Things to See & Getting Around
The Bradt Guide by Thammy Evans and its maps generally is good. If you don’t already have one it is readily available at bookshops throughout the city.

Skopje'se main tourist attraction is the old city ( чаршија "Charshiya") with its maze of small streets and shops. This is reached by crossing over the Stone Bridge from the large square at the Centre.
 


We strongly recommend visiting the Museum of Macedonia in the old city. The museum comes in three parts. The Kursumli An is an old trading inn and prison that now houses a collection of statuary from the 1st through 4th centuries AD. It is undergoing some renovation and may-or-may-not be open.
The second building is the archeological and history collection. The lower floor goes from 5500 BCE through Roman times. The second floor has an amazing collection of icons from the 11th through the 19th century. The rest of the second floor is a history of Ottoman rule and the Balkan Wars. Lots of oversized photos, though the explanatory text in this exhibit is only in Macedonian. The rest of the collection in Macedonian and English.
The third building houses the ethnographic collection. Textiles, jewelry, clothing, and farm implements from the 19th century (and earlier). Many wedding costumes from different regions. And 50 denar gets you into both buildings.

Just above the museum is the Mustafa Pasha Mosque, dating from 1492. This view of the mosque and old post office is taken from the Kale, the ruins of an ancient fortress that dominates the central city and is also well worth a visit.

The Museum of Skopje is in the old train station at the end of Marshall Tito (the main pedestrian street leading into the Centre). The clock is stopped at the time of the 1963 earthquake. Unfortunately, the museum has nothing about the earthquake and isn’t worth seeing if you’ve seen the National Museum.
We visited nearly all of the spots in the old city recommended in the Bradt Guide and found that it and the maps served us well.
We also took a taxi to St. Pantelejmon Monastery where there are wonderful 12th century frescoes and ate at the restaurant with its views down into Skopje.

There is a lovely promenade along the river that leads in one direction to the Centre and the Stone Bridge and in the other direction follows the river to the city park and soccer stadium. Below it is a paved surface for bikes and rollerbladers.
Depending on the time of year and the weather, on weekends everyone in the city can be found in the Centre on Friday and Saturday nights beginning about 9:00. There is a series of bars with loads of outdoor seating that run between the downtown mall and the river. It is the place to be.
While the city is very walkable, you can take a taxi pretty much anywhere for 80 denar (about $1.50). The taxis are metered. Be sure to also see the cathedral (“Sveti Kleemont”). Understand that this is also the name of the street the church (St. Clement) is on (intersection of Sv. Klement and Partizanski. It is worth the visit, especially if you have not visited an Orthodox church before. 1990 on the outside, about 1590 inside.

Food

The Green Markets on Partizanski and at the Bazaar in the old city are great for fruits, vegetables, eggs, fish, nuts, etc. Be sure to take small bills as they don’t like to take anything over a 50 denar note. 100 if really pressed. Standard quantities for bulk items are in a kilo, so to ask for half a kilo say polovina (1/2). Often they will type the amount you owe into a calculator and show it you. Many tables are labeled, so you’ll have a good idea. In any case, it won’t be much.
There are plenty of mini-marts (think 7/11 selection). There is a wonderful bakeries as well. We recommend burek, a small pastry that you can get with meat, spinach, or cheese. All are good, though spinach (spanak) is our favorite. They have numerous types of bread and rolls and, of course, nice desserts and rolls. Nothing as sweet as you may be used to, and all the better for it.
There are several options for groceries. TINEX, is a chain of smallish neighborhood stores. Tinex is not very large, but is easy to get to and has all of the basics. If you are a tea drinker you’ll see the Macedonians and Albanians love their herbal tea. If you want black tea (think Lipton) look for Indian Tea.
Vero is another chain, with a smaller store in the mall at the city centre and a larger, free-standing one on the west side.
The other option is the Ramstore mall. This has a larger selection of groceries as well as some household items. The mall has a large inflated green kangaroo outside the building Kangaroo. Ramstore is a block from the Museum of Skopje. In addition to the grocery store, Ramstore also has a shoe repair shop on the near basement level and a dry cleaner on the far basement level. We’ve had men’s shirts laundered and pressed there for 80 denar (about $1.70) as well as a woman’s suit cleaned. Good service and the shirts take a day or two. Why iron?
A couple of local favorite quick foods are kebob (not what you think—just sausages that come in batches of 5) and Tevche (lima beans in a spicy sauce). Or the ever-popular burek. If you are over at the Bit Pazaar (Bazaar) in the old city, be aware that ordering a hamburger also means getting French fries included inside the bun. Should that not be your preferred way of eating, hand gestures can be used to keep them apart.

Trash

If you are staying in an apartment, take your trash to one of the public bins on the street.


Postcards and books

There are numerous small bookstores in the city and they sometimes have a limited selection of English-language books, often classics. IKON is on Partinzanski and in Ramstore. KYLTYRA (Culture) has numerous shops. There is also a wider selection of English-language books just off Marshall Tito and across the small park that features the Mother Teresa statue.
You can send postcards by buying stamps at the small post office located at the main entrance to the university in Tetovo. 48 denar (about $1.00) for airmail (you’ll need to specify or they will go surface).

Mobile Phone

See the Tetovo site for information on mobile phones seeu-tetovo.wetpaint.com

Money

ATMs are springing up everywhere, so no problem with getting money from your home bank account. Exchange offices as well, of course. Both the ATMs and the exchange offices will give you money in 1000 MD notes (about $20). Exchange those as soon as you can at places like the grocery store as many small shops (and certainly the Green Market vendors) will have trouble making change. You are often paying for things in amounts of 50-100 denar.
One of our visitors was unable to obtain money using a Visa cash advance from the bank machines. We don’t know if MasterCard would work better or not, but regular ATM withdrawals from your account work just fine. Assuming you have money in the account.

There are numerous currency exchange shops around the city.

Lunch at the University

There are two cafeterias on the campus. You can typically get lunch, including a drink, for about 75-100 MD. The university runs on coffee, so be ready for many cups and for no one allowing you to pay. There is also a small store for snacks, drinks, and supplies.

Internet

There are a number of internet cafes in Skopje. Alternately, you can see if you are able to pick up a wireless signal from On.net. If so, you can buy access for a month at a time for about $10.00 at Germanos in Ramstore (and other locations). This works similar to a phone card in the US where you key in the code that appears on the back of the card.


At the university, if you have your own computer, no password is necessary to get to the internet. Some buildings and outdoor areas now are wireless or there may be a data jack in the area in which you are working.


If you need access to university resources, such as Angel, the computing folks can also get you set-up with access very quickly.

Skopje Activities

A very good local site about activities taking place in Skopje is www.skopjeonline.com.mk. It also includes links to the train schedule.


The intercity busses we found cheap, clean, and easy to use. Busses and trains depart from the same station about 5-6 blocks beyond the Holiday Inn just off the Centre. You can walk it (without bags) or take a taxi for just over $1.00 to get the detailed bus schedule or to buy tickets.

It is easy to catch a bus between Tetovo and the University. In addition to the regular bus runs between the cities, you can use the more informal vans that line up across from the University of Tetovo and depart for Skopje whenever they have enough riders. This is about the same price, but an option if you want to head into Skopje at times other than the normal bus service. The shuttles drop passengers at the city centre.
If the weather is nice, you might want to get out of the city to Lake Matka, a park and reservoir that is a popular picnic location for Skopje residents and only 17 km away. Lake Matka has steep canyons, a church dating from 1389 and filled with wonderful frescos.

 

You can also take a boat ride around the lake and look into numerous caves. Running through the park is a small river that features a kayaking course.
To get to Lake Matka, take a city bus out to the mainly ethnic-Albanian municipality of Saraj (Capaj in Cyrillic) on the edge of Skopje and then take the #60 bus to Lake Matka. Note that busses to Sarai are relatively frequent, though the mini bus (our's was yellow) runs every 2-3 hours, so check ahead of time on its departures from Saraj.

Gifts

Easy souvenirs are small Macedonian bowls (reddish with stripes). There is one of these in the kitchen (no, you can’t take that one). There are two spots we like for buying these. There is a booth at the far left corner of the Green Market on Partizanski where a woman has several types. For a broader selection, go through the old city and through the Bit Pazaar (Bazaar) to the street that borders it to the north. Cross the street and you’ll find a shop with a lot of the pottery in the windows or outside (weather permitting).

You can also shop at the three story mall at the city center. This is a covered, but open-air mall with the kinds of store found anywhere. It adjoins the row of bars just off of the square mentioned above.

Language

In Skopje you can usually find someone in shops or the pharmacy who speaks English if need-be, but pointing typically works fine. At the university everyone speaks English, but it is still nice to be able to have a few words of Macedonian (in Skopje) or Albanian (at the university or in Tetovo).

The BBC has a site that has a few phrases in each language that you can read and hear. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/macedonian.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/index.shtml