First things first, my flight to Germany went fine and after I landed I met up with a girl (hey Franzi!) I met through CouchSurfing (see previous post) who showed me around her city of Frankfurt for a few hours. I had a really nice time getting brunch and walking around with her since we have a lot in common and tons to talk about. Hopefully we'll get to see each other again during the course of the year!
The Frankfurt Cathedral
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| Römerplatz. The historically restored square. |
Panorama of Römerplatz with the Cathedral in the background.
After some sightseeing jet lag finally caught up with me and I passed out around 8:30pm to wake up at 5:30am the next day for my flight to Macedonia. Saturday morning, after some trauma at the airport (Where does it say that Austrian Airlines only lets you have 2 suitcases weighing up to 20 kg combined and not 20kg each like I thought??) I left Germany slightly frustrated and quite a bit poorer. I survived though and was met in Skopje by the beautiful smiling face of my friend Igballe. It was then that I found out my luggage did not actually arrive with me from my transfer flight in Vienna, but no matter, I was ecstatic to be reunited with one of my best friends in the whole world!
We drove from the capital of Skopje to her city Tetovo, about 40km away. She showed me around the city a bit, but she noticed my apparent lack of zest and decided to fix me some Turkish coffee, something I have become quite fond of.
Turkish coffee and Macedonian halva.
In case you are unfamiliar with Turkish coffee, it is quite thick and strong and served in much smaller quantities than American coffee. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but luckily I had been introduced to it in Austria and now am able to really enjoy it here in the Balkans. Along with the coffee, Iggy served me a new speciality called halva. It is apparently very popular in many countries in this region, but the kind she gave me was specifically Macedonian. It looks pretty weird in the picture above and its really hard to explain, but it is made from dried sesame paste, sugar and pistachio nuts. It's amazing and I've housed pretty much a whole can for myself.
Aforementioned can.
That night, being the first night I was there, Iggy and I met up with her friend in Skopje at the old city Bazaar. It is an area of the city that until just a few years ago had a pretty sketchy reputation but was completely rejuvenated and now has a bustling cafe and bar scene. We were there on a Saturday night and the small winding, hilly streets were packed with men playing cards, jazz bands, people smoking shisha and young people downing Rakia. We seated ourselves at a small plaza restaurant near a jazz cafe with live musicians. There I tried my first Macedonian beer (very tasty) and first Turkish kebap (different from the döner all my German friends are thinking of, but also very tasty).
Igballe at the Bazaar
Me trying some Turkish kebap.
That night we also walked around the main part of the city a bit and she showed me the large main square filled with statues of former leaders, politicians, writers, Mother Teresa (She was born in Skopje? Yeah, I didn't know that either!) and various other things.
Iggy on the bridge from the bazaar to the main square.
Notice the large horse statue in the middle of the picture? That's Alexander the Great.
The next day we met up with a couple of Igballe's friends and drove into the mountains near Tetovo to a hotel called Radika that had an amazing outdoor pool with a view of a lake and the surrounding peaks.
Really doesn't do it justice. At all.
The day was spent lounging by the water, boiling in the Turkish steam rooms and Finnish Saunas then jumping in the pool before lounging again. Not a bad way to spend the day if you ask me. Afterward we drove to a restaurant in a different part of the mountains for dinner. The girls explained to me that everything served at the restaurant was grown and/or homemade on the property... and boy was it obvious from the exceptional taste of the food!
Home made bread and cheese with tomato, carrots, salad, cabbages, cucumber, potatoes, and onions grown on the property. And home made Coca-Cola! No, I'm just kidding about that one.
Fish raised on site and caught fresh after we ordered. Presented complete with head!
The view from the outside seating area wasn't too bad either.
After our amazing meal was completed and the sun was well below the horizon the restaurant started to get extremely full. As Iggy explained to me much of the population in the area is Muslim and as it is now the time of Ramadan people pack into restaurants around 8pm or so to break their day long fast. We hightailed it out of there after a bit of car maneuvering (the small size of the roads and aggressiveness of the drivers here make for some interesting scenes, but I will save that for another post) and enjoyed a nice coffee in the city before heading home.
The next day was a day for relaxing and errands (such as going to the post office and asking if can I avoid a 170euro fee for overweight luggage by shipping my belongings to myself at my new German apartment. The answer: yes, yes I can.) In the evening we met up in Skopje with the same friends from the previous day and a couple of others. We went to the old bazaar again and enjoyed some food and drinks.
More Turkish coffee, this time with a nifty little cup hat.
The people that I have met so far have all been so interesting and enlightening and I have found it fascinating to hear their stories of living in such a unique culture as this. Thanks to centuries of occupations and cultural meshing, Macedonia at times seems like a hodge-podge of worlds; at the same time Orthodox and Muslim, Macedonian and Albanian, rich and poor. These contracts seem to blend perfectly however into one bustling, lively society.
A view of the top of an Orthodox monastery with a Muslim mosque in the background.
So back to what I've been doing, today was dedicated to sightseeing around Tetovo. First we went to The Painted Mosque, a mosque built by one of Igballe's super-great-grandfathers in the 16th century. The building was absolutely beautiful, having been hand painted by two sisters a really long time ago. This was also my first time being in a mosque and though I was worried about overstepping any cultural bounds or somehow offending anyone, everyone we met there was extremely nice and inviting (even to a dumb American tourist).
The mosque's dome ceiling.
The front of the inside of the mosque.
Igballe
The man we spoke to even encouraged me to stand in the alcove in the front, which represents the direction (toward Mecca) that Muslims pray to.
Outside the mosque compound.
We then walked down the road to the old house that Igballe's ancestors built. There are now modern houses inside the compound, but the old house still remains and it was pretty cool.
Igballe's ancestral home from the 16th century.
We then made our way to visit some Orthodox churches, but they were all closed and we couldn't go inside. We also went to Arabati Baba Teke, a community for Sufi Dervishes which was also built in the 16th century. There wasn't much to see but the outside of buildings there because it is still a working Sufi community. We did meet some adorable little girls playing in a fountain though!
The final tourist stop of the day for us was a trek up a mountain above the city (in the car of course, no way we were hiking in the 100 degree heat) to the old Tetovo fortress. Even Igballe had never been there, so it was a really breathtaking and awesome experience for both of us. Probably even more so for her as, yep you guessed it, her family built the fortress! There was actually a tunnel connecting the compound I mentioned earlier and the fortress on the mountain.
I think the antenna was installed a bit more recently.
View of Tetovo.
My amazing hostess and I.
The opposite side of the mountain from Tetovo.
Our day was concluded with a huge dinner at Iggy's parents house where the director of the new bank she recently got hired by was the guest of honor. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, but let me just tell you I have never been treated or fed so well. The food was amazing (and there was so much of it!) and Iggy's family are the most welcoming people I have met in a very long time. I tried tons of new foods, most of which I am still not sure what it was, but enjoyed all of it immensely.
I have only been here in Macedonia for four days and already I can tell I will have to book a return visit very soon! I had previously mentioned that we were planning a trip to Greece, but that ended up not working out. Instead tomorrow we will be driving south to the lake side town of Ohrid for a few days of beach relaxation. Thinking back on the things I have already experienced though I really must say, I'm quite happy to be staying right here in Macedonia.
Until next time,
Chelsea
Hey Chelsea. Love the pics. Keep in touch over the next year.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome Chelsea! I miss you and Igballe so much! Continue having a great time and blogging about it, so I can live vicariously through you!! :)
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