Hotel 903ta Skopje

Here I am back in Skopje for the night so I can get over to Sofia for my flight to Cyprus. Usually I don't repeat places but travel in the Balkans is not always the most direct route on earth and even going 150 miles as the crow flies can take ten hours. Yep, ten hours. Ten long, long hours on one of those buses that people in Western Europe retired decades ago. The roads are not always in the best shape and the area is very mountainous ...

... re high into the hills again, past 19th century-style mining operations and failed industry. By this time I've broken the ice with my fellow backpacker. Turns out he's Croatian and a really nice guy, hardly the arrogant a**hole I'd imagined. I feel foolish, but not as much as I would have if we'd traveled the whole way unspeaking. He's on his way to India via Istanbul and speaks good English, having practiced much in the tourist ...

... see if there was something there. If not, I might have to take up the "10 euro, downtown" dude on his offer. He was still there, but he pointed me out to an internet cafe at the train section. What a helpful guy. Little did he know that if he wouldnt have said anything, he would be cashing in. But I found a hostel, Art Hostel, which looked like quite the establishment. One of those socialble, cheap, and chilling places ...

... acýlarýn çekildiði hüzünlü bir þehir. Hala duvarlarda mermi izleri, yýkýk, yanmýþ evler, binalar bulunuyor. Çoðuna hiç el deðmemiþ. Ilýca Termal otelde konakladýktan sonra sabah Þehitliðe doðru yola çýktýk. Yaðmur hüzne eþlik etti sanki. Ardýndan Baþçarþý'ya ulaþtýk. Baþçarþý tamamen Osmanlý yapýsý bir eser. Baþçarþý'da gezerken Ýstanbul, Bursa, Ýzmir'de gezermiþçesine bir havaya kapýlýyorsunuz. Bakýrcýlar çarþýsý ve diðer çarþýlar bizimkilerin aynýsý. Baþçarþý Savaþta ...

... on the Kamen Most (Stone Bridge) which is bridge still standing from the 14th century. Once in the old city, we went to look for shoes for Angela. We didn't find any there, but enjoyed looking in the shops. We even went into an antique shop where they had military suits and medals among other things. It was very interesting. We didn't stay long in the old city, cause Marija just wanted to show me how it looks and visit the church where her Christening was. St ...

HOW TO COME TO THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA · BY AIR Through two international airports - Skopje and Ohrid. Macedonian airlines "Avioimpex" and MAT have regular connections from: Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Copenhagen. Several international airlines have regular flights to Skopje/Ohrid. To come to the country you can use the neigh boring airports at Thessalonica, Belgrade Sofia ...

... time by overblown write-ups. After all, Bucharest in Romania gets a seriously bad rap from travelers, but it's actually a fascinating, often beautiful city worth getting to know. Surely Skopje has some hidden charms too! Y'know, they ain't lying! This is one seriously ugly city. Stupefyingly ugly. It's borderline comical how grotesque the place is in some parts, with massive housing complexes straight out of a Marxist textbook lining most boulevards, yawning plazas for no purpose other ...

... british passport anyway, but unfortunately my canadian friends didnt know and were promptly kicked off the train, with the macedonian guy translating. It was roughly 3am, and we were in a tiny village on the border with customs officials with no english, I did not envy them a bit. He was offering money to get on the train, oblivious to the fact that it was a three year jail term for bribery in macedonia, luckily the customs officer ...

... We then strolled around the rest of the town before sitting down at one of the many cafes to people watch the main square for a while. We all decided that if we hadn't already purchased our tickets for the train to Belgrade, we would have really liked staying in Skopje for a night. The people were just so helpful(even though they almost never spoke any English) and just made you feel welcome to their country which is something we ...

... conflict escalated to include all the north**n and west**n Macvedonian bord** regions.In March 2001,rebels of the UCK force appeared on the hills ov** Tetovo.This group's name had the same initals as in Kosovo,but actually ref**red to the Ushtria Clirimtare E Kombatare(not E Kosoves),translated as the Albanian National Army in the west**n press.Aft** 2 weeks of rebels sending occasional mortar or snip** fire into the town,the more heavily armed Gov ...