Balkans 17 Skopje (巴爾幹半島 17 斯科普里)

After Ohrid, it's another 178 Km before we'd arrive at our next destination, Skopje, located on the upper course of the Vardar River, on a major north-south Balkan route between Belgrade and Athens. It is a center for metal-processing, chemical, timber, textile, leather, and printing industries. Industrial development of the city is matched by growth in trade, logistics, and banking as well as culture and sport. According to the last official count from 2002, Skopje has a population of 506,926 inhabitants but according to two unofficial estimates for more recent period, the city has a population of 668,518 or 491,000 inhabitants. Seismic movements have formed medium-sized mountains around the city. It's bordered by Šar Mountains to the west, by the Jakupica chain to the south, and by hills to the east that form the early Osogovo Mountains, which are situated on the border between Macedonia and Bulgaria.

 

Our rest stop

Another small town we passed by

the Turkish influence is very strong. you find Muslim minarets everywhere. 

We passed through endless fields like this

Our restaurant

After the long journey, we were famished. Having nothing to do, I took this cruet stand with some Macedonian patterns

Our salad

 

Our main dish

Our bread

Our table mate's fish

The window of our restaurant

A shelf full of carvings of local saints 

traditional  Macedonia clothes on the wall above the entrance of the restaurant

Beautiful carved shades

Our local tour guide and our driver

There was a birthday celebration at our next table 

A happy little girl

The happy little girl and her younger sister

 

A glum looking elder brother and his happy grandpa. Perhaps the boy is sulking because everybody's attention is centred on his sister?

Local kitchen ware

Pots, trays and jugs

a fountain blessed by a saint

Pots, jugs etc.blessed by another saint

quaint local male attire

 

a fancy treasure chest

 Wheels and jugs

After lunch we were on our way again

A mosque we passed

A local lion before entering Skopje, located at the centre of the Balkans, approximately halfway between Belgrade and Athens. The Vardar River, which originates near Gostivar, flows through the city then flows south passing the border into Greece and eventually flowing into the Aegean Sea. The Vardar valley consists primarily of hills and mountains.

The Kale (Turkish for "fortress" ) of Skopje taken from our coach. In Macedonian, it's called Скопје. It's the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia, its political, cultural, economic, and academic center. Known in Roman times as Scupi, it has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC ( from remains of Neolithic settlements found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre). On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans and became a military camp.When the Roman Empire was split into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the early medieval period, the town was contested between the Byzantine and the Bulgarian Empires, being the Bulgarian capital for 20 years from 972 to 992.
From 1282, the town became part of the Serbian Empire and its capital from 1346. It was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1392, who renamed it Üsküp. It remained under Turkish control more than 5 centuries until 1912, serving as the capital of Pashasanjak of Üsküb and later the Vilayet of Kosovo. At that time the city was famous for its oriental architecture.
In 1912, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars and after the First World War the city became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Kingdom of Yugoslavia).
In the Second World War the city was conquered by the Bulgarian Army, as part of Axis powers. Skopje was liberated on 13 November 1944 by Yugoslav Partisan units of the Macedonian National Liberation Army, together with units of the newly allied Bulgarian People's Army (Bulgaria having switched sides in the war in September). In 1944, it became the capital city of Democratic Macedonia (later Socialist Republic of Macedonia) and part of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (later Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). The city developed rapidly after World War II, but this trend was interrupted in 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake.
In 1991, it became the capital city of an independent Macedonia.
Two-thirds of Skopje's population are  Macedonians, and one third Albanians with less than 4% Roma people and 3% Serbians.
Among the minorities, the Albanians enjoy a privileged status because of their number. Albanian language can be used in local government and primary schools, and is official in the municipalities where at least 25% of the population is Albanian-speaking, in addition to the Macedonian official language.
The two religions that have had the greatest influence on the city are Orthodox Christianity, represented by the Diocese of Skopje, under the Macedonian Orthodox Church, and Islam. There also are smaller minorities of Catholics, Protestants and Jews.

There are double decker buses in Skopje too

The fort from another angle. This fortress was originally built by the Byzantines in the 6th century but after 1963 Skopje earthquake, the fortress's circular, rectangular and square towers were conserved and restored.

The new Philharmonic Theatre, part of the  €500 million "Skopje 2014" project"which aims to give a more monumental appearance to the capital, including statues, fountains, bridges, and museums, launched by the government in 2010. Apart from this, a number of new buildings are being constructed along the River Vardar, including the museum of archaeology. It has a rather loose town planning, which is the result of an earthquake that destroyed 80% of the city in 1963.  Rebuilding after the earthquake was largely orchestrated by Kenzo Tange, a Japanese architect and urban planner who had drawn many plans for cities and towns including that for Hiroshima in 1949. 

The most significant accomplishment was the train station, which was built on an elevated platform over bridges and allows for the separation of traffic and pedestrians. The new government elected in July 2006 restored the Kale Fortress and plans to rebuild the beautiful 19th century Army House, the Old National Theatre, and the Old National Bank of Macedonia — all destroyed in the 1963 earthquake. It also plans to to build the "Macedonian Struggle" Museum, the Archeological Museum of Macedonia, National Archive of Macedonia, Constitutional Court, and a new Philharmonic Theater.As part of the project, there will be monuments to the some most famous figures in Macedonian history. The project is set to be completed by 2015. But the project has generated much controversy: critics say the new landmark buildings show reactionary historicist aesthetic, costs too much and there's no representation of national minorities in the coverage of its set of statues and memorials and that it's turning Skopje to a theme park, a nationalistic kitsch and an example of how national identities are constructed.

A fuller view of the theatre. Every year since 1972, Skopje holds the May Opera Evenings, a festival dedicated to promoting opera among the general public. Over the years, it has evolved into a stage on which artists from some 50 countries have performed. Another opera festival, the Open Youth Theatre Festival, was established in May 1976 by a group of young opera enthusiasts. More than 250 theatrical performances have been presented at this festival so far, most of them being alternative, experimental theatre groups engaging young writers and actors. Recently, the festival became a member of the Brussels Informal European Theatre Meeting (IETM). Within the framework of the Open Youth Theatre, a Macedonian National Centre of the International Theatre Institute (ITI) was established, and at the 25th ITI World Congress in Munich in 1993, it became a regular member of the theatre association. The festival is now an international festival with representatives from the former Yugoslavia, the United States, France, the former Soviet Union, Spain, Japan, Poland, Italy, the United Kingdom, India and other countries.
 

An opera singer

His counterpart

A dancing couple

Lady with the lyre

Alexander the Great

The archaeological museum, also part of the Skopje 2014 Project

Another view of the museum and its surroundings

New hotel and shopping complex opposite to the museum or are they part of the  "Macedonian Struggle" Museum or the National Archive of Macedonia?  

Two national historic figures St. Clement and St. Methodius? 
 

Another two. Goce Delcev and Dame Gruev?

Alexander?
 

More national heroes

Who is this, I wonder
 

Another local monument, I forgot what it was on the Old Stone Bridge,built on Roman foundations under the patronage of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror between 1451 and 1469. This bridge represents the connection between Skopje's past and present, and is featured in the Coat of arms of Skopje.The bridge connects Skopje's main square, Macedonia Square, to the city's Old Bazaar. The square was dramatically increased in size by the destruction of the massive neoclassical National Bank and Army House during the 1963 earthquake.Throughout the centuries, the Stone Bridge was often damaged and then repaired. There is historical evidence that it once suffered during the great earthquake of 1555 which heavily damaged or destroyed four pillars. In 1944, explosives were placed on the bridge by Nazis. When Skopje was liberated, the activation of the explosives was prevented and the bridge was saved from destruction. Some executions have also taken place on this bridge, such as the execution of Karposh in 1689 which unearthed some relics.
 

One of the new bridges across the Vardar. The center of Skopje consists of two municipalities separated by the Vardar River. On the north bank of the river is Čair Municipality, in which the Old Town is located, while the on the south bank is Centar Municipality, which is the modern part of the center of the city.
 

statues of modern day ladies

A close up of one of them

We were taken to a church commemorating Mother Teresa. She was born here.

Her statue
 

beautiful smooth lines in a prayerful position
 

The Memorial House of Mother Teresa, opened in early 2009.

A light bulb above the church

The streets are full of skulptures

A raging bull in street of modern shops and restaurants

 a book stand

handicraft for sale by the roadside

The city museum. It used to be the old train station. It's clock shows permanently the time the disastrous 1963 6.1 Richter scale earthquake struck and destroyed the city. 
 

Ancient tombstone
 

a sarcogaphus outside the museum

Another one
 

The porch to the museum
 

 leaves turning red

Another bronze statue

There were a lot of construction going on at the new part of this town

Everywhere I went, I saw flowers
 

A church being built or renovated?

Another statue

Acrobats or soldiers? Any real difference?

Alexander on horse back above city lamp posts

Diogenes? 
 

Our tour guide below the city fountain

Soldiers defending the city?

The huge Macedonia Square
 

A little girl and her brother by the fountain

a national hero?
 

Can't read, who is he?
 

                                                Another groups of statues

the old stone bridge
 

A lady preparing to take a dive after the other already in the water

 

There were a number of anglers trying their luck

 

Another view of the bridge

Some interesting reflections
 

The square from another perspective

A king seated beside the river

Clouds above the city
 

Another fountain of maternal love

Close up on mother and child 
 

How proudly he stands, arm raised back to the Arabian quarters The largest concentration of the mosques in the city is in the Old Bazaar, a part of the city with typical Ottoman Islamic architecture. One of the most eminent mosques is the Mustafa Pasha Mosque which was built in 1492 by Mustafa Paşa on an older Christian site.It was an endowment of Mustafa Pasha, an eminent figure in the Turkish state during the rule of Sultan Bayezid II and Sultan Selim. 

This is the Old Town, one of the largest and most significant oriental bazaars in the Balkan, on the eastern bank of the Vardar River and features mosques, inns, a clocktower, a bezisten, Turkish baths, churches, and various shops. The bezisten, a covered market, was built in the 15th century by Gazi Ishak Bey, the Sultan's Skopje regent. It was destroyed by a fire in 1689 and was later rebuilt. The bezisten has looked the same since its renovation in 1899. Skopje's clock tower, built in the 16th century on the foundations of an older edifice, is located just north of the Sultan Murad Mosque 

It has become a tourist attraction. In the background is the Isa Bey Mosque, situated on the outskirts of the bazaar. This mosque was built as a memorial for Isa Bey, son of Ishak Bey and grandson of Pasha Yigit Bey the Ottoman conqueror of Skopje, built in 1439 in the northern part of the Old Bazaar. The mosque's minaret rises 30 meters (98.4 feet). Ishak Bey, who retired in the city, is buried in the türbe behind the mosque.

Armour on sticks!

 an old mosque,

Alexander from the Arabian angle, looking forward
 

The sun was setting

Time for a coffee after all that walking

Candle holders at the restaurant

Back to the old bridge leading to the Arab quarters, where we were supposed to re-group

The archaeological museum in the sunset

the old bridge in the sunset

What buildings are these, we weren't told, museums?

Older buildings nearby

Ah, a wedding
 

The tense but happy bride and the proud groom

My final view of the city. According to the Wikipedia, the city has several universities. The largest and the oldest is the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University. This public university was founded in 1949 with three faculties. Since then, it has expanded to 23 faculties, 10 institutes, and over 36,000 students. Since the independence of Macedonia, new universities, mostly private, have been opened. The European University was established in 2001 and has faculties of economics, computer science, law, political science and art and design.FON University, founded in 2003, has faculties of law, political science and international relations, foreign languages, investigation and security, environmental management, economics, technology and communication information, sports, design and multimedia and philosophy. The American University College was opened in 2005 and has faculties of business administration, political science, foreign languages, architecture and design, computer science and law.The Yahya Kemal College, named after the Turkish poet Yahya Kemal Beyatlı who was born in Skopje, opened in 1996.In 2008, Skopje had 21 colleges.