Skopje, Macedonia

Just to the south of Kosovo, is The Republic of Macedonia, one of the six provinces of the former Yugoslavia.

The capital and largest city if Skopje, which is just over the border with Kosovo and where we spent our second night of the trip.

Porta Macedonia

Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers of War

Our first famous Macedonian...Alexander the Great

Our second famous Macedonian?  The ethnic Albanian Mother Theresa, born right here in Skopje.

Skopje, like much of the ex-Yugoslavia is undergoing a huge construction boom.  Here's a new ministry building designed in the classical Greek style.

One expects to see Greek style statures, but we get this?

Stone Bridge built in 1451 and spans the Vardar River which runs through the center of Skopje.

Oops, we didn't pay for parking.

Luckily, we found the ticket, called the number and they guys were over in five minutes.

Total cost to get the boot removed?  Around 15 American dollars.  Who says Eastern Europe isn't inexpensive.

A bit of history.  This area of of the world was, for many years, under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.  The region historically called Macedonia includes the current Republic, parts of Albania, Bulgaria and Greece.  Therefore, it has a number of ethnic Albanians and Bulgarians. It declared its independence peacefully from Yugoslavia in late 1991 and it was peaceful as there were few Serbs in this area.  However, during the Kosovo War, Macedonia was drawn in as many refugees flooded into Macedonia from Kosovo to the North.  Last random piece of information.  Macedonia's accession to the European Union has a huge obstacle and that is its name.  Because Greece has a province called Macedonia it doesn't has conflict with the name Macedonia for the name of the country.  Therefore for political purposes the country is known as FYROM, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Our stay in Skopje was short, and felt like a "get the stamp in our passport" kind of stop over.  One highlight was that wee did make some Turkish friends.