Skopje, Macedonia

Macedonia is where Mother Teresa was from. Not Albania, apparently. There is a museum in Skopje in her honour, and of course a statue. There are several statues and sculptures along the main pedestrian boulevard in downtown Skopje. Some are of important historical figures, and some are more whimsical depictions of everyday sort of folk. This city has a real sense of sophistication to it, especially after Albania and other parts of Macedonia! It is big and busy with lots of traffic and pollution, but a huge improvement on Tirane. It also sits at the foot of a rather large hill, almost a mountain, which has several hiking trails up to the summit. Locals seem to be avid hikers, as we found out for ourselves, when we decided head up. At the top is a refuggio with a basic canteen selling instant coffee and hot chocolate and snacks. Many hikers were enjoying their packed lunch with beer and homemade rakia.

It was one such group of comrades that invited us to join them at their picnic table and share their local specialties, including cheese, olives, meat, bread and rakia. Rakia is not too different from grappa, and is found all through the Balkans. It is often home made, from plums, apple, walnut, quince (highly prized), or anything that grows and bears fruit. Clear and cold, and dangerous in excess.

A lively conversation ensued in all directions, and the most outspoken and flamboyant member of the group was an opera singer! In fact, he was the one who invited us to join them. Cigarettes and rakia apparently are not damaging to an opera singers throat. Well, he is a bass anyway! We all discussed many things, as many as language limitations would permit. The sun was just beginning to show signs of tiring, so we all headed back down the trail to the parking lot together.

There is an obscure little "mountaineers hut" nearby the trail head, and since 3 or 4 of our host party were heading there for beer and song they insisted we come along too. A tiny little hut with a long table, benches and a few chairs, and a custodian who provided the beer, it was soon vibrating with the voices of the bass opera singer and his buddy, neither of whom I can remember names for. It turns out the other fellow is a high level executive in the Macedonia Central Bank. These two gentlemen were real characters, and they were absolutely in their glory playing guitar and singing the songs of their land, with great gusto and passion. It was pretty amazing to hear them go from one song straight into the next, pausing only to drink more beer and rakia, roll another cigarette and pass around the guitar. It was non-stop, and soon the three young men who were already there when we came along were compelled to join in and sing and play along as well. And along came another fellow who was well acquainted with this gang, a joining in for a time as well. When I made it absolutely clear to him that I would NOT marry him, he left!

After at least 3 hours of singing and drinking and laughing and telling lies, the custodian, who was about 70 yrs old, announced it was time to pack it in. It was now raining quite heavily, but is was easy to turn down the offers of a ride back to town, some 3 kms away. Of the entire group, I have to report that I was the only sober one there, preferring not to drink beer on cold days, and being extremely wary of the rakia. It was far too dark to use the trail, so we said our good byes and trudged off in the rain down the road to town. By the time we got to the bottom we were drenched and cold and hungry, and practically on the doorstep of the British Embassy, which was gated and guarded. And to our amazement, it was only 7:00p.m.. It seemed like mid-night! That's what happens when the partying starts at 2:30!

There was a rather lovely hotel and restaurant that beckoned us to come in, so we decided to treat ourselves to a proper restaurant meal and dry out, literally and figuratively. Fortunately we were the only guests, and so we didn't embarrass the staff too much by taking off or sodden footwear and socks! They were very sweet and understanding. And the food was delish and we deserved!