Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Sleeping in a pirate ship in Skopje, North Macedonia

our hotel in Skopje
Yes, we are spending our nights in Skopje on a pirate ship on the Vardar River! This is the Senigallia Hotel, an 18-room hotel and restaurant built, not sailed, on the river in the middle of Skopje. Our room is the size of a cruise cabin, but with much better finishing - heavy wood paneling instead of covered metal walls.
the two windows have wooden shutters on the outside
The room is comfortable, but the air conditioning system isn't the best so in the afternoon, the room is warm. The high temperature today and yesterday was 94 degrees. As the sun goes down, the A/C system can keep it cool. 

Skopje, although the capital of the country, is small enough that we walk to see places of interest on both sides of the Vardar River. As we walked, we noticed dogs, mature, well-fed, but with no owner in sight, all ear-tagged. 

hot day, dogs resting on the cool tile in the shade
The sight we came to Skopje for is just a few blocks from our hotel, the Memorial House of Mother Teresa.

exterior of Memorial House
 

inside the memorial house

Mother Teresa as a child with her sister in Skopje
Skopje is known for its many, many statues. However, they aren't ancient statues but were installed during a government project starting in 2013. 


Phillip has the bull by the horns

The gold statue started out as a nude, but protests caused
the artist to return and put shorts on him as he is facing
the Parliament building right across the street



our hotel "rigging" can be seen on the right side of the photo

the largest statue in town
The above "Warrior on a Horse" is in the central square of the newer side of the river. It was constructed to represent Alexander the Great, but the Greeks made an official protest about Macedonia co-opting Greek things, so the name was changed to Warrior on a Horse.  
even the new bridges have statues
One bridge in Skopje, the Stone Bridge, is authentically 15th century construction. No statues on it, but they did crowd the ends with statues. 
the Stone Bridge
Today, we took a walking tour. Our guide gave context to and stories of several of the places we had already visited. The very best part of the tour was our canine escorts. 
Our two escorts, Linda (the darker dog) and her
friend whose name I didn't catch
Our tour guide said the tagged dogs we see belong to no individual. The City did microchip, ear tag and neuter or spay them. They are fed by the tourists and restaurants and are all well-behaved. We certainly found this the case with the two who tagged along the entire tour. When we went inside an old church, the two dogs laid down outside and waited for us as they knew they were not allowed inside. Our group of eight would stop and the dogs would stand or sit next us and of course get head scratches or shoulder rubs. 
The church that the dogs did not go in was halfway up the hill to the city's fortress. The guide said the fortress was just ruins and only served as a viewpoint to see the city. The tour didn't go on to the fortress and Phillip and I did not go visit it after the tour as it was hot and we've been to several better fortresses on this trip.
the city fortress ruins on the hill in the distance
The tour did take us into the bazaar, with its cobblestone streets and vendors. This had been one of the stops on the Silk Road. We did come back here after the tour and have lunch.
Our final stop of the tour was the actual site of Mother Teresa's house in Skopje. The guide had no clue why the Memorial was constructed three blocks away with a memorial marker on the real house location.
stone marker on the actual Mother Teresa house location
Tomorrow, we leave North Macedonia and go to Kosovo. We will change buses enroute and only spend a few days in Kosovo before making our way to Montenegro. 

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