In my first blogging effort here, let me offer you several good reasons why to visit Skopje, get a taste of its flavors and feel the rhythm of its heartbeat:

Starting from the Turkish tea, kebabs, simit -pogaca or burek in the Old Bazaar, which are undoubtedly the best in the world, regardless whether people from Sarajevo might claim something else.  Compliments can be extended also to most of the restaurants, where the food still tastes like food, and the night life in general. Just to mention:  compared to other cities in Europe, food and drinks, accommodation and transport are quite cheap and make staying in the city affordable and enjoyable.

Skopje is a pretty safe city, although that picture is lately slowly changing in the negative direction. But still, as I have experienced, it is much safer than many other European cities. Time and crime are not moving as fast as in modern European capitals. Lots of people are still walking freely on most of the streets at almost every time of day and night, and this liveliness can be seen in all parts of the city. And yes, the people are usually quite friendly, especially to strangers.

Music and art scene is vivid with many concerts, theater plays, exhibitions and other artistic events throughout the year. For over thirty years, Skopje hosts one of Europe’s best jazz festivals, which is traditionally held in October. The city also hosts several annual international festivals of serious music and opera, as the Skopje Summer Festival, May Opera Evenings, Autumn Music Celebrations, and several other festivals of different alternative music genres like Off Fest, Pivolend, Taksirat, Skopje Gori, which have brought significant world-renown music stars in front of city’s audiences, including the likes of Ray Charles, BB King, Joe Cocker, Deep Purple, Santana, James Brown, Chic Corea, Stanley Clarke, Stranglers, Pink, etc. The city is a favorite spot on the maps of almost all famous DJs in the world, who frequently come to party, usually in several of Skopje’s big discotheques and halls that can hold up to several thousands of people. There is also a developed reggae music scene – for ten years now, musicians of the city are also organizing themselves the Bob Marley Day, an in-memoriam event held traditionally on 11th of May in front of thousands of young people in Skopje’s city park.
The city is known for many good rock, jazz and pop artists, but also as being the birthplace of the so-called Gypsy or Balkan  music, considering the fact that many of Roma musicians and orchestras that are considered as pioneers and most successful musicians in this style, actually come mainly from Suto Orizari (Shutka) or Topaana, Skopje’s suburbs predominantly inhabited by Roma people.  Shutka is the place where artists like Goran Bregovic, Emir Kusturica, Miki Manojlovic, Rade Serbedzija, or lately Manu Chao, have came looking for inspiration.

Skopje city is a crossroad of civilizations. A mixture of the East and the West, of many nations and religions, and these new-old or East-West differences are visible even at first glance. It has a millenniums – long history, created by many civilizations that have passed through this piece of land. Kingdoms and empires of ancient Macedonians, Illyrians, Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans…Many have left behind traces of their culture and valuable pieces of breathtaking centuries-old artwork and architecture in this city that for all of them represented an important administrative and trading center, and most of these monuments are easy to access and visit. Skopje is the birthplace to Mother Teresa, a Peace Nobel Prize winner famous worldwide for helping poor people, and also the city where lived and died Zorba the Greek, whose character was used to build the world-famous movie remembered by the starring role of Anthony Quinn.

The surrounding nature could be considered a cherry on the top of this positive insight of the city. You can climb and hike or use the newly installed ski-resort alike ropeway to get on top of Vodno mountain and see a close-up of the 76 meters tall Millenium cross and beutiful panorama of the city, or you can decide to go to Canyon Matka and take a boat trip or visit Vrelo, one of the deepest water caves in the world. Skopje, in fact lies in a plain crossed by 5 rivers, is surrounded by several mountains, and is close to several artificial lakes, with plenty of good picnic resorts, hiking and biking trails, so anything that you can imagine doing or going to in this context is doable and reachable within tens of minutes. And not only that – if you’re interested in improving your general health condition, nearby the city is Katlanovo’s spa, famous for its natural mineral wells and spa treatment.

Not a really bright idea to end a text with a health treatment, but better that than to bother you from the beginning of our beautiful friendship with the “ancient statues-growing-like mushrooms” new look of Skopje, about which I will nevertheless write soon. Anyway, I hope that this is enough to tickle your curiosity,  and perhaps make you more interested in a capital of a landlocked country somewhere in the middle of Balkans. So, follow this blog in future, there is more material to come that will open for you the doors to this city’s soul 🙂