. Postcards were expensive and the selection was poor. I tried to buy a t-shirt with a local theme, but the Spirit department store only had surfing shirts, "New Mexico" slogans, and the like. Food at the market (parce, a melon) and in little burek (meat and cheese pastries) shops was good. (I could not figure out what "pig hunger" and "pig ttinglet of cheese" were, however.) The tourist office in the ...

... you just become best friends immedately with a stranger. The only problem is I dont speak macedonian and she knows about 10 words in english. But oh well, it works out well enough. We checked out a few places in turkey town. I didnt have my camera so I dont really have any pictures, but we went to this awesome art gallery with really crazy and scary christian paintings (like jesus turning into a mist and ...

... off to on an early morning bus from Sofia. The driver puts on a CD and we are pleasantly surprised to hear the first few bars sound familiar. Having suffered through endless bus rides of dreadful local music cranked up to high volume for so long now, any recognisable tune is warmly welcomed. Things seem a little less auspicious when we identify the song as "Road to Hell" by 80s crooner Chris Rea. We don't have a place to ...

... liter in the ground, we could see a lot in the water too. By a bridge some fellows were out fishing. The nutritional value of fish caught in such a river did come up in our conversation. But it also could have been that the fishermen were trying to catch plastic bottles to take into the bottle depot. Who knows. The grass around the castle was neatly trimmed. On the other hand, someone had dumped a load of garbage at the base of a ...

... been happy to get to know coool Slovenian guests of Barbara. Marta, Diana, Jasna, Petra, Mariansa, lovely people. Also my friend from Poland Chris (whom i met also in Serbia last month) came for a visit last week. With them we did nice trips to Ohrid and to the villages near by. They are so beautiful, and actually i started to realize the beauty only last week. Well, better late than never. My favourite is a fishing ...

... tastes. There's also a lot to do here. The biggest downside is that there really isn't a cheap place to stay. I'm at this hostel - apparently the only one - but it's more of a small and cheap hotel than a hostel. It's got international cable and a private bath and breakfast included. I'm spending more than I want, but since meals here have been extremely cheap, it's no matter. I'm still on target for budget. The city has the new side, which is where the commercial centres and main city ...

... open car."It reminds me of what I've heard about the jungle of Vietnam" mused Hans. Only one section of the descent was potentially exposed to Govt view,and we rode untroubled into the ghost town of Matejce.The town was almost completely destroyed,and 2 wild horses running around unfett**ed appeared to be the only life.We w**e to return h**e,but for now passed straight through to the less damaged and more inhabited village of Lipkovo.Our fist port of call ...